University of Minnesota  Procedure

Developing a New Administrative Policy

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Please use the contact section in the governing policy.

Determine the Need for a New Policy

  1. The individual responsible for an operation/process, referred to as the policy owner ("owner"), identifies a need for a new policy that meets the system-wide administrative policy criteria.
  2. The owner obtains initial approval to draft the policy from their appropriate Responsible University Officer.
  3. The owner, with the University Policy Program (UPP) staff assistance, considers related existing policies to determine if rather than creating a stand-alone policy, the new content could be combined in an existing policy.

Draft the Administrative Policy

  1. The owner completes a draft of the proposed policy along with any associated documents (procedures, appendices, and FAQ), using the standard template.
  2. The owner engages key end users/groups in the development process, either as part of a writing group, or in a review capacity. This includes consulting with University Senate leadership. The UPP director can assist in identifying individuals or groups.
    1. Either before or during the consultation with key end users/groups, the owner forwards a copy of the new policy to the chairs of the Diversity Community of Practice (DCoP) Equity Lens Policy Review Committee (ELPRC) who will review new policies with an “equity lens."
    2. The ELPRC documents and forwards any possible disparities or inequities in the new policy to the owner or designee as well as the director of the University Policy Program. ELPRC also logs this information in the Google Drive.
    3. The owner review the feedback and where possible, mitigate or eliminate the disparity.
    4. The owner completes the equity lens related questions on the Policy Plan.
  3. Once the draft is ready, the owner forwards it to the UPP Director, along with the associated materials (Policy Plan, procedures, FAQ, forms, etc.).
  4. The UPP director will schedule the owner at one of the upcoming Policy Advisory Committee (PAC) meetings.
  5. The UPP director conducts the initial review and provides feedback to the owner.
  6. The owner makes adjustments, where needed and resubmits the version to be presented to PAC.

Policy Draft Review

  1. The owner presents the policy draft to PAC.
  2. PAC provides specific suggestions as to content, language, level of detail, consistency, and readability. The UPP director and PAC also review the steps taken prior to bringing the policy to PAC to ensure that the process was followed (e.g., consulted with appropriate senate committees and the Equity Lens Policy Review Committee).
  3. After receiving input from PAC, the owner will determine which suggestions to accept, and update the policy draft as needed.
  4. The policy is placed on an agenda for the next quarterly President’s Policy Committee (PPC) meeting by the UPP Director.

PPC Policy Review and Approval

  1. The policy owner presents the documents to PPC and responds to questions.
  2. The PPC determines whether or not to approve the proposed policy changes.
  3. If yes, the policy, after incorporating updates based on the discussion with the PPC, is posted on the policy website for 30 days for public comment. The UPP director places an announcement in the Brief. Policy owners should communicate the policy 30-day review to their end users.
  4. The policy owner, the UPP director, and the PPC chair review comments received from this public comment period. The policy owner determines what modifications to the policy draft will be made.
  5. The PPC chair will either approve the proposed modifications to the policy for publication on behalf of the PPC, or, if the modifications are significant, will bring the final policy back to the PPC for approval to publish.

Implementation

  1. The owner forwards the final policy to the UPP to move the policy into production in the policy library.
  2. The UPP director creates and distributes a quarterly policy newsletter, and assists the owner with any additional communication, at the request of the owner. The owner may use their own communication mechanisms to disseminate the policy information to the appropriate audiences.
  3. The UPP director will contact the Senate Office to determine which Senate committees will need to be consulted as part of the comprehensive review process for the new policy.