The topic of Areas is one of the Three Pillars of PolicyStat. For more on the Three Pillars concept or to view the other two Pillars, see this article.
A quick disclaimer that some terms may differ for your location, but the concepts are universal. Area may be known as Policy Area, Department, Category, etc. on your PolicyStat site.
What is an Area?
At its most basic element, an Area is a category or grouping of similar documents within PolicyStat. Areas are often categorized to include terms like Human Resources, Operations, Nursing, Patient Care, Administrative, etc.
The default term is Area, but some clients use customized terms that reflect local preferences. Categories for policy documents may be referred as Departments, Manuals, or other like terms. Regardless of the term, the functionality remains the same.
Creating/Editing Areas
Creating new Areas or making edits to existing Areas is an easy task, though the ability to do either is restricted to users with Site Administrator permissions.
For more on creating new Policy Areas, see this article. For more on editing existing Areas, see this article.
Category
First and foremost, Areas are categories used to group similar policy documents. When using the search filters, an Area filter can be applied to narrow the total number of policy documents displayed to only those which fit within the Area. For example, to narrow the total number of policy documents contained within PolicyStat to only those in the Human Resources Area, applying that filter would narrow the total search results. For more on searching for policy documents in PolicyStat, see this article and tutorial.
Default Expiration
Areas also establish a default expiration period (e.g. - 3 years) or specific date during which policy documents are due for their next review.
Default Approval Workflow
Areas establish a default Approval Workflow through which policy documents are reviewed and approved prior to becoming active and searchable by general users.
User Permissions
Users can be granted elevated permissions based on Areas. Based on Area, users can be granted the ability to:
- View documents marked as restricted
- Create and edit policy documents within an Area
- Create, edit, and manage policy documents within an Area
For more on these permissions, see this article.
For more on setting user permissions by user, see this article.
For more on setting user permissions by Area, see this article.
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This article applies to the following user roles:
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