Policies

Policies are guidelines developed to govern actions and deal with routine activities essential for effective running of an organization.

Effective policies are

    • Specific;
    • Clear;
    • Uniform;
    • Comprehensive; and
    • Flexible.

Because some policies are used organization wide and others are specific to a department it is best to develop a format that is simple to use and duplicate.

I have experience interpreting and writing policy as well as developing Policy Templates for agency wide use. The examples listed in this section display my skills in developing effective policies and policy templates.

Department of Family Protective Services Policies

The Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) a division of the Texas Health and Human Services (HHSC) Agency investigates abuse, neglect or exploitation of children, the elderly and disabled. State Wide Intake (SWI) is the first step of the investigation process. All reports are brought to and evaluated by SWI agents. GCS, short for General Computer Services, maintains software and hardware systems, telecom, other devices such as photocopiers, and coordinates Continuing Operations (COOP), and Disaster Recovery.

As a member of Team GCS, I researched and wrote policy in accordance with the Team goals and Agency guidelines, which then was approved by the Team Lead and Operations Director.

  • I developed these an many other policies for GCS and SWI.
  • The format follows Texas Health and Human Services guidelines from a template redesigned by me.
  • These policies were written and maintained in an edit restricted MS Word file to make changes to the process easier for authorized editors.

HHSC Policy Template

HHSC developed a general format Policy and Procedure template but it wasn’t ADA friendly. Things such as headings and numbering were not used in a way that screen readers could understand. Because the Texas HHSC was charged with making all things accessible, I was asked to modify the template to be accessible in both MS Word and Adobe Acrobat formats. These documents below display the template in both formats for your review.

Policy HHSC-Template

GCS Time & Leave Policy

State Wide Intake is different from other DFPS programs. SWI operates 24 hours a day every day of the year and has a special Time and Leave policy to reflect this. GCS, the help desk unit of SWI have different work requirements and needed a Time and Leave policy specific to their unit. I was asked to develop this policy based on current practices.

GCS Time &_Leave Policy in MS Word Format

GCS Time &_Leave Policy in PDF Format

UPS Management Policy

Because SWI operates 24 hours a day every day of the year and events such as electrical outages can have significant issues with work. TrippLite UPS battery backup units were purchased after several such events. I was asked to develop a policy to emphasize the importance of correct usage and management of these devices

UPS Management Policy in MS Word Format

UPS Management Policy in PDF Format

Requesting Technical Assistance Policy

GCS is onsite and remote helpdesk for a staff of 400+. Too many individuals would stop their work and walk to the GCS center searching for help or hail a GCS team member as they worked on other issues. This behavior caused extended staff downtime, forgotten requests for help and/or increased confusion regarding who to assist first. To reduce these inefficiencies a method of responding to requests for help in an orderly manner needed to be established. I was asked to draw up a policy for State Wide Intake for the authorized, and only method GCS would accept requests for help.

Policy to Request Technical Assistance in MS Word format

Policy to Request Technical Assistance in PDF format