The Principles of Policy Management: Standardized

Is your organization's policy management framework standardized and designed to fit your organization and its objectives? Your organization should have an inventory of all policies, and they should be in standardized templates and writing style. In OCEG’s Policy Management Capability Model, it outlines 10 universal principles of policy management - the sixth being standardized.

“Both policies and the procedures for developing, distributing, and enforcing them should be standardized,” the Model states. “Having a consistent approach is key to enhancing understanding and developing an audit trail for the defense of the organization.”

In order to develop a standardized policy management framework, your organization needs:

• Consistent processes and procedures throughout the entirety of the policy management framework.
• Consistent templates where all policies should look consistent and have a consistent publishing template. Employees should be able to identify an official and approved policy by the template it is in.
• Consistent writing styles to help employees find what they need, understand what they find, and people to apply what they’ve learned.

Policies are the cornerstone of GRC in organizations of all sizes. Policies establish the guidance that must be followed when establishing procedures and engaging in the day-to-day operations of the business. Policies demand adherence to applicable laws and regulations and Consistent processes create consistent lifecycle.