How to Implement a Policy Management Software Solution Without Disrupting Your Workflow

Change is often necessary for growth, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy. In business operations, introducing a new workflow or software can feel daunting, especially when it impacts critical processes. Implementing a policy management software solution is no exception. While it can streamline policy creation, updates, distribution, and compliance, successfully integrating it into your organization requires careful planning to avoid disrupting productivity or overwhelming employees.

A well-planned implementation can keep the transition smooth without slowing down operations, but what does that implementation look like? In this article, we’ll discuss best practices for seamless implementation of a policy management software solution, from conception to employee compliance. Let’s get started! 

Assess Your Organization’s Needs

At this point you probably know that finding the perfect policy management software solution requires more than just choosing the first option you come across on Google—you need to do your research to determine what available solutions will complement the goals and workflow of your company. 

To accomplish this, the first step is identifying and assessing current pain points in your organization’s existing policy management workflow. Does your business struggle with policy compliance? With employee comprehension of policies and procedures? With effective distribution of new or revised policies? Identifying weak spots will help you determine what features to prioritize in a digital solution for policy management. 

Next, identify your key objectives, and use those to determine what, exactly you hope to achieve for your organization by implementing a policy management software solution. Consider factors like compliance improvement, efficiency, document version control, and automation.

Keep in mind as well that running a business and optimizing its policies and workflows should be a team sport. Conversations about desired properties in a possible policy software acquisition should involve all relevant team members and stakeholders. Consider looping policy managers, compliance officers, HR team members, IT experts, and employees into this process. Ultimately, your team should work together to ensure that whatever software you choose can grow as your organization does, while integrating seamlessly with the business’s existing tools. 

Choose the Right Policy Management Software Solution

After identifying exactly what you’re looking for, and what elements of policy and procedure management you want a management software solution to address, it’s time to start looking! When browsing the various available solutions for policy management, look at each option’s advertised properties, and seek out software with features that will help optimize policy management within your organization.

Features to look for should include:

• Centralized policy repository: Centralized documents for policy creation and approval will make it easier than ever to collaborate with and seek feedback from employees and stakeholders. 
• Version control and audit trails: Be sure that it’s easy and intuitive to track changes and updates to documents, providing a thorough, comprehensive record to ensure compliance and accountability. 
• Automated distribution with acknowledgement tracking: Automatically roll out policies to employees, while digitally tracking and recording employee responses. 
• Custom workflows and approval processes: Customizable workflows allow systems to integrate with the existing structure of a company, providing a seamless transition. 
• Reporting and analytics capabilities: Go one step further with response analysis by choosing a software solution that provides dashboard metrics and reporting graphics in real time based on employee responses and input. 

While you peruse advertised features of each policy management software solution, make sure that the company soliciting that software is capable of providing the necessary support to your organization as you transition to a new platform—and beyond. The team behind that software should value your company and your employees, always going that extra mile to guarantee that your organization has exactly what it needs. 

Develop a Phased Rollout Plan

After you’ve found and obtained the perfect policy management software to meet the requirements of your company, that doesn’t mean your job is over! Now, it’s time to introduce and distribute the new platform to everyone within the organization who will need to use it.

To make the process as seamless and painless as possible for employees, don’t just implement a new system all at once. Instead, before company-wide deployment of the new system, pilot it with a small team of trusted employees, managers, or stakeholders. Identify possible pain points or areas for growth in the new software, then adjust configurations before expanding rollout further.

Next, gradually transition teams to the new system, to avoid overwhelming employees, maybe by implementing the software department by department, or location by location. During this transition period, continue to run the old system alongside the new software, to help employees adapt while safeguarding against the loss of critical policy data. Gradually shift responsibilities to the new system, eventually phasing out manual or outdated processes. 

Train Employees for Adoption

Your workforce is the lifeblood of your organization, and the best policy management software solution in the business won’t do much good if your employees don’t understand or use it. When introducing a new system for policy management within your organization, don’t neglect to train employees on how the software works, how to use it, and how it will benefit them and the company as a whole. 

It may be helpful during this process to provide tools like live demos, video tutorials, and user guides. Additionally, be sure to provide role-specific training, since administrators, policy creators, and general members of your workforce will all utilize the platform differently during day-to-day operations. 

Some employees may be resistant to change, even a change with obvious material benefits. Meet this resistance by laying out the benefits of efficiency improvements and increased compliance at every turn. Clearer, more efficient policy management with more thorough, streamlined and concise workflows will help everybody within the company, not just leadership! 

Trust ComplianceBridge for Your Policy Management Software Needs

Introducing new workflow-altering software into a business can be an intimidating proposition, but a thoughtful, measured rollout of the right tools for policy management can help take your company’s policy administration and compliance to the next level. Make that rollout even more painless by choosing ComplianceBridge and its intuitive, automated software for policy management, which streamlines and optimizes every single step. 

Our software centralizes policy and procedure creation, letting all contributing team members collaborate in a single document with viewable version history, easily accessible cloud storage, customizable workflows for review and approval, and available templates to allow standardization. 

After policies are created, updated, or revised, ComplianceBridge allows targeted distribution of those policies to relevant employees, departments or locations. Automated reminders, notifications, and real-time acknowledgement tracking guarantee employee understanding and compliance, without letting unread emails or forgotten responses go unnoticed and unchecked. 

If you’re ready to take the step of enhancing policy management within your organization, let us help you make it perfect. Contact ComplianceBridge to learn more and request a free demo today!