December 2009 - Posts

• Slow week? We have some ideas for you!

  Christmas is behind us, and for some of us that means that we're back to work.  But co-workers are still on vacation.  Manufacturing plants are shut down for the holiday.  Kids are still home from school.  And some of us are recovering from a Chex(TM) Mix hangover.  (Or is that just me?  It's just SO good that I can't stop eating it.)  For many, this will be a slow week.   There's only so much time you can spend surfing YouTube and checking out CuteOverload.com and mylifeisaverage.com.  (Actually, if you go there, you might find it hard to pull yourself away.  Proceed with caution.)  So what's a dedicated employee to do with their time?    Learn something new   The policyIQ team has an entire library of training sessions recorded and available for you at any time.  (Check out our policyIQ training library.)  Some of those training sessions might be overlooked as non-critical when you are trying to get up to speed on the application quickly, but why not take advantage of a little downtime to ramp up your knowledge!   Think about it: Bob in accounting comes back from his Christmas vacation next week telling you all about how much eggnog he drank and the headache he has because Grandma and Grandpa bought Junior a new drum set.  Meanwhile, you've been at your desk spending a few hours watching policyIQ training and reading the Help guide.  You can tell Bob all about how policyIQ Forms can help you track and report on Account Reconciliations, and how you can syndicate meeting minutes out to your team's Outlook mail box via RSS feeds.  (Then you can get Bob some aspirin and a cookie, because it sounds like he could use it.)   Plan a new project   In addition to learning new policyIQ skills, take some time to think about those projects that you'd like to work on in the next year.  Is there something your team does that could be much more efficient with a little up front investment of time and energy?  Are there new reports that you'd like to start pulling together for your executive team?  Now is the time to think about what those projects might be, and start to plan out the best way to accomplish them in the next twelve months.   Get caught up on the non-essentials   Do you have a desk or cube that could really use some organizing?  A network drive full of early versions of documents that have long out-lived their usefulness?  Procedures or policy documentation that could use some updating?  Clean house - and get a fresh start in the new year.     If you do choose to spend some time on policyIQ related topics this week, please feel free to reach out to us!  Our support team will be available from 8 AM - 8 PM Eastern Time Monday - Wednesday, and 8 AM - 3 PM on Thursday (New Years Eve).  Our office will be closed on New Year's Day, as we hope you all will be off enjoying some time away, as well.   Posted Dec 28 2009, 08:02 AM by chrisburd with no comments Filed under: tips, Training, maintenance

• We wish you a season of relaxation and a new year that brings prosperity!

  The entire policyIQ team wishes you...   Seasons Greetings!    Happy Holidays!    Merry Christmas!    Happy Hanukkah!    Buon Natale!    Joyeuses Fêtes!    Feliz Navidad!     Milad Mijad!    Trevlig Helg!     Boas Festas!     Mutlu Bayramlar!     Sarbatori Fericite!    Hau'oli Lanui!    Sretni praznici!    Nollaig Shona Duit!     Regardless of your celebration, we wish for you a very happy December with rest and relaxation.   We also hope for a New Year that brings prosperity and success to your business and to each of you individually.  We look forward to continuing to work with each of you in the coming year, helping you to utilize policyIQ throughout your organization to gain efficiencies, improve processes and meet all of the compliance requirements your organization faces.   We hope that as this year ends and the new one begins, you have an opportunity to relax, recharge your batteries, and prepare to make this next year a great one!   Happy New Year!    С Новым годом!    Sretna nova godina!    Onnellista uutta vuotta!    laimingų Naujųjų Metų!  Szczęśliwego nowego roku!    שנה טובה! Posted Dec 21 2009, 11:41 AM by chrisburd with no comments

• Tilly’s successfully expands policyIQ usage to manage PCI compliance requirements

  All businesses and organizations that accept credit card payments and store cardholder data are required to comply with the Payment Card Industry Date Security Standard (PCI DSS) requirements. PCI DSS consists of a very structured set of compliance regulations, for which an organization must have appropriate procedures and controls. Tilly's, a policyIQ client for the past three years, is a retail clothing and accessory chain specializing in surfwear, skatewear, motorcross and other active lifestyle apparel. Tilly's has been using policyIQ to manage their Sarbanes-Oxley documentation. As a retail business that processes credit card payments, they found themselves in need of a solution to manage their PCI compliance.  Denise Schoeneich, a Resources Consultant currently engaged with Tilly's, felt that PCI compliance was a natural extension of their existing policyIQ implementation. She started this expansion by creating a new PCI Folder structure in their policyIQ site. She then identified the PCI Requirements that applied to Tilly's, and created a new Page Template for PCI Requirements. After the structure was in place, she created PCI Requirement Pages and indexed them to the relevant PCI subfolders. (For an even faster implementation, this can now be done through the Import feature!) As a number of Tilly's existing SOX Controls addressed PCI Requirements, Denise added a new field called PCI Reference to the existing SOX Control Template. By indexing those SOX Controls to the related PCI Requirement Folders and linking them to the related PCI Requirement Pages, she was able to simplify testing and create simple and efficient reporting. Clients currently using policyIQ for SOX, who must now comply with PCI regulations, would be well served to follow Tilly's lead and expand their existing policyIQ site to manage their PCI compliance documentation. In fact, consider the expansion possibilities for any compliance regulations that your organization faces! For more information on the use of policyIQ for PCI compliance or on engaging a Resources consultant to help with the implementation, please contact us at support@policyIQ.com. Posted Dec 11 2009, 12:44 PM by scottpalermo with no comments Filed under: SOX, tips, Custom, features, configuration, setup

• policyIQ: Not just for your Accounting Department anymore!

  Still looking for a better way to manage your contracts, request forms, training manuals, and all of that compliance documentation? Last week we told you about a number of ways that you could use policyIQ's Forms Management functionality to automate a number of processes, such as Account Reconciliations and Corporate Policy Sign-offs. In addition to these examples using Forms, you can save money, time and re-training effort by automating your manual work and consolidating your various processes under one umbrella using policyIQ Pages. Think about it…policyIQ allows you to track the master versions of your content in an easily accessible central location with powerful reporting capability from just about anywhere! Tracking content for many different departments and groups is easy and each group can keep their content secure and invisible from the others. AND we’ll help you to customize the configuration to meet your needs—no need to get in line behind other in-house IT initiatives! Our clients have shared some great ideas with us about how policyIQ could be used for their content management needs. If you’re looking for ideas on how you might utilize your policyIQ site for multiple purposes, take a look at these examples of things that you can manage in policyIQ: Your Human Resources group could use policyIQ for the managment of policies and procedures, to create and distribute your Employee Handbook, to manage Time Off Requests and the documentation related to hiring and termination of employees. In addition to the use of Forms for System Access or Equipment Requests, your IT department can manage their Standard Operating Procedures and their IT SOX content in policyIQ. Your Legal Department is more than likely juggling a variety of different types of contracts such as employment contracts, leases and other real estate agreements as well as purchasing and other licensing agreements. policyIQ provides a very cost effective means for contract management and *shhhhh* we have some more features in development for release in early 2010 that will make policyIQ an even more powerful contract management tool! Don't forget, there's all sorts of reference material that your Legal Department could house in policyIQ.    How is your organization tracking the review and approval process for your capital expenditures projects? Of course! Your Purchasing group could be using policyIQ to automate this process! As with the Legal group, you could be using policyIQ as a repository for your vendor/supplier agreements. In addition to the use of Forms for Account Reconciliations and your SOX related sign-offs (404 assertions, 302 certifications, quarterly control processes), your Accounting Department could use policyIQ for the centralized management of their policies and procedures. policyIQ can also be used for any number of different types of compliance documentation (SOX, C-SOX, IFRS, PCI, MAR, and so on)! If your organization is still using Excel and Word to manage your documentation for compliance with any laws and regulations--its time to take a look at how policyIQ can help you to better organize your documentation and to maintain integrity of your documentation with superior version control.  Do you have a Risk Management team? policyIQ can certainly be used for your Enterprise Risk Management documentation--aiding in the processes of identification, assessment, prioritization and mitigation or risk response. While your Compliance Team might be using policIQ for the management of your Sarbanes-Oxley documentation, is your Internal Audit group still using Excel and Word for the documentation of their Test Plans, Workpapers, Testing Documentation, and Findings? policyIQ's SOX users know how easily this information can be folded into policyIQ--and with the security features introduced with version 6, it can all be kept separate and secure! Most Operations teams have some sort of Quality System in place these days. A bunch of organizations are still using Word and shared network folders to manage this documentation. You can use policyIQ as a repository for your Policies, Procedures and Work Instructions as well as a tool for your specifications and certifications. Make your Safety Manuals and Training Manuals more readily accessible by placing the content in policyIQ and providing one-click easy access to it via Read Only Access accounts (did you know that Read Only Access accounts are free?)! Please contact us at support@policyIQ.com if you'd like to learn more. We would be happy to build an example in your site for you or we could demonstrate policyIQ for any of these uses. Did we miss something that you're doing with policyIQ? Let us know and we'll add it to the list to share with others.   Posted Dec 10 2009, 08:48 AM by stepheniebuehrle with 1 comment(s)

• Share some good news with your co-workers!

  You may not know it yet, but someone in another group within your organization could benefit greatly by using policyIQ's Forms Management feature. They're just waiting for you to share the good news with them! There are a number of manual processes common to every organization. Using policyIQ Forms, these processes can be automated, making them simpler, more efficient and more secure. Thanks to the clunkiness common to manual processes, your co-workers are likely struggling with issues like these: Non-standard distribution of materials - sometimes via email, sometimes in person, sometimes stored on a network drive Respondents are manually reminded of deadlines (or not reminded at all!) Separate lists or documents to keep track of who has received a particular item and which of those recipients have yet to respond How do we track particular responses (how many users answered a certain question a particular way)? Version control is a challenge - which version is the latest? Start the manual process over if a recipient submits an incomplete response Key components of policyIQ functionality make this process more efficient: Forms are distributed in a uniform manner - recipients locate Forms on their policyIQ Dashboard Forms come with assigned due dates Easily track all information related to a Form - who received the form, who has submitted their response Report on every detail of a Form response Approvers can withhold approval and return a Form to the submitter with comments or further instructions Here are just a few examples of other departments that may find value in policyIQ Forms and the processes they could automate: Accounting: Account Reconciliations Monthly Closing Forms Human Resources: Hiring requests Corporate Policy Sign-offs IT Groups: System access requests Help Ticket Requests Why not make your co-workers' lives easier by introducing them to this powerful, cost-saving tool you already own? We'd like to speak with you some more on this topic and share some ideas that you can then share with others. Join us at 1 PM ET on Friday, December 18 for "Using policyIQ Forms to Automate your Processes." Click here to register! Posted Dec 07 2009, 02:42 PM by scottpalermo with no comments Filed under: tips, Training, features, forms

• Comfortably Numb?

  Hello, Is there anybody in there? Just nod if you can hear me Is there anyone home? We sit down every few weeks and look at what users seem to be asking a lot about when they contact Support, we discuss the various ways that you are putting policyIQ to good use, and we review your ideas and suggestions for features and services. These things, along with our ongoing development work, shape what we bring to you in the form of training sessions, blog posts, and other services. We have been putting a lot of thought into how we can better support you in 2010 and beyond. This made us think, of course, is anyone listening? Are you using our recorded training sessions or live training sessions? Is anyone reading this blog? *cricket* *cricket* What do YOU wish we would share with you? More live training sessions? Expanded Help guide? Address certain topics in blog posts? Additional recorded tutorials? Samples of content and Setup for other policyIQ uses? Your wish is our command! Please add your “Comment” to the blog post and give us specific details on what would best meet your needs (such as “More live training sessions” on policyIQ for specific uses, “Expanded Help guide” with examples of Reports that could be useful, etc.). Maybe your idea isn’t represented in the options listed above—please Comment and let us know what you’d like to see from us! Thank you, again, for giving us your feedback and helping us to serve you better! Posted Dec 01 2009, 09:30 AM by stepheniebuehrle with no comments