Improve Policy Communication & Collaboration with Fire Software

Find out how PowerPolicy fire software solves inefficient policy management to improve organizational transparency and reduce compliance risks.

October 3, 2022

Article Highlights

The problem: Inefficient policy collaboration and communication

For fire departments, a manual policy management process can easily create problems with communicating policies and procedures in the workplace. Hard copies of policies are often delivered to every firefighter by hand or emailed to staff, who must then print and sign them or add them to their policy binder. 

Unfortunately, this system is so tedious and complicated that most fire departments struggle to enforce it, and too many firefighters are left unaware of the latest policies and procedures. This leads to uninformed staff that can create compliance risks and makes it difficult to promote transparency and excellent services in your department and your community.

What’s more, a manual policy management process hinders efficient fire department communications and collaboration with key stakeholders on policy and SOP changes. Without streamlined document collaboration tools, reviewing policies takes excessive time and effort, and the frustration of these slow back-and-forth processes risks dampening relationships between fire departments and their partners.

The solution: Fire software for policy management

PowerPolicy by PowerDMS offers document collaboration tools that allow fire department leaders to efficiently work together on document management SOPs and communicate policy updates to staff.

Customizable approval workflows

PowerPolicy's document approval workflows make for easy policy collaboration and automated notifications to streamline communication. Administrators can use workflow approval process templates to set a routing structure for reviews, edits, or approvals and create standard workflow templates to ensure consistent business processes. The workflows can be set up by individual, group, or role, with alerts, reminders, and bypass steps as needed.

Automated policy alerts

Automatic email notifications in PowerPolicy alert staff about updates that require their attention, including review/approval tasks and document version releases. You can set notifications for specific users, departments, or refined lists, and specify frequency and urgency. 

When a new revision of a previously signed policy is published, employees are automatically prompted to sign the new version with a new task in their To Do List and an email alert. Administrators can also assign documents to be acknowledged and electronically signed by users or specific groups, as well as track signatures to ensure all employees are aware of changes. 

External reviews and public viewing

PowerPolicy also lets you apply View, Audit (Edit), or Admin rights to users outside your department so they can comment, edit, or contribute to all policies, individual documents, or specific folders.

Finally, documents assigned for public viewing can be found through Google searches and/or added to the department’s custom site settings and search index. You can also choose to make certain documents public. Those documents get their own custom URL, which can be shared via a publicly available link or embedded on the agency website.

The benefits of fire software

PowerPolicy fire software lets fire departments use document collaboration tools to create powerful workflows and support better relationships with key stakeholders. This results in one source of truth for all the policies and information firefighters need to ensure your staff stay informed and accountable. 

Furthermore, PowerDMS’s secure document collaboration system helps you save time by allowing you to reliably distribute mission-critical information to your staff within minutes, whether they’re in the office, at home, or in the field. Plus, the PowerPolicy mobile app lets employees access and view policies anytime, anywhere, and get push notifications to their phones about critical policy updates.

Overall, PowerPolicy supports improved communication and organizational transparency in fire departments and your community. With significant public-facing document tools and automated policy updates and review processes, your department can better promote compliance among staff and strengthen trust in excellent services among the citizens you serve.

Learn more

If you want to learn how PowerPolicy fire station software improves communication and collaboration among department staff, the community, and key stakeholders, request a free demo today.

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