Automating Policy Approval for Higher Education Institutes

Higher education institutes require efficient policy management to ensure compliance with regulations and accreditation requirements. Policies form the foundation of these institutions. 

Managing policies and procedures across an entire campus, especially in a multi-campus system, is a significant responsibility. Having a robust and effective system for policy management is essential. 

Managing the policy life cycle comes with its own set of challenges. However, one of the most challenging stages in policy management is conducting a seamless policy approval process. 

As a Policy and Compliance leader, the Policy Officer typically manages tasks such as communicating drafted policies, tracking updates, and facilitating approval and release. However, manually managing the policy approval process can be extremely stressful due to its complexity. 

Challenges

Policy Officers often encounter numerous challenges during the policy approval process, with some of the most prominent issues being:  

• Inefficient collaboration among teams and departments can hinder manual policy management. Effective communication and coordination are crucial for stakeholder involvement. 
• Maintaining transparency in manual processes can pose difficulties. Clarity on responsibility and stakeholder visibility may be lacking in the approval process. 
• Manual policy approval processes prove time-consuming and inefficient. Administrative tasks like emailing, change tracking, and documentation maintenance hinder efficiency. 
• Managing policy versions and ensuring review and approval of the latest one can pose significant challenges, leading to confusion and inconsistencies. 

Solution

PolicyOps by VComply is a unique and highly trusted Policy Management Solution embraced by North American Higher Education Institutes. The platform streamlines and automates policy approval processes of any scale. 

The following are the key features of the platform that facilitate effective policy approval across the organization: 

Steps to follow

As a policy officer struggling with manual policy management and approval communication, follow these steps to streamline your tasks: 

Step 1: Bring all approvers onto the same platform

Bring policy approvers from various departments and campuses to VComply’s central digital space. Onboard them using their emails, enabling a streamlined digital approval process.  

This eliminates the need for physical visits, saving valuable time. 

Step 2: To create an Approval Workflow for process automation

The next step to automate the policy approval process is to establish an Approval Workflow.  

This enables you to specify approvers, the sequence of approval steps, and create efficient approval workflows tailored to specific policy categories. 

This eliminates the need for in-person meetings with approvers and fosters improved collaboration. 

Step 3: Automate alerts and notifications

Once you initiate an approval process, automatic alerts and notifications are sent to approvers.  

According to the predefined timeline, approvers receive regular emails and notifications until they complete policy reviews and approvals.  

This significantly alleviates the task of sending individual emails and reminder calls, promoting effective communication.

Step 4: Monitor policy edits and review feedback

The days of conducting manual policy reviews and making edits with pen and paper are gone.  

The Policy Workroom enables approvers to share their review feedback as comments and edit the policy content as needed. All edits are updated in real-time with proper version control. 

Step 5: Empower approvers to approve policies online

The final step in the policy approval process is to provide approval comments and consent.  

VComply empowers approvers to accomplish this online using the policy workroom. They simply need to click the ‘Approve’ button within the policy workroom, add their comments, and save their consent.  

Once approved, all other approvers, including you as the policy officer, will receive real-time updates on the status. This fosters consistent information sharing and enhances transparency in the process.