Research and Drafting
- Is what you’re considering consistent with the University's statement of mission, vision and values?
- Is what you're considering consistent with the University's institutional frameworks?
- Are there any legal/regulatory considerations? Is what you’re proposing collective agreement compliant?
- What are the related policies/procedures? Conduct a very thorough search. There are a lot of cross references in policies and procedures. You may be proposing a change in one procedure that affects another one, even if it doesn’t seem like a related policy. (Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be a cross reference list, so thoroughness is important.)
- What other materials/history exist around this issue – briefing notes, written complaints, written inquiries, minutes, etc. Gather and review these.
- Identify current practice at the University, even if you’re revising a policy. It’s possible that current practice is different from the existing policy. If that’s the case what will need to change – your document or the current practice?
- Who’s impacted by this policy? Who’s expected to comply?
- What are the expected outcomes? What is that expectation of behavior?
- What are the foreseeable problems? (try to imagine what will be stumbling blocks, the most difficult areas for compliance/acceptance.) What are the unforeseeable problems? You won’t be able to anticipant everything yourself. This is one of the purposes of consultation.
- What are the practices at other universities, particularly Canadian universities? How can our policy/practices be better?
- What are the risks?
- Does the Policy need a Privacy review?
- Are there ethical issues involved? Should the policy have an ethical review?
- What resources are needed to implement the policy/procedures?
- What’s the schedule for implementation?
- Who needs to know about this policy once it’s approved? How will it be communicated to them? Is an education needed?