OPERATIONS • RESPONSIBILITY • ACCOUNTABILITY

Policies and Procedures are the link between your Company's vision and its day to day operations. Well written policies establish clear guidelines on business operations and what is expected from your employees.

To understand the difference between a Policy and a Procedure, we will define each for you:

Policies
A policy is a predetermined course of action which is established to provide a guide toward accepted business strategies and objectives. It is a direct link between an organization's "Vision" and their day-to-day operations. Policies identify the key activities and provide a general strategy to decision-makers on how to handle issues as they arise. This is accomplished by providing the reader with limits and a choice of alternatives that can be used to "guide" their decision making process as they attempt to overcome problems.

Procedures
Procedures provide the reader with a clear and easily understood plan of action required to carry out or implement a policy. A well written procedure will also help eliminate common misunderstandings by identifying job responsibilities and establishing boundaries for the job holders. Good procedures actually allow managers to control events in advance and prevent the organization (and employees) from making costly mistakes.

Major differences between policies & procedures are identified below:

Policies:
• Are general in nature
• Identify company rules
• Explain why they exist
• Tells when the rule applies
• Describes who it covers
• Shows how the rule is enforcement
• Describes the consequences
• Are normally described using simple sentences & paragraphs

Procedures:
• Identify specific actions
• Explain when to take actions
• Describes alternatives
• Shows emergency procedures
• Includes warning & cautions
• Gives examples
• Shows how to complete forms
• Are normally written using an outline format

Policies & procedures are required when there is a need for consistency in your day-to-day operational activities. Policies and procedures also provide clarity to the reader when dealing with accountability issues or activities that are of critical importance to the company, such as, health & safety, legal liabilities, regulatory requirements or issues that have serious consequences.

If your organization already has established Policies & Procedures how can you determine if they are meeting your needs? A few "Critical" signs that your policies and procedures need to be reviewed and updated would include an increase in the number of accidents, higher failure rates or costly overruns. The workforce can also provide important clues that your company's policies and procedures need to be reviewed. These clues could include more staff questions on "normal operations" or a feeling of general confusion within a department or division. Employees may also be demonstrating inconsistency in their job performance and there may be an increase in the workforce's stress levels. Finally, your customers may provide additional clues in the form of increasing complaints.

Major benefits that policies and procedures can provide are:

• Employees are provided with information that allows them freedom to carry out their job and make decisions within defined boundaries. 
• Employees understand the constraints of their job without using a "trail and error" approach
• Policies & procedures enable the workforce to clearly understand individual & team responsibilities
• Clearly written policies & procedures allow managers to exercise control by exception rather than "micro-manage" their staff

We provide clear and concise IT Policy and Procedure Management services to make sure your team stays on track and your organization can run efficiently and consistently. Our planning carefully follows industry guidelines needed to make sure you develop, adopt, and distribute uniform IT policies and procedures to aid in information technology resource management and deployment.

For more information about our IT Policy and Procedure Business Planning services, please contact us today.

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