A Compilation of Contributions

ACUPA’s Blog Committee would like to take this opportunity to reintroduce members to our blog, Policy Matters ! Policy Matters launched in 2018 taking the place of ACUPAexchange , a triannual newsletter publication. The original purpose of the blog was to address the needs of our members and maximize the efficiency of our processes. To highlight the efforts of current and past Blog Committee members, as well as volunteer contributors, all posts published since the inception of the blog have been organized alphabetically into categories based on theme and are linked below for easy access.

ACUPA (General)

ACUPA Blog Committee Welcomes Policy Experts

ACUPA Website Features

Welcome to the New Blog!

Accessibility

Are Your Policies Accessible? Part 1: An Introduction to Web Accessibility

Are Your Policies Accessible? Part 2: Common Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

Are Your Policies Accessible? Part 3: Automating Accessibility in Custom Word Templates

Are Your Policies Fully Available to Your Stakeholders?

Hybrid/Remote Work

Adapt to an Online Environment to Develop Policies

And Now We Zoom...

Hybrid Work Schedules

Pivot to a Remote Work Environment

Pandemic and Policy

A Sea of Change and a Pandemic

Campus Changes in Light of the Coronavirus

Moving toward a New Normal

Policy Changes on Steroids and I'm Over It

Policy Matters Open Forum Covid

To Vax, or not to Vax

Policy in the News

Policy in the News (2023)

Policy in the News (2022)

Policy in the News (2021)

Policy in the News (2020)

Policy in the News (2019)

The Policy Process

Always Getting Better

Benchmarking Policies

Choose Your Words Carefully

Do I Really Need a Policy and Procedure?

Do You Cite References in Policy?

Do you evaluate your policy objectives?

Expediting Policies to Address Organizational Risks

Inclusive Policy Development

Increase Awareness of and Participation in Policy Development

Let's Talk About Procedures!

Organizing a Policy Catalog

Our Language Matters

Policies as More than Rules

Policy Development – Are Templates Required?

Policies Requiring Public Review and Comment

Project Management

The First Element

What Is a Policy?

When Your Steering Committee Fails to Steer

Where Does Your Policy Function Belong?

Where have all the Policies Gone? Part I

Where have all the Policies Gone? Part II

Roles and Responsibilities of Policy Professionals

Beyond the Policy Administrators Role

Defining Career Success

Other Duties as Assigned

So, What Do You Do?

What it Takes to be an Effective Policy Administrator

What’s In Your Policy Closet?

Software, Programs, and Digitization

Behind the Scenes of Policy Data

Customize Your Microsoft Word Experience (I)

Customize Your Microsoft Word Experience (II)

Easily Convert Web Pages to PDF Format

In Search of Innovation

Policy Administration for the Digital Age

Version Control, Auto Saving, and Collaborative Editing

Title IX

Historical View of Title IX

Title IX Officers are the People Who Stay Awake at Night

Miscellaneous

Bereavement Leave

Betting on College Sports

Equity Review at Georgia Gwinnett College

Is Technology Dictating Policy?

Is Your Institution Ready for the Robot Invasion?

Learning and Love

"Operation Varsity Blues": High Stakes Testing in College Admissions

Policy and Political Activism

Protecting Essential Records -- Key to Surviving a Catastrophe

Reducing Risks to Institutional Data

Student Interns as Valued Employees

The Joining of Two Community Colleges

The Power of P3s

The Robots are Coming

The Violence of the Last Six Months

Thoughts on Retirement

Values in Action

As was stated in the inaugural blog post, we continue to appeal to you, our members, to help us evolve and decide whether the information shared in the featured posts are relevant and interesting. Do you have an idea for a blog post? Ultimately, this blog is for you, our members, and your submissions are encouraged and welcomed! If you are interested in contributing as a guest (maybe you are interested in being interviewed to share your own experiences as a policy professional), becoming a member of the Blog Committee, or want to share an idea for a topic to be explored through a post, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Framework Recommendations Instead of Templates

In conversations and webinars with other policy administrators, the debate about whether or not to use templates for writing and developing policies continually comes up. A number of institutions mandate the use of one or more templates for their users who want to develop policy and/or procedures documents.

I've worked for the past 25 years in the administrative policies office for Washington State University. We've chosen not to use a template for developing the administrative policies and/or procedures our office publishes. We do have a style guide, but it’s mostly involved with formatting and layout so that sections and policies have a uniform “look.” Our choice has predominantly been based on the idea of providing flexibility to our subject expert departments as they update or add new sections to our long-established administrative policy manuals.

In accordance with WSU's executive Policy on Policies (EP5), departments may begin development of their administrative policy/procedure rough drafts prior to bringing my office into the process or may request our assistance with developing the drafts from the beginning. As subject expert administrators get started, we do occasionally get requests for policy framework guidance from those who are new to policy writing and development.

Here’s a general outline that my office recommends for writing a new policy or policy/procedure section for placement in one of our administrative manuals:

• Overview and/or Policy Statement
  
  It’s sometimes useful to have both. If a section is especially long, placing a set of links to subsections in the document in the overview can be useful. For examples, see the beginnings of WSU's policy sections EP8 and EP38.
  
  In a section that's predominantly procedural, an overview might be more appropriate as a place to provide a summary of or references to the applicable policy.
  
  
• Purpose
  
  A purpose statement provides a brief description of the purpose of the policy and/or activity. In some cases, a purpose statement is provided in an overview or policy statement.
  
  
• Scope
  
  A scope statement describes the limitations or boundaries of the policy/procedure. Some writers choose to combine scope statements/subsections in either an overview or policy statement or within an applicability statement.
  
  
• Applicability
  
  An applicability statement or subsection describes the members of the institution's community (internal and/or external) directly impacted by the policy and/or expected to follow the policy/procedures.
  
  
• Roles and Responsibilities
  
  Roles and responsibilities statements provide a summary of the actions and/expectations each employee or role category is expected to fulfill with relation to the policy/procedures.
  
  
• Requirements
  
  Policy requirements are provided in this subsection. If procedures are included, any required procedural steps would be provided in the order the actions are to occur.
  
  
• Procedures (if applicable)
  
  Some institutions choose to keep policies and procedures separate. At WSU, we have quite a number of combined policy and procedures sections in our administrative manuals. For the most part, we recommend publishing procedures and policy/procedures within our business and safety manuals. However, we do have a small number of executive policies in which the executive administrators insisted upon including both policies and procedures.
  
  
• Definitions
  
  We recommend providing definitions applicable to the policy/procedures in their own subsection, especially if terms are used that are specific to a subject and/or include jargon. If there are only one or two terms that need to be defined, the definitions may be included directly with the reference.
  
  If this subsection is short, it might be placed after the applicability statement. However, if the definitions list is longer than a page, we often recommend placing the subsection at or near the end and providing an internal document link and/or reference, if needed, earlier in the policy.
  
  
• Additional Resources
  An additional resources subsection provides descriptions or lists and references (e.g., website URLs) including, but not limited to, supporting department contacts, state and federal agencies' websites, other supporting or related institutional policies and procedures.

Every policy office and institution handles their policy development process differently, and there's really no right or wrong answer. Does your institution mandate policy/procedure templates? Or make framework recommendations? Things to consider for both you and your users…

NOTE: ACUPA members have access to a number of resources, including templates, samples, and other tools that you may find useful in writing and developing your policies and procedures. To access the Templates and Tools under the Resources tab, sign in as a member.