Blog post

Employee policy acknowledgments can be a nightmare to track when your documents live in different systems. Many organisations already use SharePoint, another document management system, and a Learning Management System. So when they first look at Policy Passport, the obvious question is: don’t we already have something that does this?

Sometimes, yes. More often, each platform is solving a different part of the problem. The cleanest way to understand the difference is to look at the lifecycle of a policy, procedure or other employee-facing file.

Creating and maintaining documents

Before a policy is ready to be issued, it usually needs to be drafted, reviewed, revised and approved.

That work normally happens in Word, Google Docs, SharePoint or another document management system. These tools are useful for drafting content, making wording changes, collaborating on revisions, managing comments, reviewing draft versions and maintaining a document library.

If the content still needs to change, that work should happen before the file is published through Policy Passport. Policy Passport is not designed for collaborative editing or document revision.

Distributing finalised files

Policy Passport begins once the file is finalised and ready for the people who need it.

That file may be a policy, procedure, manual, board pack, declaration, video, link, PDF or another supported format. Policy Passport can store and distribute the file, but its real value is in managing what happens once that file has been issued, including employee policy acknowledgments where you must prove who saw what and when.

Not every file needs an acknowledgement, attestation or question layer. Some files may simply need to be made available or viewed. Others may require additional actions, depending on what the organisation needs to record. For example, a file may require users to view it, sign off or acknowledge it, answer questions, provide feedback, or complete a combination of those actions.

The file stays the main object. The required actions change depending on the purpose of the file.

Delivering structured training

An LMS solves a different problem.

Learning Management Systems are designed to deliver training. They enrol learners, present course content, record course completion and often assess learning through quizzes or assessments.

If the goal is structured employee learning, an LMS is usually the right tool. Policy Passport is not intended to replace that learning experience. It is designed to manage finalised files and the actions attached to those files.