Effortless Policy Drafting with ConvergePoint and Microsoft 365 SharePoint

The drafting of policies should not be unnecessarily complicated. Nor need it be a chore or something that everyone in your team dreads! Thankfully, today there is software that improves the policy-drafting process with automated and intuitive features.

This article will provide insights into the most important aspects of drafting policies and how technology can facilitate it as an effortless process.

What Factors Enable a Well-Drafted Policy?

Factors that ensure this is achieved include:

• A clear intent for the policy – what does it ultimately seek to achieve?
• A customizable policy template with all required fields
• Clearly assigned document owners, drafters, reviewers and approvers;
• Clear, unfussy language that is technically on point; and 
• Adherence to the structure, tone, and language of parent documentation or other, allied documentation within the organization, as needed.

A Proven Software Solution to Policy Drafting

The ConvergePoint platform provides an example of how software can enable an effortless policy drafting process. It achieves this by simplifying the policy-creation process, with a variety of different and exciting features that include:

(i) A rock-solid platform: ConvergePoint is purposefully and entirely built on Microsoft’s SharePoint platform. That means your policies will be drafted from within a highly-respected and fundamentally secure ecosystem, i.e. that offered by Microsoft’s SharePoint in the case of ConvergePoint. This should give your team members peace of mind when drafting their policies, knowing that drafts won’t suddenly ‘disappear’ and that editing documents with tracked changes and added comments will be as easy as with any MS Word document.

(ii) Pre-set templates: it is true that not all documentation is created equally. Metadata and other documented requirements may differ between different document families or between different departments within your organization. However, your organization can still benefit from having the reliability and convenience of pre-set templates available with our software. 

(iii) The option of customization: Modern policy-drafting software should be highly customizable, even as you enjoy the familiarity and security of pre-existing templates. You will know what customization suits your enterprise best.

For example, you may wish your documentation to be more efficient in terms of metadata inputs, such as those relating to specific departments or users. Or you may focus instead in the inclusion of certain tagged words or phrases. All these additions or ‘tweaks’ (and more) are available, for example, with ConvergePoint’s customizable templates.

Harnessing AI

We are well into the 2020s, and, as such, policy-related software should have features that harness the speed, intuition, and efficiency that artificial intelligence (AI) offers. One solution is an analysis feature in the form of a plugin with embedded AI. Such a plugin can provide multiple functionalities.

For example, comparative analysis with existing documentation can be especially beneficial when first drafting a policy. The AI plugin does just that, allowing for the comparison of a new policy with existing policies and procedures already in your system. The plugin can also analyze proposed clauses in the new policy with matching or similar clauses in other existing documents in which similar clauses may already be available for use or slight tweaking.

Another functionality of this AI plugin is its ability to generate a summary of the document that is comprehensive and entirely on point. A further functionality is that the plugin allows you to insert specific metadata tags within a document. These metadata tags can be inserted or removed as needed. This can be invaluable during the policy’s drafting, as well as when it needs to be reviewed at a later stage. 

All-Important Collaborations

No policy is drafted in a vacuum. Policies typically require varied inputs from different users. However, collaboration is all about communication. Any lapses in communication could result in missed deadlines, or, even more seriously, a compromised or sub-standard policy.

For example, ConvergePoint’s software has built-in features that enhance collaborative efforts. It features automatically generated email notifications and alerts in place from the very beginning of a document’s life. These alerts can also be generated within Microsoft Teams, thereby ensuring that those involved in the drafting of a policy are up to speed when collaborating on a policy.

The drafting of policies and procedures need not be a laborious, protracted and overly complex effort. Modern software for the drafting of these documents should ensure an effortless process that is smart and collaborative. AI has done much to make this not only a possibility but easily attainable.