New Policy and Procedure Library (PPL)

It is acknowledged that moving to a new platform will impact websites, document templates, forms, internal systems as well as existing PPL documents. For some this change may be minor, for others a larger impact. To plan for go-live the project team has prepared the following information to assist you in identifying the change impacts and help you plan for making those changes. 

The current numbering and naming format of the PPL will be removed. For example, 5.60.01 Leave Entitlements Policy will become Leave Entitlements Policy. Instead, documents will be listed alphabetically, with the ability to filter by document type, category (e.g. Teaching and Learning, Human Resources) and/or key words.  

• The current numbering within sections will be removed. Section headings will be used with continuous paragraph numbering in clauses, with bullets in letter and roman numeral format.  

• The current PPL URLs will change to a new URL (redirects will be put in place, see next section).  Policies and their corresponding procedures and guidelines will be linked in the text of each document, instead of across tabs. This will also mean each document has a unique URL. 

• Images and diagrams will be linked, rather than embedded within the document. 

• All historical versions created on the site after go-live will be available for download by users.  

It’s important to note that no substantive updates are being made to any documents in the PPL. All updates to cross references within policies and procedures will be completed as part of the migration, however it is encouraged that this practice is reduced or stopped where possible (see below).

Attachments to your policies, procedures and guidelines

Some PPL documents attach forms or other material like schedules or tables (uploaded to the Forms tab in the current PPL) which may have references to content in the PPL. Due to the large volume and currency of attachments in the PPL, these documents will be migrated across to the new platform unchanged.

After go live, we encourage policy owners to check the forms and other attachments on your policies, procedures and guidelines. If you identify any issues (for example, if a form was uploaded into the PPL instead of linking to where it is hosted on your website or if a reference to the PPL requires updating), please contact the Governance team. Please also consider hosting this type of content currently in the PPL, where possible, on an intranet site so that you have complete control of the document to amend at any time.

Any hyperlinks to the old PPL in this material will be redirected to the new PPL platform for approximately 12 months after go live.

Working example 

To provide a visual picture of the changes, the following two documents are available for you to review: 

1. CURRENT PPL Class Timetabling and Room Bookings Procedure 

2. FUTURE PPL Class Timetabling and Room Bookings Procedure 

Using a more complex document, the following table highlights the numbering and referencing from the current Assessment Procedure to the newly formatted Assessment Procedure.  

In the current PPL section 3.6.6 refers to section 3.8, and to clause 2 of section 3.6.6.  The new platform removes the heading numbering and only numbers clauses. Thus, the new clauses for section 3.8 will be clauses 108-130. The reference to clause 2 of section 3.6.6 will be clause 83.   
 

The Governance team recommended where possible to remove cross-referencing and refer to a particular section or heading, rather than using clause numbers. This will help future proof the PPL for updates where clause numbering shifts, meaning that document and any other document referencing it will need a review of cross referencing. The new platform documents are available upon request for business areas to identify changes required in material outside the PPL (websites, forms etc). 

If you are drafting or amending policy, visit the Enterprise Governance 'Resources' page for templates which align with the formatting required in the new PPL.

For website links to the current PPL documents, a re-direct will be in place for approximately 12 months. All high traffic policies will go directly to the new version, others will point to the search (or home) page.   

Given re-directs will be in place, we encourage business areas to prioritise the amendment of frequently used or high risk PPL document links in the first instance. Changing of links can happen incrementally at the time of and following go live for the new system.

All the new URL PPL document links are available for business areas to update their content, refer to  new PPL hyperlinks (XLSX, 28.1 KB).

A list of PPL documents that were rescinded in the last 12 months (XLSX, 11.9 KB) is also available with links to the replacement documents. This was not part of the PPL project and all changes were reflected in the old PPL site prior to go live as part of the standard policy approval process.  This is not a comprehensive list of all changed PPL documents, so please contact Enterprise Governance on governance@uq.edu.au if you have specific questions.

Finding links across UQ sites

The analytics team have provided a list of referral sites (XLSX, 521.5 KB) (how users get to the current PPL site) showing click counts from across the UQ website. As a starting point, this document can be used to locate website pages, broken down by business units, that contain PPL site links. This should cover some of your website content however we encourage you to review other sites that this analysis did not pick up. 

You may also use Google search parameters to assist with finding content across UQ websites. The removal of the PPL domain (-site:ppl.app.uq.edu.au) ensures your search results are returned for everything other than the PPL library (where changes will already be covered). You can amend the search parameter words to whatever is relevant to your area. 

• To look for: ‘assessment procedure’ not within ppl.app.uq.edu.au but only within uq.edu.au 
  Insert in Google: "assessment procedure" site:uq.edu.au -site:ppl.app.uq.edu.au 

• To look for: ‘3.10.02’ not within ppl.app.uq.edu.au 
  Insert in Google: 3.10.02 -site:ppl.app.uq.edu.au 

• To look for: ‘3.10.02’ within uq.edu.au, but not within ppl.app.uq.edu.au 
  Insert in Google "3.10.02" site:uq.edu.au -site:ppl.app.uq.edu.au 

• To look for: ‘3.10.02’ but not '3.10.07 ', within uq.edu.au, but not within ppl.app.uq.edu.au 
  Insert in Google:  "3.10.02" -"3.10.07" site:uq.edu.au -site:ppl.app.uq.edu.au 

Results returned will be for public websites and documents, not for anything sitting behind logins or within systems. 

If you have any tips for methods you have used successfully to find content requiring amendment, please share them with grc@uq.edu.au so that we can share here. 

Review all PPL references to ensure any changes to name, hyperlink and document references (i.e. new clause numbers) are identified and updated. This will include, but may not be limited to:  

• all intranet and internet sites; 

• support documents and templates; 

• forms (online and in hard copy); 

• UQ systems (UniTask, SI-net, Workday, UQProcure etc); 

• communications (e.g. newsletters, updates). 

The project team recognise that some changes are low priority and will have little impact on users (e.g. removing the PPL number at the beginning of the title) therefore we do not consider these changes critical to occur and can be completed gradually after go live. 

The following document contains a list of recent PPL document changes from approximately April 2023 to March 2024 which may assist you in identifying the new reference points where a document no longer exists. This list is not exhaustive and will not be updated beyond 5 April 2024.

• Rescinded policies, procedures and guidelines during preparation for new PPL platform (XLSX, 11.9 KB).

Recommendation

• Appoint an appropriate owner of this task in your unit with knowledge to coordinate and/or complete the review and amendments in a timely manner. 

• During the review of the unit’s content, create a register of affected content. 

  • For hyperlinks, note these down based on the new hyperlinks already available (see previous section). 

  • For paragraph and section number references, please contact the Governance team to view a copy of the new document that will contain the new clause numbering.  

  • For policy titles with the pre-fix numbering, simply change them as you go by removing the number. 

• Governance have drafted a Sample Register for content review which you may choose to use to capture the PPL references that require updating. 

Quantifying the change impact before the end of March will help you plan to finalise the amendments before, on or after the go live date (the go live date was 3 April 2024). If you know you have a manageable amount of content changes, you could combine the review and the amendments in one step. 

Resources

See Hyperlinks to PPL documents section for options on finding website links.

The project team is working closely with the PPL Reference Group which includes members from a wide range of areas across UQ to create awareness and understanding of the changes expected in the new platform. Reference group members are your key points of contact to ask questions and seek clarity on what you need to do. The project team is also available to assist. 

The reference group members are: 

First half 2023 

• Governance and Risk Division undertaking preparatory work, including stocktaking and ‘cleansing’ data from the existing PPL for migration to the new PPL. 

Second half 2023 

• TWEEK undertaking migration of content from the existing PPL to the new PPL with quality assurance by Enterprise Governance in consultation with the Reference Group. 

• Stakeholder engagement, regular reference group meetings, home page design, website re-direct allocation and system testing. 

Early 2024 

• Business areas identify, plan and complete (as required) updates to websites, documents, templates, forms and systems in preparation for go live.  

• Successful go live on 3 April 2024.