governance policy

What the draft defines

The intentions and direction of an organization, formally expressed by its governing body.

This is our statement of the public preview, not a quotation. The term itself stays verbatim; the definition is paraphrased and checked for overlap before it ships.

Why the term is in the draft

A governance policy is a component, not a procedure. The model's efficiency aspect asks whether components of each type have been adopted, communicated and reviewed, and a policy still in draft scores lower than one in force.

What to do with it in the group

Inventory the governance policies at both levels, entity and group, and mark the adoption, communication and review date of each. That inventory is the efficiency evidence.

Record the term in the evaluation glossary and use it consistently in the boundary map, the board paper and the report. A group that uses three words for the same role makes its own evaluation harder to read, and the draft's definitions are the cheapest common language available.

Three checks before the term goes in the board paper

• Same word, same meaning. Check that the instrument which gives the controller its right uses this term in the same sense. Where it uses a different word, record the mapping in the glossary rather than switching between them.
• One owner. Name the board or group function that decides what the term means for this group. A definition without an owner drifts the first time two entities interpret it differently.
• A dated example. Put one real example beside the definition: an entity, a decision or a document. A term that cannot be illustrated in the group's own facts is not yet in use.

The other terms in Group governance components are worth reading together, because the definition of one often depends on another.

Terms in the same group

• 3.4.1 organizational governance framework
• 3.4.2 group governance framework
• 3.4.4 group governance policy
• 3.4.5 organizational purpose

All 21 terms Test the definition