Developing and Maintaining Policies


Comprehensive Administrative Policy Review

Administrative policies serve their purpose best when they are current. The comprehensive review process provides an opportunity, at least every four years, for you, the policy owner, to take a deep look at your administrative policy and procedures to answer core questions such as: is the policy still needed? Do the requirements take into consideration associated burden (unless externally mandated)? Does the policy still align with laws and regulations? Do any new risks need to be addressed?

The following steps provide an outline of the comprehensive review process. Please contact the Policy Program Director at any point during the process if you wish to discuss consultation on your policy drafts.

  1. Create Google Doc versions of the policy and associated documents as described in Administrative Procedure: Comprehensively Reviewing Existing Administrative Policies. You may cut and paste directly onto a Google Doc without worrying about formatting changes.
  2. Use or consider the set of questions geared towards comprehensive reviews. Identify potential areas for improvement.
  3. Draft the new version on Google Docs. Be sure Track Changes are turned on to capture updates to the policy and associated documents.
  4. Consult with key constituents including end users/user groups and those involved with implementing the policy.
  5. Consult with the Diversity Community of Practice Subcommittee and appropriate Senate Committees.
  6. Consult with any other standing related committees, system campus representatives, or any other population you think would provide useful feedback. For example, you may want to consult research policies with the Council of Research Associate Deans; graduate education policies with the Associate Deans for Graduate Education, and so on. Think broadly when determining your consulting audience and use the consultative process to get a review and reaction to your proposed policy updates.
  7. Complete the comprehensive review form.
  8. When the previous steps are complete, contact the University Policy Program Director. The Policy Program Director will schedule you on the agenda for a Policy Advisory Committee (PAC) meeting. For policies with no major changes, the PAC will be the final step for feedback during the consultation process. For any policies that are new, being retired, or that major changes proposed, the PAC will refer the policy to the President's Policy Committee for review.
Developing New Policies

Administrative policies may be created when they meet the criteria specified in Administrative Policy: Establishing Administrative Policies. The Policy Program provides resources to help you plan and develop a policy. In addition to the Resources tab on our website, please see:

Policy owners may contact the Director of the University Policy Program (Seth Beccard at 612-625-2210 or [email protected]) at any point in the planning or drafting stage.

Planning the Policy

New policies must be requested by completing an administrative plan (UM 1641 - Administrative Policy Plan). This plan allows you, the policy owner, to summarize the policy, explain the need for the policy, assess the risk(s) that are associated with the policy topic, and quantify the impact if no policy were in place. The second half of the form captures best practices in this area, the extent and type of end user involvement planned in the policy development, as well as identifying the mechanism(s) by which policy compliance will be measured.

Drafting the Policy

Once you have determined a new policy meets the criteria and you have filled out the Administrative Policy Plan, you can begin drafting the policy. The Guide to Writing Policy is the first document to use for drafting your new policy. Procedures, FAQs, and Appendices may be created as needed to supplement the policy. Use the Policy Template to draft the policy.  Once drafted, the Policy Program Director will guide you through the subsequent review, consultation, and approval steps.