1050 DAS Process for Developing or Changing Policy, Procedures, Program Standards | ADMINISTRATION-5600-MANUAL

The Division of Aging Services (DAS or Division) will review and revise Policy and Procedure Manuals on a regular basis, following a standard process.

DAS adheres to the procedures set forth by the Department of Human Services (DHS) with regards to manual creation and updates. The Manuals of DAS serve multiple purposes including, but not limited to the following:

DAS will involve appropriate reviewers in manual development.

No manual is ever complete. Policy, procedures, and standards will be regularly reviewed and updated, clarified, and improved. Most manuals in the Division will be updated on a quarterly basis. Manuals may be updated as frequently as monthly.

All manual material must be approved by the Division Director.

The Department’s Office of Strategic Planning and Initiatives (OSPI) will obtain any Department level approval necessary prior to publication.

DAS ODIS Publisher: DAS Staff person assigned to load manual material to the Department ODIS “draft” platform

Manual Transmittal Cover Letter: A formal memorandum on DHS letterhead from the Division Director that introduces and briefly explains the revisions and/or additions to DAS manuals. It is distributed to all AAA Directors and relevant DHS and DAS staff. The Manual Transmittal Cover Letter will summarize the changes being made and the rationale for doing so. It may also briefly describe the impact the change will have on agency operations. Refer to the Sample Manual Transmittal Template in Appendix D, Forms and Templates.

Manual Transmittal Number: The Manual Transmittal Number will consist of the State Fiscal Year and number indicating the manual transmittal issuance for that year.

Examples: MAN 5600, MT 2013-01
MAN 5300, MT 2014-06

Program Owner: DAS Section Manager or staff person responsible for programmatic monitoring, policy and procedure development and revision.

Reviewer: Persons, groups, or organizations affected by policy, procedures, and/or standards of the Division. AAA representatives are required for any manual transmittal involving AAA operations.

DAS will follow the DHS Manual Structure. Refer to POL 1441.

Table of Contents: Each DAS Manual will have a table of contents with chapter and sections clearly defined.

Manual Sections:

First Page: The first page of each Manual Section shall contain a table indicating:

Footer: Section footers will have the manual name and manual transmittal number on the left and page numbers on the right.

Each section will have its own set of page numbers. For example, Section 2000 will be numbered 2000-1 through 2000-1. Pagination starts over with the next section: 2001-1 through 2001-6.

Content: Each Section must contain subdivisions to include:

Each subdivision is begun with a one row/one column table with the subdivision title in bold font.

Subdivisions of content may be further subdivided, such as Steps in Procedures for easy reference. These further subdivisions should be in bold font and may be indented.

Content should include proper grammar and should incorporate white space for easy reading. Dense, long paragraphs are discouraged. Tables, flow charts and bulleted content are allowable.

Appendices: Each DAS Manual will have the following appendices:

Other appendices are allowable and will vary from manual to manual.

The following steps will be followed when developing or updating Division Manuals:

Step 1: The Program owner will draft new material or draft changes to manual material. Reasons for new or updated manual material may include:

Step 2: The Program Owner will circulate draft text to reviewers. Refer to Section 8003, Routing Correspondence for Review. Each Program Owner will determine reviewers for the manual material being written or revised. Reviewers may be different from program to program or even manual transmittal to manual transmittal. Section managers will confirm reviewers for each transmittal.

Provide external to DHS reviewers with a minimum of three weeks to review text.

Step 3: The Program Owner will complete the final draft of the manual material taking reviewer input into consideration.

Step 4: Program Owners may prepare an electronic review packet via email as an alternative to a hard copy packet. Electronic review packets will include:

Review comments
Manual Transmittal Cover Letter
Manual materials (Sections, Appendices, Forms, etc.) with track changes

Step 5: The Division Deputy Director and Director will review the Manual Transmittal packet.

If changes are needed, the Program Owner will make the changes and return the packet to the Division Director and Deputy Director for review.

If changes are not needed, or changes have been made and verified, proceed to Step 6.

Step 6: The Program Owner or DAS ODIS Publisher loads the manual transmittal into DHS Esign. The Division Director must be included in the signature queue and must sign both the ODIS routing form and MT Cover Letter in this step.

Step 7: The OSPI staff will obtain final approvals. If edits or changes are requested at the Department level, the Manual Transmittal will be returned to the Program Owner/DAS ODIS Publisher

Step 8: Once final approvals are received, The DAS ODIS Publisher loads the manual material on the “draft” platform.

Step 9: The DAS ODIS publisher notifies OSPI that the ODIS changes are loaded to the “draft” platform via email, if necessary.

Step 10: OSPI staff will publish the manual transmittal to ODIS.

Step 11: The Program Owner will distribute the Manual Transmittal Cover Letter and ODIS link to key DAS staff via email and, if applicable, to AAA Directors, AAA program contacts and/or contractors and/or providers.

DAS program staff will provide technical assistance and training on new or revised policy and procedures as needed.

DHS Policy 1441 (found on ODIS0
DHS Employee Intranet, Office of Strategic Planning and Initiatives Policy (ODIS) Procedures

Appendix D, Forms and Templates