The Top Policy and Procedure Management Challenges and How to Solve Them

2 minute read

July 2016

Corporate policies – from HR guidelines to pricing rules — set the standards, outline the operations and shape the culture of an organization. So it goes without saying that having a good handle on your company’s policies and procedure management is crucial. But it’s not easy: with constantly changing regulations, an increasing number of vendor relationships and more customer-facing documents, the policy landscape of a company continues to become more complex.

The ProcessUnity team discussed these policy and procedure management challenges and more on a recent webinar hosted by Compliance Week magazine. During the session, we outlined solutions to a number of today’s policy and procedure management challenges:

Hazards Help
Policy Ownership & Accountability Documents start to slip through the cracks as there are too many moving parts and players involved. Use an automated process to track workflow and connect policy owners with all relevant people and documents.
Single Source of Truth Employees may be accessing outdated documents. Create auditable trails with date and time stamping for historical record.
“Read and Understood” Certifications Static policy and procedure libraries are not actively distributed. The read and understood documentation relies on manual processes. Use push tools and reports that automatically send policies and additional alerts for incomplete certifications.
Visibility into Regulatory  Impact With changing regulations, it may be unclear which policies are affected, and who should be responsible for the changes. Link policies to related regulations such that a subsequent search of a regulation can prompt relevant policies/procedures.
Exception & Violation Management Passive policies do not account for the reasons and results of exceptions, creating a disconnect between the company’s principles and practices. Record who, what, why and when. This creates strong evidence to manage and confront exceptions or violations.

In evaluating your organization’s policy and procedure management framework, what challenges do you face? How automated are your processes? Watch the Compliance Week webinar replay and learn how to tackle your biggest policy and procedure management challenges.

Related Articles

About Us

ProcessUnity is a leading provider of cloud-based applications for risk and compliance management. The company’s software as a service (SaaS) platform gives organizations the control to assess, measure, and mitigate risk and to ensure the optimal performance of key business processes. ProcessUnity’s flagship solution, ProcessUnity Vendor Risk Management, protects companies and their brands by reducing risks from third-party vendors and suppliers. ProcessUnity helps customers effectively and efficiently assess and monitor both new and existing vendors – from initial due diligence and onboarding through termination. Headquartered outside of Boston, Massachusetts, ProcessUnity is used by the world’s leading financial service firms and commercial enterprises. For more information, visit www.processunity.com.