Benefits of policy management software in government

Policy management software is a key tool in improving efficiency, maintaining consistent operations, and decreasing liability for municipalities of all sizes

July 9, 2021

Article highlights

Governments of all sizes and types are being asked to do more while facing budget cuts that limit your ability to operate. In this modern era, cities and towns need to find every efficiency they can.

One of the best tools to help in this effort is management software for your government policies. These policies are the structure that allow your government to run, informing employees of how to carry out their essential work. But just having government policies in place isn’t enough. The critical next step is to make sure you can effectively use those policies, rather than just letting them become red tape, according to Compliance Weekly.

“Policies and procedures are often required by laws and regulations, they help to manage risk and improve efficiency, and they help defend against legal and regulatory actions. The complexity comes about because of the very nature of organizations and the need to collaborate on policy development and understand which risks demand policies, as well as difficulty communicating the letter and spirit of policies across cultures and geography. Effective policy management delivers all these elements efficiently and with an auditable trail.”

A strong policy management software will bring uniformity to your operation across the board, helping you to achieve consistency in employee conduct and improve communication across departments. But that’s just the start. 

By creating consistency, you build trust in your community. And you also make both compliance and accreditation easier, all while decreasing your liability for lawsuits.

As a leader in your organization, you know just how challenging it can be to keep a government running smoothly. Keep reading to learn how the right software can make a difference.

Improve communication and consistency between departments

For governments big and small alike, coordination and communication across departments and agencies can prove cumbersome. But this cross-department collaboration is critical to operations.

Government records management plays an important role in this, as different departments often use the same policies and must work together in updating and distributing them. Here’s how policy management software helps:

Benefit

Imagine that each of your government agencies came together to use the same policy software as a single source of truth. Immediately, your entire city would have consistent policies across all operations and employees. Policy software also retains the flexibility for individual departments to maintain independence for their agency-specific policy management needs.

Features

Common features that assist with this include:

  • The ability to distribute and assign government policies by group, so that you can send the right information to the right place.
  • To create advanced, automated workflows. By establishing roles for individuals, you facilitate easier collaboration all while controlling access and approvals.
  • To maintain version control. At the click of a button, you can see what updates have been made, and who made them.

Build trust within your community

Distrust in government has been increasing according to Pew Center research, which can cause problems for your agencies, and especially those that work directly with citizens. In government, policy management can help to repair this divide.

Benefit

Government policies serve to hold employees accountable. Your policies dictate what employees can and cannot do, the framework that guides them in their work. But those policies are only effective if they are shared with employees, and if employees review and understand them.

Policy management software bridges this gap. An effective management platform allows you to update and instantaneously push policies to all necessary employees while requiring them to sign off that they have read and understood the policies.

You should also seek out software that allows you to easily adjust permissions to your policies. That way you can quickly select policies to make available to the public. When your citizens know and understand your government policies, their trust increases.

Features

Common features that assist with this include:

  • Signature capture and tracking. This allows you to check and make sure that everyone who needs to review a policy has done so.
  • To-do lists and automatic reminders.
  • Testing and training. You can create an automated system to establish when training and testing needs to take place, and to alert you if someone hasn’t completed required training.
  • Public sharing functionality. For those policies that need to be accessible to the public, you can easily do so, embedding documents on a public-facing site.

Reduce liability of lawsuits

Every department across a city is at risk of facing lawsuits, none more so than law enforcement agencies. Lawsuits have led to dramatic settlements and penalties for cities across the country.

Government policy management can’t prevent you from ever facing a lawsuit, but it can help you to be best prepared to defend yourself.

Benefit

To reduce liability to lawsuits, it is essential to have proof that employees saw all necessary government policies and signed off on them, and that they completed required training. Policy management software can help you accomplish this by automating those processes. You no longer have to print out copies of updated policies and chase down employees to get their signatures.

Features

Common features that assist with this include:

  • Version history. Track who has viewed, signed, edited, and approved every version of every policy.
  • Automated processes. You can set up your system to automatically send policy updates to every necessary employee, any time, anywhere.

Maintain critical business operations in a crisis

Recent years have taught us that an extreme situation can strike at any time, whether it’s a cyberattack or a pandemic. During these crises, it’s more important than ever that your government operations continue to function.

Benefit

Cloud-based policy management software stores your important documents online on protected servers. That provides accessibility as well as the assurance that your important information will be there when you need it.

Features

Common features that assist with this include:

  • Cloud-based storage. Even if you and your employees are forced to work remotely, you can still access your files and collaborate on them, any time, anywhere.
  • In the event of a cyberattack, even if hackers gain control over your digital operation, your government policies will remain safe and accessible.
  • Make sure to look for a software system with leading data security so that you have peace of mind that your information will be protected.

Achieve and maintain accreditation the easier way

Accreditation is becoming an important aspect for agencies to maintain compliance and to build trust within communities. But the accreditation process can be time consuming for already overworked departments.

Benefit

There’s an easier way for governments to complete accreditation. By using a policy management software, you can align your policies with existing accreditation frameworks. And you can automate the accreditation process, so that you aren’t left hunting for individual policies.

That saves you time and money while pursuing state or national accredited status.

Features

Common features that assist with this include:

  • Accreditation standards provided with the software. 
  • Ability to map policies to established standards of accrediting bodies.
  • Automatic notifications when your policies are impacted by updated accrediting standards.

Boost efficiency while protecting your city

Whether you’re starting to build out your government policies or you’re struggling to navigate them, a strong and effective policy management software is one tool you don’t want to live without.

It streamlines communication and collaboration across your myriad departments and agencies, builds trust with your community, reduces liability of lawsuits, and it can help to keep you up and running in the event of a crisis. It also can make the compliance and accreditation processes far more efficient.

As you look for the right software for you, remember that not all software offers all of the features described above. It’s important to do your research as you look for a solution.

The PowerDMS platform offers all of those features and more. It is fast, efficient, and easy to use, all while protecting your information with industry-leading security.

To learn more about how PowerDMS can benefit you and your city, visit our policy and procedure management for local government page.

Related Article

Footer CTA Image

Download your copy of the report

Download The Future of Policy & Compliance Management report.

How does your organization compare? Get your copy today.

Download the Report

Schedule a Consultation!

Everything you need to train, equip, and protect your public safety employees in a single system – from the moment they’re hired until they retire. Schedule a consultation to learn how PowerDMS can benefit you.