As a business owner, you know that to be successful, you need to have policies, processes, and procedures in place. Written business policies and procedures communicate your expectations about appropriate employee performance boundaries, says Malinda Zellman, a contributing writer at Chron. One of the most tangible benefits of having a good business process system in place is the cost efficiency that it can provide to your business. By utilizing software that can help you manage your business policies and procedures, you can achieve your business goals and simplify how you manage processes within your business. Here are the top five features that a policy and procedure management software program should provide your business.
Ease of Implementation
An effective policy and procedure management software program should have the ability to be delivered from the cloud and easily implement and supported. You should have to install any software, need support from the local IT company, or have expert computer skills. You also want to make sure that training is included as part of the support package.
Standard Format and Central Repository
The program that you choose should have one single location that you can manage policies and procedures in, as well as any other business-critical documents for your business. All your content should be able to be stored in one online location that is easily accessible through the Internet, without having to install additional software. It also needs to provide you a consistent format for data that can be quickly organized for quick location, to save you and your employees valuable time.
Acknowledgment
Any policy management program should require users to verify that they’ve not only received the policy but that they’ve read it and agreed to it. The acknowledgment should include the date and offer the capability to question the user on the content of the policy or procedure. Without it, they may claim that they never received the policy.
Policy Archiving
There should be a way, in any good policy management software program, to archive older versions of policies once they’ve been updated. If action needs to be taken regarding a prior period, you should have the ability to produce the different versions of the policy to demonstrate what policy was in effect at a given period. When a program allows versioning, all the historical data of the document can be maintained in the archive for a lifetime, while only displaying the current policy.
Support and Training
You should expect your policy and procedure program to provide training and help when needed. Look for a program that will provide free training for life and access to technical experts. It should allow you to contact the company for issues via email, web, or phone, so you can quickly resolve any complex issues that may arise.
Having policies and procedures in place results in improved process control, according to the site Fresh HR Insights, and ensures that your staff will be able to work on a consistent basis to fulfill your company vision and achieve success. Utilizing policy and procedure management software will allow you to keep these essential policies and procedures in place easily.
