The Most Important Document In Your Policy Binder

Have you ever hunted for hours looking for a specific document? Or found out that three different employees were using three different versions of a form?

To prevent these kinds of issues and to make your life easier, every policy manual should include this one indispensable document. (Keep reading to find out how to receive a free template.)

Keeping track of your paper trail is vital to the day to day running of your organization. Not doing so can cause many wasted hours. Besides your staff using old forms instead of the most current ones, you may end up having multiple versions of the same policy in the binder. If your policy binder is a train wreck when surveyors show up, it can be a professional embarrassment. 

In my travels as a compliance consultant, I have witnessed agency document development, maintenance and management of all kinds. My most alarming encounter was a huge conference table in an organization with fourteen very full, four inch binders and no index. Their documents dated back 30 plus years!! At the end of this challenge, fourteen binders became two with current policies, forms and letters that met the organization’s needs. Most important, they ended up with a working index.   

A Working Index is Your Secret Weapon for Staying Organized 

It may sound simplistic but a working index that is used properly will:

• keep your documents organized
• help you to remember where you left off on revisions or new documents
• provide tighter time management and professional efficiency
• provide evidence of an active compliance program to your oversight surveyors
• give you some peace of mind

Building a Working Index That Works 

Components of the Index:

• Agency title  
• Program or section name(s) (Administrative, Personnel,Early Intervention Program, Prevent, etc.) 
• A table format with two or three columns. The first column is for the policy name. The second is for the review/revision date. A third column could be used for when a document has been approved by your internal oversight committee. 
• Keep entries in alphabetical order
• Use a shaded subheading if you are grouping different sections of a program together.
• Keep subheadings in alpha order also. 

Using Your Working Index So It Works

Useful tips:

• Your index should be treated as a living document. It does not remain static. The index is your go-to document to find a policy or form within a few seconds, inform you of the last revision date of a document, act as a training guide for new and existing staff, trigger annual reviews based on the last date in the Review/Revision column and more.
• For policies that have attachments, use bullets under the policy name and put attachments in chronological order as they show up in the policy's procedure.
• Ensure that the attachment title is stated clearly in the policy and procedure and matches the bullet in the index.
• Put the newest revision date in parentheses after the name of the attachment.  This revision date should have a matching date in a footer on the attachment.
• Many times a form or letter may change but the policy and procedure it lives in stays the same. Reserve the Revise/Review column for the actual policy updates.
• Make sure each form and letter that is being used in your agency has a “home” in an appropriate written procedure.
• Make sure each policy you write makes it into your index. 
• Every time the index is revised, put the date of the revision at the top over the review/revision column.
• If you don't have time to do electronic revisions on your index, ALWAYS pencil in your changes and plug the date into the review/revision area or after the attachment you worked on.

Strictly following the last bullet is one of the biggest time savers for the document development/update process.

Knowing where you left off saves you the stress of trying to remember what you did one, two, six or eight weeks ago.

How to Receive a Free Template

To receive a free Working Index example in Word format call or email me and I will send it out  so you can start using it immediately.

Office: (607)-656-9356

Email: bonniepecka@aol.com