Re: Process for updating documents/handbooks
From: drmaryanngroups (drmaryanngroupsmac.com)
Date: Fri, 1 Jun 2012 15:38:19 -0700 (PDT)
We maintain a hard copy version of our Villagers Guide (Policy and Procedure 
Manual). When major policies or procedures change we issue a new page and 
depend on folks updating their own copies. We also keep an updated copy of the 
Guide as pdf files on our members-only website.

However, like your community not everyone here is comfortable with a completely 
online version. We still like our paper.

So, every 2 or 3 years our Process Committee, who holds the responsibility for 
maintaining the Guide, sits down and does a major revision. We ask each 
committee and group to look at the portions that apply to them and making 
whatever changes are necessary. If a policy/procedure has been approved by the 
community, it is the responsibility of the group or committee to gain community 
approval of their updates if that hasn't been done already. When everything has 
been updated, we issue a completely new version. We generally print off one 
copy per household (and some extras) and ask each household to bring their 
binder to a community meeting where we can collect the outdated copies and 
issue the new one. Folks not at that meeting are given their new copies and we 
hope they replace the old version with the new. Which is easier to do with a 
completely new copy that individual pages here and there.

We have a member (me) who was a technical writer for almost 20 years who 
manages the update process under the auspices of the Process Committee.

Mary Ann
Manzanita Village where summer has arrived full force and we're wondering what 
happened to spring

On Jun 1, 2012, at 1:44 PM, Harriet Lewis wrote:

> 
> Over the last 30 years , the handbook for Santa Rosa Cree Commons , a limited 
> equity co-op, has seen many revisions and
> we struggle with a way to keep the handbook updated.  Not all folks living 
> here have on- line access so putting it on line isn't an option at this time. 
>    We are still dealing with paper here!  Any idea of how to efficiently 
> eliminate old policies/procedures and insert new ones?  How do others 
> providing residents with important document changes?
> 
> SRCC will celebrate July 4th by "burning the mortgage" we've had all these 
> years with the National Coop Bank.  We feel pretty good about that 
> achievement and the fact that we still provide 27 units of affordable housing 
> for members.  
> 
> Harriet Lewis for the Documents Committee
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> 

--
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mind; for the soul is dyed by the thoughts.”  --Marcus Aurelius

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Mary Ann Clark                                                  drmaryann49 
[at] mac.com
Check out DrMaryAnn's Academy at http://drmaryann.wordpress.com/







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