Policies, Procedures and Standards - How To Guide


This document is a description of how to manage/update the ITS  Policy, Procedures, Standards documents on the wiki site.   It also serves as working todo list and way to generate the new WiKi pages as new content is added.

Please do not put this document (Managing ITS  Policy Wiki Site) into the approval process.   It serves as the master for tracking our policies that need created as described below and therefore is being edited often.   We dont want to have to approve it every time...

Current Questions/issues (Identify you questions, issues, concerns here or post as comments on this page).

  1. Where do I go to make suggestions or request changes to the
    1. A.   Email Randy.
  2. Do we need to use Approvals?   could be handy when we get formal with the procedures,   but since they are all currently draft/being approved by IT/Admin/HR - not needed ....yet.    Definitly should revisit after others use (beyond ITS)
    1. A. Approvals has been turned on.   See Approval Instructions below for specifics.
  3. Spell Check Does not work yet.   Need to install spell check add on.  Do not use when editing at this time.

UPDATE (1/8)  - RAD  turned off.   Forum indictes spelling is buggy.   You can get a pretty good spell check by looking at the source code...not very handy for 'normal users'.   Might need to address prior to extending wiki to non its authors.

How come i don't see my wiki article description in the draft? The article description does not appear in the draft for some reason, but when the article is posted, the description  (from the original) does re-appear.   Leave it blank in the draft unless you need to add an updated description. Update: (1/8/2010) - RAD.   May have found option that keeps other details, like description, with page history edits.   Not much of a concern now since not using the description as rigidly since migration form categories to 'structure' on pages. Need to make a backup.   See information collected below.. Woudl like to find out how to make module last_modif_pages show up and work.   Supposed to be in modules list...but don't see.   Tried a user module but didn't work.   Last Mod plugin is enabled...

Would be a nice addition for an emploee layout screen to show what is getting updated...

*  make note of the version of Tiki installed also in docs so the restore can be matched to this if needed.


 

Creating a new wiki Document


A document is made by a) referring to it in an existing document or b) adding a new page within an existing structure.

Making a new document from within an existing document

  1. You do this by selecting the 'inserting/editing an internal wiki link' button off the edit toolbar while in an existing document.
  2. Once you insert a new link - this document (after you save it) will show your description followed by a "?".   The question mark indicates that a wiki document is being referenced, but the document has not been created yet.   You will notice that all of the documents which already exist in the wiki from the todo list don't have a question mark   - they are already linked to the wiki document being referenced.
  3. When you are ready to begin creating the new document - click the "?". while viewing the page where you inserted the link to the new document.     This will open the editor and allow you to start creating the new policy, procedure, etc.

To add a new page to an existing structure:

  1. Within the structure (ie - ITS  Polices, or ITS  Procedures - you will see a box and button at the top to add a new page.   Put the name of the new page in the box and click the button.   If you want the new page to be a 'child' of the current page you are on - check the 'child' box.
  2. The page will be created and the editor will open so you can start working on the pag
After making new pages, they still won't show up in the 'structure' (Table of contents)  until they are approved.

Formatting a ITS  Policy, Procedure, etc.

The first thing to do is to start with the Policy Template.   Scroll down to the Tools section and select the apprpriate Template - such as "Policy", then click apply template.   This simply gives you a starting point for how the policy document is supposed to be laid out.
NOTE:    Don't re-apply the policy template to an existing document...it will replace/overwrite all of the existing content.
Fill out the new document as needed.   Use the "Title H3" style for all section titles.   Leave the dividers (solid line)  between sections.   Keep the order the same as put in place by the template.
If you need new sections NOT provided by the template - append them at the end.
You can link to other wiki pages and external web pages within the document.   If you are referring to another policy, procedure or standard - you must create a wiki link to that. (this is not an option, for the wiki to be used by staff - it must have these cross references to be effective).

Guidance on Policy Structure, Cross linking, Language, Etc.

The emphasis is on employee usability and understanding vs. formal structure and rigid consistency.   Organization is important primarily for the sake of ensuring that we are able to manage the policies and standards, but should not be prioritized above usability.   To that end, these guidelines (draft)  are to help in determing how and where to place and reference policies.
If a policy statement, in its entirety, fits within an existing policy, put it there.
If the bulk of a policy statement fits within an existing policy, and the primary purpose falls within the existing policy purpose, put it in the existing policy.   Recommendatino is to also include the other elements of the new policy which may not fit in this existing policy; but to recognize that it may be necessary to link these additional statements to another (new or existing) policy area.   For example, Electronic Mail policy refers to confidentiality and backups of email.   These are seperate policies.   Reference to confidentiality and backups should remain, for usability purposes, within teh email policy.  The references in the email policy shoudl also include links to the Confidentiality and Backups policies - which will serve to further clarify and formalize these subjects.
When updating policies, this createse new challenges.   Thouhrough searching and review of cross links must be done to ensure that all related references to a subject (ie confidentiality or backups in this example) are updated to reflect any future policy changes.   For this reason, it is best to keep the 'minor references' to other policy statements as brief and general as possible.   For example, avoid defining new details about confidentiality or backups in the email policy directly, and instead reference the fact that email messages are included in the confidentiality policy and refer them to this policy for further details.


INSTRUCTIONS:

Approval Instructions

For a wiki document to be managed by the approval process, it must first be saved to the Staging->Approved category.   This is done automatically for documents you create inside of an existing structure.

Once it has been set as approved; any further edits to the document will automatically be done via a working copy.   The working copy is created by the Wiki automatically and stored in the Staging->Draft category.   The document name is the same as the original with a DRAFT- prefeix applied.

Authorized users (AUthors and Admins as of 1/7/10) can modify this draft version as needed.   When 'drafting' is completed, an authorized user must approve the document in order to replace the main version which is visible to registered site users (city employees)

You can see the option to Approve a draft when you open the document to view it.   Doesn't have to be edited to approve.
Prior to approving, ensure that the correct Category for the document is set; in addition to any automatic settings that exist in the Stagic category (do not change the staging category settings, this will be done by the wiki automatically.   Changing these will potentially take the document out of the wiki approval system)

If documents get out of synch and the wiki does not know if it is approved or not, you may find them in a special category under staging named "unknown".   Any "unknown" documents should be reviewed by approvers and deleted or approved as necessary (depending upon if they are accurate or not and need to become the offical version).


Backup Instructions

The following are generic instructions from another internet host...but concept should apply.  Seems to align with instructions i found in the Tiki Forum available here http://doc.tikiwiki.org/Backup

See the note about checking the unselected "drop tables' box...

Randy has not yet tested this...but it is on the todo   list.

Image Backup TikiWiki Database

  • Step 1: Login to your hosting account cPanel, locate and click on the "PhpMyAdmin" icon.
  • Step 2: From within PhpMyAdmin, choose the TikiWiki Database.
  • Step 3: On the top menu of the database table list, click on "Export"
  • Step 4: In the export options, make sure you:
    • "Select All" Tables
    • Check "Structures" property.
    • Check "Data" property.
    • Check "Save as" option
  • Step 5: Once you double check that all the options in step 4 are set, click Go and save to the file to your desktop.

THis is not backing up the file structure of the site, but the database.  Must also FTP  the TiwiWiki folder down to make a backup of the rest of the system.