Frequently asked questions

Short answer:

No. The Policy Gateway does not host policies, It links to where policies are hosted so that institutional policies are easily available.

Longer answer:

The Policy Gateway is a signposting site. When we realised there were a lot of policies, procedures, guidance documents, forms and so on dotted around the University website, we decided to create a site that would make it easier to actually find the stuff that we use, refer to or create as part of what we do. The Gateway provides a direct way of finding a policy by searchable text and meaningful labels even if you don’t know the name of the policy.

If you have a new policy, or existing policy that you feel should be included on the Gateway, please complete the form below so we can assess whether the policy should be included.

Short answer:

All key institutional policies need to be transparent and easily accessible to internal and external people.

Longer answer:

The Policy Gateway helps people to access the information they need by making it easy to find a particular policy. Making policies clearly available also enables the University to demonstrate how particular matters or functions are dealt with, or, how the University fulfils a particular compliance function. The Gateway allows people to search by key terms. We provide some standard fields which you, as document owner, fill in with content that will be searchable by your intended audience.

With that in mind, it's a good idea to use the terminology that your audience might use to find your content. Note that this might be different from the terminology you, your department or your subject area might tend to use...

Short answer:

If it's a new item for the gateway, fill in the form. If you just need an update, email registry.web@lboro.ac.uk.

Longer answer:

Policies will often require approval by a formal committee, so will normally have gone through a consultation and approval process. Policies are hosted locally by the relevant Service Area or School.

If you need to add a new policy to the Gateway then please complete the form below.

As content owner, you're best placed to know what your audience needs to know. The form linked above is a simple Microsoft form which captures:

1. Document title
2. A brief description (this is searchable, so use meaningful terminology)
3. Document type (chosen from a list - provides users with a filter)
4. Document topic (chosen from a list - provides users with a filter)
5. Keywords (maximum five - these are searchable)
6. Document owner
7. Document approver
8. Date the document was last approved or updated
9. Date the document is due for review
10. Location of document
11. Your email (for any questions)

Once you've filled this in, it will be checked and you will get an email by way of confirmation.

Short answer:

The Approval Date is the date the policy was most recently approved. The Review Date is next date by which the policy should be reviewed and approved.

Long answer:

The Approval Date is the date when the current version of the policy was approved.

The Review Date is the date by which the policy should be reviewed, which includes any approval required by the relevant committee responsible for the policy. The review procedure should ensure sufficient time to consult relevant stakeholders and for the responsible committee to approve. You are advised to check the meeting dates of the approving committee to ensure that policy is approved by the review date. We would suggest a 6-month lead time for a policy review, though this may be longer or shorter depending on the policy.

Policy owners are responsible for monitoring the review dates of any policies they are responsible for, however, Academic Registry monitors policy review dates and will seek to remind policy owners of upcoming review dates approximately 6-months before policies are due for review.

Short answer:

Use the words most likely to assist the target audience in finding the policy. Do not use words that already appear in the title or description, as these fields are already included in a keyword search.

Long answer:

When your user types something in the search box, the gateway searches the document title, the short description AND the keywords you've provided. So if your document has 'Policy' in the title, you don't need to repeat it in the keywords - it's already there!

Policies may have a formal title and description, so it is helpful to imagine what other words might apply to the content which someone might use to search with. This would be your starting point for a good keyword. Also, how about any interesting section or chapter headings? Usage scenarios? Target audiences?

The other tip is you don't have to use a single word as a short phrase is often helpful, because each word will add to your document's findability. So a keyword of "buying a personal computer (PC)" is just as valid, but more useful than the four keywords "buying", "personal", "computer" and "PC". And you still have four more keyword 'slots' in the system (but find the balance between brevity and usefulness).