Managing compliance processes to completion requires coordinated efforts, timely deliverables, traceable data and multiple failsafes. If you’re considering a cloud-based platform on which to run your workflows, there are some foundational steps you can take to ensure you execute with speed, accuracy and transparency. 

Let’s review four key pillars to successful compliance-related business processes. 

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‍Documentation

The standardization and storage of current, approved documentation are keys to compliance. Make certain there’s a “process of record” template showcasing a process map and/or decision tree. Additionally, provide access to current documentation for all the required stakeholders. Managing the documents in a cloud-based, permission-required platform prevents the use of outdated templates saved on somebody’s personal device.  

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‍Authorization 

Setting up roles for your workflow is critical; enforcing them in a platform by establishing rules and automations based on those workflows can supercharge the process. Collaborating cross-functionally with HR, financial, legal, etc. teams can take a massive amount of coordination, and the more you can move into a rule-based system, the less likely your work is to fall victim to human error. 

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‍Execution

To move from one person to the next in a chain of deliverables, certain work must be marked (and verified or approved) as completed. Stage management not only standardizes the process, but allows you to visually highlight tasks that are at risk or overdue. Setting escalatory notifications in your workflow platform can add an extra safety net, giving the team its best shot to hit the critical milestones. 

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‍Insights and Analysis

When work is executed in emails, spreadsheets, shared drives and other decentralized business systems, build reports can be a project in and of itself. But if the project is executed in a centralized workspace, you’ll unlock insights about the entire process (and the people involved) which can point to areas which can be further streamlined. It can also provide access to key data in the event an audit is required at any point. 

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Compliance projects can be tricky, often involving the well-timed execution of numerous parallel tasks, along with a hierarchical structure of reviews and approvals. Relying on emails, messaging systems, shared drive folders and other “point solutions” only increases the risk of things slowing down, falling through the cracks or suffering from errors. 

Building your process into a centralized, highly configured workflow software platform is guaranteed to help with speed and accuracy. Research any of the solutions out there to find the one that’s right for you, or let the Vsimple team build a tailored demo to see what it could look like on our platform.

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