New Policy Format Update on PolicyConnect

We are continuing to enhance the structure of our policy content through the roll out of the New Policy Format. The aim of this update is to apply a more consistent formatting approach to policy content. This approach to policy formatting significantly increases schools’ opportunity to contextualise Ideagen CompliSpace content while maintaining the legislative compliance of the content.

Please note that at this time, the New Policy Format will be applied to our Education customers only. The timeline for other industries has not yet been determined. 

How Was the New Policy Format Developed and What Does it Look Like? 

The New Policy Format has been designed to: 

• reflect best practice policy management, including:
  • how regulators, government departments and universities format policy content
  • international best practice policy management as researched by the Open Compliance and Ethics Group (OCEG) 
• implement key regulator/accreditor feedback and requirements
• incorporate over two years of customer feedback
• increase the consistency of policy content across Policy Modules
• increase options to contextualise and structure Ideagen CompliSpace content pages. 

Key Benefits of the New Policy Format 

The New Policy Format will: 

• provide additional options to contextualise and structure Ideagen CompliSpace content pages
• enable schools to ‘top and tail’ each policy with their own key introductory and policy control information
• enable schools to add as much additional procedural information per policy as they need
• provide greater accessibility and usability of content for all users, including school staff, the school community and school regulators/accreditors. 

What the New Policy Format Won’t Do 

The New Policy Format will not:

• affect any existing contextualisation completed by your school on PolicyConnect
• impact any user-generated content created by your school on PolicyConnect
• change existing policy content – it is a format change only. 

 

Implementation of the New Policy Format Update on PolicyConnect 

The New Policy Format Update is being made available to one Policy Module at a time on PolicyConnect to allow schools to review and update the additional contextualisation options at their own pace. 

This update is being rolled out in the same way as other Ideagen CompliSpace content updates, requiring schools to review and publish the New Policy Format via the Content Status Screen for each Policy Module on their PolicyConnect site. Please refer to the following article for further information on How to Publish Content Updates (Made by Ideagen CompliSpace). 

After accepting the Update for each Module, a combination of “Required” and “Optional” Variable Questions and Context Keys will be added. Please refer to the following articles for further information on contextualising Ideagen CompliSpace policy content: 

• How to Edit Variables in the New Policy Format
• How to Edit Context Keys in the New Policy Format

Most, if not all, of the Context Keys added as part of the New Policy Format Update are “Optional” and relate to the formatting and structure of the content pages. These Context Keys can be completed on an as needs basis.

As part of the New Policy Format Update, a new Context Key for Policy Control/Administration Information will be added to each policy page. The inclusion of this Context Key reflects best practice policy management and regulator expectations across the country to have policy control information. Depending on which Module this Context Key appears in, it may be listed as “Required” or “Optional” to complete.

If you choose to include the Policy Administration heading, or if it is required for the policy (or policies) you’re referring to, then you should complete the related Context Key at the bottom of the page to include relevant information such as Policy Owner, Last Review Date, Next Review Date, etc.

When the New Policy Format is released to a particular Policy Module, customers that subscribe to that Module will receive an email communication with further details and actions to take. This communication will include us confirming whether the Policy Control/Administration Information Context Key is “Required” or “Optional” for policies within the Module.

We have also given you the option to change the headings used in the policies and procedures throughout the Module. For example, you could change the Procedures heading to Actions if that’s the preferred terminology used by your organisation. For more information on this, refer to the “Setting Your Policy Template” page in the Executive Summary of the Module.