{"id":1475,"date":"2020-07-17T11:20:56","date_gmt":"2020-07-17T15:20:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blissbook.com\/blog\/?p=1475"},"modified":"2022-01-11T09:53:50","modified_gmt":"2022-01-11T14:53:50","slug":"how-to-write-policies-and-procedures-part-4-project-milestones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blissbook.com\/blog\/how-to-write-policies-and-procedures-part-4-project-milestones\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Write Policies &#038; Procedures, Part 4: Project Milestones"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignright size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blissbook.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/List.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"239\" height=\"299\" src=\"https:\/\/blissbook.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/List.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1664\"\/><\/a><figcaption>Check, please!<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>How many online\nemployee handbooks have you created? Chances are the answer is zero, zip,\nzilch, or nada. We, on the other hand, have become quite familiar with the\nsteps it takes to launch your new or updated company policies. As a result, we created\na checklist to keep a project like this organized and on track. This project\nmanagement is baked right in to Blissbook, but since not everyone gets to\nexperience the joy of this in-app functionality, we thought we\u2019d share it with you\nhere as well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Listed below are the common milestones you will achieve from the day you decide you want to redo your policies\/handbook through your launch and follow-ups. Want these milestones to-go?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/blissbook.com\/assets\/policy-review-project-milestones.pdf\">Click here to download the project milestones checklist<\/a> or just go ham and <a href=\"https:\/\/blissbook.com\/assets\/blissbook-how-to-write-policies-companion-workbook.pdf\">download the entire <em>How to Write Policies<\/em> workbook<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignright size-full is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blissbook.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/milestones.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/blissbook.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/milestones.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1646\" width=\"300\" height=\"372\"\/><\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Project Foundations<\/strong><br>Much like getting a building permit, these are the nitty-gritty details to knock out before you can start the project for real.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Obtain leadership approval to\nundertake the project<\/li><li>Get vendor &amp; contract approval\nfrom IT &amp; Legal as needed<\/li><li>Complete all necessary paperwork (e.g.\nW9s, vendor setup, initial payments, etc.)<\/li><li>Ask your software vendor (if you\u2019re\nusing one) if there are any vendor-specific tasks<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Content Creation, Editing, Review, and Approval<\/strong><br>This is the most variable (and likely lengthiest) part of your project. The length of time these tasks take depends on many factors, such as your team\u2019s motivation, current workload, and the extent of your changes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Create new or edited content<\/li><li>Request feedback from your HR team\nand make changes<\/li><li>Request a review by legal counsel\nand make changes<\/li><li>Request feedback from leadership and\nmake changes<\/li><li>Repeat previous bullets as\nnecessary\u2026<\/li><li>Content approved!<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Distribution Prep<\/strong><br>It\u2019s likely time to involve your IT department at this stage. These tasks can take 2 days or 2 months, depending on how you\u2019re distributing your policies and the proficiency\/workload of your IT department. <strong>Pro-tip:<\/strong> Do these tasks concurrently with the above content tasks,\nas they\u2019re mutually exclusive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>The audience for your new policies\nhas been determined, and you\u2019ve completed the necessary tasks to ensure the\naudience can easily and securely access the policies after launch<\/li><li>If you\u2019re using software like\nBlissbook, you\u2019ll likely need to:<ul><li>Upload or sync your employee list<\/li><\/ul><ul><li>Set up Single Sign-On if you have it<\/li><\/ul><ul><li>Set up custom domains if you want to\nuse them<\/li><\/ul><\/li><li>Check and make sure your launch\nemail will be delivered successfully (i.e. won\u2019t be caught by spam) and, if\nusing software, adjust any necessary settings<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Content &amp; Design Implementation<\/strong><br>You might involve your marketing team at this point, although that varies greatly by project. If you\u2019re using a software vendor like Blissbook, ask them for help!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Send content &amp; branding\nguidelines to vendor or 3rd party, if you\u2019re using one<\/li><li>Review resulting design with\nmarketing team<\/li><li>Circulate final design within HR for\nfeedback<\/li><li>Send final design to leadership for\nfeedback<\/li><li>Repeat previous three bullets as\nnecessary\u2026<\/li><li>Your policies are designed and ready\nto launch!<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Launch<\/strong><br>It\u2019s the big day! Pick a day and time when your audience will pay attention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Launch handbook to your audience<\/li><li>First signature reminder is sent\n(e.g. a week before it\u2019s due)<\/li><li>Second signature reminder is sent\n(e.g. on the due date)<\/li><li>Third signature reminder is sent\n(e.g. a couple days after the due date)<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Don\u2019t forget to <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/blissbook.com\/assets\/blissbook-how-to-write-policies-companion-workbook.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">download the checklist<\/a>. Want to take it a step further and see what this looks like within Blissbook? Check it out in the <a href=\"https:\/\/help.blissbook.com\/en\/articles\/2030269-launch-checklist\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">Blissbook help center<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p>Next up in our five-part series, we\u2019ll discuss <a href=\"https:\/\/blissbook.com\/blog\/how-to-write-policies-and-procedures-part-5-the-method-for-your-madness\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"distribution methods (opens in a new tab)\">distribution methods<\/a>: print, electronic document\/PDF, or <strong>EMPLOYEE HANDBOOK &amp; POLICY MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE<\/strong>. Yeah, we\u2019re biased.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How many online employee handbooks have you created? Chances are the answer is zero, zip, zilch, or nada. We, on the other hand, have become quite familiar with the steps it takes to launch your new or updated company policies. As a result, we created a checklist to keep a project like this organized and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35,32,23,25,47,57,26,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1475","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blissbook-updates","category-change-management","category-cya","category-employee-handbooks","category-handbook-content","category-hr-resources","category-policy-management","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blissbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1475","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blissbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blissbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blissbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blissbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1475"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/blissbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1475\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2554,"href":"https:\/\/blissbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1475\/revisions\/2554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blissbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1475"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blissbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1475"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blissbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1475"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}