The GVO provides a comprehensive way to manage Policies. The review & approval process is recorded and reminders are sent out to 'policy owners' when the Policy needs to be reviewed. Policies may optionally be published 'publicly' (on the school or college website). A full reporting tool is available.
The life-cycle of a policy is shown below....
The GVO provides three folders for policies (live, archive and under development)...
Each Policy has a set of characteristics that you add when the policy is created/reviewed.
Inside the policy are the actual documents...
When the policy is created complete the relevant fields...
The Policy type comes from a list that can be managed by the local GVO Manager (see GVO Administration Settings help).
The Policy owner can be an individual, several people or a 'group'. The people identified as owners will be notified 60 days* before the policy is due for review via the weekly newsletter and also on the Calendar.
*This warning period can be adjusted by the GVO Manager in 'Settings'
Policies are usually created in the 'Under Development' folder with status 'draft' and the 'comment' function is used to discussion aspects of the policy and to note approval by relevant governors. When the policy is 'approved' it can be moved to the 'current policies' folder (Actions/Move).
If the system is used by all Governors many policies can be reviewed and approved online without the need for long and time-consuming meetings.
In one school the process is operated as follows for a new Policy or a Policy review:-
1. The Policy 'Owner' produces the 'draft policy' add adds this to the 'Policies Under Development' folder
POLICY RENEWAL/PERIODIC REVIEW
For a Policy Review/Renewal it is recommended to leave the 'current' version in the 'Current Policy' folder and to create a NEW POLICY in the Policies Under Development folder.
When the new version is finalised/ratified it can be moved to CURRENT and the previous one moved to the Archive - then ensures that the comments and approvals are kept against each 'version' as a record and there is always a 'live' Policy in place if needed.
2. A 'Notification' is sent to the people who need to review the policy
3. The document is reviewed and any comments/questions are added using the 'comments' function. When the document is in its final version a call for approval is made. Governors use the 'Approval' function to mark their approval.
4. When the Policy has the required approvals then Policy is moved into the 'Final' status and the Approvals are 'LOCKED' and the Policy is moved to the Current Policy folder and the old version is 'archived'.
5. The whole process to approve the policy is formally 'minuted' at the next meeting with all the hard work having been done outside the meeting in GVO.
By using this process Policies can be reviewed and approved offline in a timely manner - if there are any contentious issues then a meeting is called to discuss.
If you would like any assistance with the 'Policy Lifecycle' or with setting up policy folder structures please contact the GVO Support Desk on 01273 921066