The policy/UOP review process is conducted through PowerDMS (opens in new window). The policies/UOPs needing your review can be found in your (or your designee’s) PowerDMS inbox.

PowerDMS (Login required - opens in new window)

 

Your task as a responsible official or designee, is to review each document assigned to you in PowerDMS and make a choice:

  • Don’t make any changes because none are needed, and approve your step. This signals the Office of Compliance and Privacy Services that the document can be reaffirmed and posted, and set up for a cyclical review (typically every 3 years). Or,
  • Edit the document (using tracked changes) and then approve your step. This signals the Office of Compliance and Privacy Services that you approve the edits you’ve made and are ready for us to involve others, depending on how significant your edits are. You will be involved in those other steps prior to finalizing the document for signature.

Reviewing and Editing Documents in PowerDMS

Viewing Your List of Documents: “To Do” List

To view the list of documents that need your review, you can log into PowerDMS (opens in new window) or click on the link provided in the “alert” email that you receive from alert@PowerDMS.com.

Once in the main PowerDMS page, you will see your own “To Do” section.

Null

The "To Do" section lists the documents of which your step is needed in the review process. After you review the document (make edits if needed) and approve your step in the workflow, the document will be removed from this list.

Clicking on a document listed in your “To Do” section (in this case, clicking on “Adoption of University Policies”) will bring you to that specific document. If you have more than one document on your To Do list, click on the “and # other documents” to see the full list of documents in your Inbox that have been assigned to you.

*Note: If you search for a document that is not in your “Inbox” and then you make edits to it, please note the Office of Compliance and Privacy Services may not receive any notification that you made edits. Edits you make to a document only get relayed to our office for documents that have an active workflow. Please contact the Office of Compliance and Privacy Services (policy@uvm.edu) if you would like to revise a document that is NOT in your To Do or Inbox list.

Open a Document - Use this option if you want to review the document or see any tracked changes made by other users before you.

Click on the document title in your Inbox. In this example, we clicked on “Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards.”

You will then see the review page for that document:

The home page for the Code of Conduce and Ethical Standards policy in PowerDMS.

Once in the review page for that document. Click on “Open”. This will open the document in Microsoft Word and link it to PowerDMS. If you are having trouble seeing tracked changes, contact policy@uvm.edu.

PowerDMS open document icon.

Opening the document will also allow you to make edits; however, in order to keep track of all edits within the PowerDMS tool, we suggest you use the “Edit on Desktop”, see Revising a Document below.

Revising a Document - Use this option if you want to make edits

Click on the document title in your Inbox. In this example, we clicked on “Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards.”

PowerDMS inbox with Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards highlighted.

You will then see the review page for that document:

PowerDMS home page for Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards policy.

Select the “Edit On Desktop” blue button in the upper right corner.

PowerDMS Edit on Desktop button.

This will bring the document up in Microsoft Word. If you need to make edits, make sure “Tracked Changes” has been turned on in Microsoft Word.

Make your edits and save in Microsoft Word as you would with any Word document.

IMPORTANT NOTES:

  1. Depending on the browser you use, you may see a green “Finish Editing” button. If you see the green “Finish Editing” button, you must click that in order to make sure your changes are updated within PowerDMS. If you don’t see the button, or if you see it and it then goes away, your browser has done that automatically.
    PowerDMS finish editing button
  2. Only one person can make revisions at a time. Please save and finish editing when you are done editing. PowerDMS will not time you out. If you’d like, you can save and return to making more edits another time.
  3. If you plan to spend a significant amount of time making revisions, it is highly recommended that you save the PowerDMS document on your computer or share drive and upload your new draft to PowerDMS.

Uploading Documents to PowerDMS

Uploading a document is an option if you end up saving a document on your computer versus editing in PowerDMS. However, our office does not encourage this because (1) others may be working on the document as well and (2) if there is no workflow assigned, our Office will not be notified of any changes.

To upload a new version of an existing document into PowerDMS, first find the current draft document in PowerDMS. Then select the “Manage Document” blue button in the upper right corner.

PowerDMS Manage Document button

Under the “Revisions” tab, check to make sure “Draft (1)” is selected and click on “Add New File”.

null

The next screen will allow you to drag and drop or browse your computer to upload the document. Once the file uploads you are done.

PowerDMS upload a new active file screen.

Approve Document – Use this option if the document is ready for your approval.

Click on the “Approve” green button in the lower right corner. This signifies that you approve of your step in the workflow, and the next person or group will be prompted to review the document. Once you select “Approve”, the document will no longer appear on your “To Do” list on your homepage*.

*Note: some departments/individuals are assigned to more than one step in a workflow. If that is the case, this may be added to your “To Do” list again.

PowerDMS approve button

CONTACT policy@uvm.edu BEFORE SELECTING THE DENY OPTION.

Denying the workflow cancels the entire process for all users. If the document is not ready for approval, contact policy@uvm.edu to determine next steps. There is no way for us to shut this option off; however, you should never select it unless you have been given approval by the Office of Compliance and Privacy Services.

Adding Comments

At any point in the process, you can make comments in PowerDMS. You should use this if you want to communicate any details that any reviewers assigned to the document may need to know.

To do this, (1) select the “Discuss” tab in the upper right, (2) click “Add Comment”, type your comments then (3) click “Post comment”.

When you are posting comments, be careful not to accidentally click on “Approve” in the Discuss section, as this will result in the workflow moving to the next step.

null

Other Tips about Searching For Documents

If you search for a document using the upper left “Find Anything” search bar, PowerDMS will bring you to the published version of the document. Published versions do not have workflow steps assigned and will not be in your “To Do” list. Please do not make edits to a Published version or a document that is not in your To Do or Inbox. The “To Do” list is where you will find the draft version of the document assigned to you, including the workflow. If you accidentally edit a Published version, or if you are unsure which version you are editing, please contact the Office of Compliance at policy@uvm.edu.

Questions

Feel free to reach out to the Office of Compliance and Privacy Services with any questions: policy@uvm.edu . We are happy to go through any PowerDMS features with you.