Staff Learning and Development

Leadership Development Program 2003
Policy Access: Campus Needs and Best Practices Project

Survey Objectives
Policy Access Survey
Survey Announcement

Survey Objectives

1. Who uses policy?
2. How do you currently find policy?
3. How do you want to find policy?
4. Is there a demand to view archived policy?
5. Who writes policy?
6. Is the owner of a policy known to users?
7. Do users need assistance with interpretation of policy?
8. Does a user know who to go to for policy interpretation?
9. Do users know who to ask to get an exception to a policy?
10. Why are exceptions to policy necessary?
11. How important is it for users to find policy?
12. How often are users searching for policy?
13. How much policy detail does a user need?
14. Does a user need to see procedures associated with a policy?
15. What kinds of policies are users looking for?
16. How useful is consistency in format of policies?
17. Who is receiving communication on new/changed policy?
18. Who should be receiving communication on new/changed policy?
19. How should new/changed policy be communicated?
20. When should new/changed policy be communicated?
21. How important is communication of new/changed policy?

Policy Access Survey

Members of the Leadership Development Program (LDP), through the sponsorship of Vice Chancellor James Hyatt and Assistant Vice Chancellor and Controller Greg Brown, have been assigned the task of determining the needs of the UC Berkeley campus regarding policy access. Because policy is the glue that holds our decentralized campus together, improving access to policies will yield enormous benefits across the campus. Your input will assist the efforts in determining the best course of action for improving the campus community's access to administrative policies.

Thank you for your time in taking this survey. Please complete survey only once.

A. CONTENT/ACCESS

How strongly do you agree or disagree with the following: I need access to current campus policies to do my work.
Strongly Agree				Strongly Disagree

1

2

3

4

5

I am able to quickly access documented campus policy.
Strongly Agree				Strongly Disagree

1

2

3

4

5

UC Berkeley campus policy is accessible.
Strongly Agree				Strongly Disagree

1

2

3

4

5

I often look for campus policies regarding (check all that apply)

	Academic Affairs		Labor Relations
	Academic Personnel		Legal Affairs
	Accounting		Parking & Transportation
	Benefits		Payroll
	Computing & Communications		Purchasing/Disbursements
	Contracts & Grants		Records Retention
	Employee Relations		Recruiting/Hiring
	Environment, Health & Safety		Research
	Equipment Management		Student Affairs/Services
	Health Care		Travel & Entertainment

When I look for campus policy, what I need is (check all that apply)

	Full text of policy		When the policy should be applied
	A summary of the policy		Interpretation of policy/who to call
	A statement that says who should follow the policy		Procedures associated with the policy

How often do you currently use the following methods to search for campus policy? Campus Web site
Always				Never

1

2

3

4

5

Departmental Web site
Always				Never

1

2

3

4

5

Office of the President (UCOP) web site
Always				Never

1

2

3

4

5

Emails or electronic documents I have saved
Always				Never

1

2

3

4

5

Hard copy documents
Always				Never

1

2

3

4

5

Ask someone in my department
Always				Never

1

2

3

4

5

Ask someone in another department
Always				Never

1

2

3

4

5

Ask someone in the department where policy originates
Always				Never

1

2

3

4

5

If campus were to focus efforts on improving one method of access to policy, what would you most like to see improved? (select one)

	Campus web site		Policy training in specific areas
	Dissemination of emails		Certified policy expertise at department level
	Dissemination of hard copy documents

When using a campus policy web site, how important to you is each of the following search criteria: Subject
Very Important				Not Important

1

2

3

4

5

Key words
Very Important				Not Important

1

2

3

4

5

Policy owner/issuer
Very Important				Not Important

1

2

3

4

5

Specific codes (building codes, legislative bills/codes)
Very Important				Not Important

1

2

3

4

5

Others? ___________________________________________________

Have you ever discovered conflicting information about specific campus policies residing on different campus departmental websites?

	Yes
	No
	Not applicable - I do not search for policy

If you have discovered conflicting information about specific campus policies, how did you resolve it? (check any that apply)

	Contact policy owner/issuer
	Supervisor's opinion/interpretation
	Co-worker's opinion/interpretation
	Process on my own best judgement
	Do it the way it's always been done
	Other _________________________________________________

B. PROCEDURES

How strongly do you agree or disagree with the following: I need access to procedures associated with campus policy.
Strongly Agree				Strongly Disagree

1

2

3

4

5

I need examples of how I might implement policy in my department.
Strongly Agree				Strongly Disagree

1

2

3

4

5

C. INTERPRETATION

How often do you seek interpretation of campus policy?

	Always
	Sometimes
	Never

Currently, where do you seek interpretation of campus policy? (check all that apply)

	Policy owner/issuer
	Audit and advisory services
	Controller's office
	UC Office of the President (UCOP)
	My manager/supervisor
	Co-worker
	Other _________________________________________________

D. EXCEPTIONS

I need access to exception procedures for campus policy.

	Yes
	No - I never seek exceptions
	Not applicable - seeking exceptions is not part of my job

How often do you have a need to request an exception to a campus policy?

	Often
	Sometimes
	Never
	Not applicable

I need exceptions to campus policy because policies do not address (check any that apply)

	Unit needs
	Staff needs
	Faculty needs
	Correcting mistakes
	Emergencies
	Other ___________________________________________

If I have to use "workarounds," it is most often because (check any that apply)

	I could not find exception procedures
	Documented policy was unclear
	Procedures associated with the documented policy would put a "mission critical" project in jeopardy
	A mistake was made and I need to resolve it
	Precedence (policy has not been enforced before)
	I found conflicting policies and did not have time to research
	Other ___________________________________________

E. POLICY OWNER/ISSUER

I write policy and/or procedures that impact the entire campus.

	Yes
	No

Generally, I can identify the campus department responsible for administering a particular policy.

	Always
	Sometimes
	Never
	Not applicable

How strongly do you agree or disagree with the following statement: I know that the policy I am looking at is official UC Berkeley policy.
Strongly Agree				Strongly Disagree

1

2

3

4

5

F. UPDATES/REVISIONS

How strongly do you agree or disagree with the following: I only need to see the most up-to-date campus policy.
Strongly Agree				Strongly Disagree

1

2

3

4

5

Generally, I know if a campus policy is current.
Strongly Agree				Strongly Disagree

1

2

3

4

5

G. COMMUNICATION

How have you most often learned about campus policy in your area of responsibility? (check all that apply)

	Campus policy web site
	Policy owner/issuer departmental web site
	My own departmental web site
	Self educate
	Trial & error
	Departmental training
	Campus training
	Printed policy manual
	Co-worker
	Other ___________________________________________
	Not applicable

Optimally, what do you think would be the most effective way to learn about campus policy in your area of responsibility? (select one)

	An improved campus policy web site
	Policy owner/issuer departmental web site
	My own departmental web site
	Self educate
	Trial & error
	Departmental training
	Campus training
	Printed policy manual
	Co-worker
	Other ___________________________________________

How often do you receive information about the new or updated policies that you need to do your job?

	Always
	Sometimes
	Never

How often do you want to receive notifications of campus policy updates?

	Immediately
	Monthly
	Quarterly
	Annually
	Never-I want to search for policy updates when I need them

How do you want to be notified of new and changed policies? (check all that apply)

	Subscribe to a general listserv
	Subscribe to a policy specific listserv
	Campus (snail) mail
	I do not want to be notified
	Other ___________________________________________________

H. FORMAT

How strongly do you agree or disagree with the following: I want to see a summary for each campus policy.
Strongly Agree				Strongly Disagree

1

2

3

4

5

A consistent look and feel is important to the format of all campus policies.
Strongly Agree				Strongly Disagree

1

2

3

4

5

I. DEMOGRAPHICS

What type of department do you work in?

	Academic
	Non-Academic

What is your job classification?

	Management & Senior Professional (MSP)
	Staff needsProfessional and Support Staff (PSS)
	Represented (union)
	Non-Senate Academic
	Academic
	Other ___________________________________________

What type of work do you do? (select one)

	Administrative Support		Library Services
	Business & Financial Services		Parking and Transportation Services
	Communications, Arts and Graphics		Public Safety and Security
	Contracts & Grants Administration		Research Administration and Support
	Development		Student Affairs
	Facilities Operations and Maintenance		Student Services, Housing and Dining
	Health Services		Teaching/Research
	Human Resources		Technical/Skilled Trades
	Information Technology		Other ____________________

How long have you been working on the UC Berkeley campus?

	Less than one year
	1 - 4 years
	5 - 9 years
	10 -15 years
	Over 15 years

Do you receive email from any of the following Berkeley campus listservs? (check all that apply)

	Berkeley Financial System (BFS & BAIRS)
	Business Officers Institute (BOI)
	Deans & Directors
	Departmental Personnel Managers (DPM)
	Human Resources Management System (HRMS)
	Student Affairs Office (SAO)
	Procurement Card
	SPO QuickNews

Go to Survey Results

Survey Announcement

September 25, 2003

Dear Member of the Campus Community:

We are pleased to invite you to take part in an anonymous survey that
will assist our office in determining the best course of action for
improving the campus community's access to administrative policies.
Policy is the glue that holds our decentralized organization together.
Improving access to policies will yield enormous benefits across the
campus, allowing departments like yours to focus on meeting your
objectives with reduced resources, rather than spinning your wheels
looking for a policy or correcting inevitable errors due to policy
noncompliance.

Our survey was developed for the Cabinet's Controls Initiative Policy
Access Project by a committee consisting of employees participating in
UC Berkeley's Leadership Development Program. Your participation in
this brief survey will help them make recommendations for improving
policy dissemination and online access.

We hope you will take the estimated ten minutes needed and complete
the survey found at http://Policysurvey.berkeley.edu.

Thank you very much for your participation.

Sincerely,

James A. Hyatt
Vice Chancellor
Budget and Finance

Gregory N. Brown
Assistant Vice Chancellor
Finance and Controller

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