Managing Policies

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Managing policies consists of the following:

• Creating a policy manual, or book, for storing policy standards
• Adding standards to the policy
• Associating the standard with a role
• Associating the standard with a management record
• Associating the policy with a workflow

To view the permissions associated with Policies and Waivers, see the permissions associated with the WAIVERS group in the Permissions List.

The first step in setting up a policy requires the creation of a hierarchical folder structure—called the Policy Tree— to store the policy standards.  Each top-level folder you create represents a separate policy (or "book" of standards); the top-level folder is also referred to as the "parent node." The parent node folder may contain multiple subfolders—or levels— also in a hierarchical structure, but the parent node folder itself cannot contain a standard.   The points below govern where standards are placed within the Policy Tree:  Standards reside only at the lowest level of a branch of the Policy Tree.  The creation of a standard in a folder automatically sets the "lowest level" for that branch. Each branch of a Policy Tree can have as many levels as you require. You may continue to create sublevels within a folder as long as the folder does not contain any standards. As soon as standards have been added to a folder, the functionality to add new levels is no longer available. If you delete the standards in a folder, then you can create additional sublevel folders.

Adding Levels to the Policy Tree As you create levels within the Policy Tree, right click on a folder. The options for adding levels or standards will display to the right of each folder as shown:

1. Go to System > Policies & Waivers > Policies.
2. Click the NEW button. The Policy Table of Contents page opens.
   
   
3. Right-click the NEW POLICY folder. Two menu options appear in the menu: CREATE LEVEL and RENAME.
   
   
4. Select the RENAME command.
   
   
5. Enter a name for this policy manual.
   
   
6. Right-click on the folder and select the CREATE LEVEL command.
   
   
7. A new folder is created inside the top level folder. Click the "+" icon to open the new sub-folder.
   
   
8. Enter a name for this sub-folder.
   
   
   
9. To create another folder at this level, right-click the top-level folder and select CREATE LEVEL.
   
   
10. Enter a name for the next sub-folder.
    
    

    Continue to add as many second-level folders as required. If you require third-level folders as well, simply right-click on a second-level folder to place a new folder inside.

11. When the folder structure is complete, click RETURN.
    
    

To delete a policy:

1. Check the box beside the policy that you want to delete.
   
   
2. Click the DELETE button.
   
   

To rename a level:

1. Right-click on the folder.
2. Select the RENAME command. You may then enter a new name for the level.
   
   

To delete a level:

1. Right-click on the folder.
2. Select the DELETE LEVEL command.
   
   

Standards (or "Policy Standards") are stored in the folder that resides in the lowest level of the hierarchy. You may add as many standards as necessary, but they must be placed in the lowest level folder.

1. Log on as a user with permission to create a new policy. See the Permissions List and view permissions in the WAIVERS group.
2. Go to System > Policies & Waivers > Policies.
3. Select the policy folder to open it.
4. Right-click on the folder and select ADD STANDARD.
   
   
5. Enter a name for the standard, and any keywords that locations requesting a waiver to this standard can use to search for it.
6. In the STANDARD REFERENCE field, enter a Reference ID for this standard. Note that this field is required. It does not need to be unique. You may assign the same Reference ID to similar standards, for example.
7. If this standard is eligible for a waiver, check the WAIVER ELIGIBLE checkbox.
8. Enter the text of this standard.
9. The DIRECTIVE and IMPLEMENTATION GUIDANCE fields are optional and can be used to provide a reason for this standard, as well as supplemental information.
10. Click the SAVE button.

To edit a standard:

1. Right-click on the policy that you want to edit and select VIEW STANDARD.
   
   
2. Click the EDIT button.
   
   
3. Edit the policy.
4. Click SAVE.

To delete a standard:

1. Right-click on the policy that you want to edit.
2. Select DELETE STANDARD. The standard is removed from the folder.
   
   

1. Locate the standard, then right-click on it and select VIEW STANDARD.
   
   
2. Click the MANAGEMENT tab. A list of all management records associated with this standard is displayed.
   
   
3. Click the ADD button.
   
   
4. Select the management record(s) that you want to associate with this standard.
   
   
5. Click the SAVE button.

This standard will apply to all locations within the selected management record(s).

The order in which roles are added to a standard is extremely important if using an AUTOMATIC workflow type, as this type of workflow progresses in the order in which the roles are added to a standard.

1. Locate the standard, then right-click on it and select VIEW STANDARD.
   
   
2. Click the ROLES tab.
   
   
3. Click the ADD button.
   
   

   You may add multiple roles at one time. However, because the order in which you add roles (the order the roles appear on the ROLES tab) determines the order in which an AUTOMATIC workflow progresses, it may be necessary to add one role at a time to maintain the proper order.

    

4. Select the role to associate with this standard.
   
   
5. Click the SAVE button.

The person(s) assigned to the role specified here will be responsible for approving the waiver.

Each policy must be associated with a workflow. It determines how a waiver to any standard within the policy moves through the approval process. If you haven't already created workflows, you'll need to come back to the policy later and associate it with a workflow. It is extremely important to remember to do this -- a waiver cannot be approved without an associated workflow!

Also, remember that each top-level folder represents a single policy. You are associating the workflow to every standard within the policy, regardless of its placement within the policy hierarchy.

1. Go to System > Policies & Waivers > Policies.
2. Click on the Policy to select it.
3. Click the WORKFLOW tab.
   
   
4. Select the workflow from the droplist.
   
   
5. Click the SAVE button. Whenever a waiver is requested on a standard in this policy, the selected workflow will be used for the approval process.
6. Click RETURN to return to the list of policies.

ref: Waivers