Unit5Assign/DiscSCPP

Elements of a Standard Policy Statement

1. Policy Title a. Key points to follow when determining the policy b. Title must include verbs to either show separation from another closely titled

policy, or to indicate which portion of the topic will be covered by the policy

Example: Establishment of operational rules for office activities; acceptable and unacceptable activities.

2. Brief Description a. A short summary of the policy in 150 words; specific details should not be

included 3. Policy Applies to …

a. Specify who the policy is targeting i. Business

1. Board of Directors 2. Executives 3. Middle Management 4. General Personnel

ii. Non-Profit 1. Board of Directors 2. Executives 3. Program Directors 4. Program service personnel

iii. Government 1. Legislative Body 2. Judicial Body 3. Executive 4. Program Managers 5. Program service personnel 6. Program Delivery

4. Reason for Policy a. Information in this section answers the question, Why does the Policy need to

exist. Key areas include: i. Program, legal or regulatory reasons ii. Description of the conflict or problem the policy will solve iii. What are the overall expected benefits? iv. If there are other laws, rules, regulations, policies or practices that this

proposed policy is associated with, specifically reference these in this section.

b. What not to include i. Should not include the history of how the policy was developed and

neither should it contain any procedural steps. 5. Introduction

a. Describe the steps that were taken to develop the policy (i.e., community involvement, agency personnel recommendations, administrators’ comments.) in no more than 250 words

6. Policy Statement a. This is the most important section. INCLUDE IN THIS SECTION:

i. Who is the primary audience (who needs to follow this policy?) ii. In what situation(s) does this policy not apply iii. What are the major conditions or restrictions? iv. What is expected of employees, governing body? v. Are their special situations where the policy is excluded?

• {Here are the rules for the policy owner/writer to follow when drafting the policy statement:

o Sentences and paragraphs must be clear and understandable for the target audience.

o Acronyms may be used if spelled out completely the first time the phrase is used (e.g., principal director (PD), National incident Management Association (NIMA).

o Use strong action words (will, must, are responsible for, etc). Do not use “shall” in the policy statement.

• What not to include: o The policy statement should not include background details on the policy nor

should it contain procedural steps. Avoid using a specific label, such as the name of a software product. Generic terms are more long lasting and require less future maintenance.

7. Definitions a. Terms such as “procedures,” “guidelines,” – define unfamiliar or technical terms

or terms with special meanings. 8. Related Policies, Procedures, Forms, Guidelines, and other Resources

a. List information (documents and sources) that supports the specific policy in this section such as: Administrative Policy Statements, Procedures, Forms, Guidelines, and other resources.

9. History a. This is a record of policy changes by date with any summary of changes.

10. Key Words a. List of related terms, or phrases both found and not found in the Policy

statement that other people might use to search for the policy.