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What is a Policy?
The Policy domain in Orthogramic establishes the rules, guidelines, and standards that govern your organization’s governing operations and decision-making. This domain is tightly integrated with other business architecture elements like Capabilities, Value Streams, and Information, ensuring that policies are consistently applied and aligned with strategic goals. By embedding compliance and governance within the business architecture, Orthogramic helps your organization maintain accountability, manage risks, and adapt policies as the business evolves. Explore how the Policy domain supports consistent and effective governance throughout your organization.
What is a Policy?
In the Orthogramic Metamodel, a Policy serves as a guiding principle that sets the boundaries and constraints for organizational behavior, helping to ensure alignment with strategic objectives and compliance with regulatory and internal standards. The Policy domain is structured as a dynamic, integrated element within the business architecture framework, emphasizing its direct influence on decision-making, processes, and capabilities.
A Policy is closely linked to business architecture domains such as Strategy, Capabilities, Value Streams, and Information. These relationships are explicitly managed through attributes, elements, and sub-elements, ensuring that Policies are not siloed but actively influence other parts of the organization. For example, a Policy may directly impact how a Capability operates, which processes are allowed, and how Value Streams are structured. This interconnectedness provides a holistic view of how Policies shape and are shaped by other elements in the business architecture, enabling a consistent and cohesive approach to governance.
The Policy domain structure includes provisions Policies are structured as dynamic elements within business architecture, directly influencing execution across capabilities, value streams, and information domains.
The domain includes mechanisms for maintaining and updating policies to stay current with the organization's evolving needs. This ensures that Policies remain relevant and aligned with organizational requirements, facilitating agility in a changing business environment.
The domain incorporates elements for analyzing trends, internal and external factors, and compliance requirements to guide modifications to existing Policies or highlight areas that may require additional guidance. This proactive approach helps organizations stay ahead of potential compliance risks and adapt Policies in anticipation of changes in the business or regulatory landscape.
The Metamodel focuses on the operationalization of Policies across the organization. Policies are embedded within business architecture domains in a way that directly influences execution. For instance, Policies are linked organizational needs. It emphasizes operationalization of policies by linking them to specific processes, capabilities, and workflows , ensuring that they are actively enforced and reflected in organizational behavior. This operational focus allows for a clearer translation of strategic intent into actionable guidelines, making Policies more effective as tools for governance.
The Policy domain structure supports collaborative approaches to policy management. The framework facilitates input from various departments and roles to engage in Policy creation, review, and refinement. This design ensures that Policies are not only aligned with high-level strategy but also practical and relevant to the daily realities of different business units, increasing adherence across the organization.
Performance indicators are embedded within the Policy domain, allowing organizations to measure and track the effectiveness of policy implementation in real-time. This includes measuring how well a Policy is being adhered to and its impact on business goals. This structure provides a continuous feedback loop, enabling organizations to evaluate how well Policies are being implemented and their impact on business goals. If a Policy is not achieving the desired outcomes, the domain framework supports adjustments, ensuring a more responsive approach to governance.
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Relationship of Domain, Attributes, Elements and Sub-Elements
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to ensure active enforcement and alignment.
Policy domain attributes
Attribute | Description | Example |
Title | The name or title of the Policy | Track Safety Standards Compliance Policy |
Description | A detailed explanation of what the Policy entails | Comprehensive framework for ensuring compliance with FRA track safety standards |
Purpose | The intended purpose or function of the Policy within the Organization | Maintain consistent track safety standards across all rail classifications |
Owner | The individual or team responsible for the Policy | Director of Track Safety Standards |
orgUnitTitle | The Organization unit(s) to which the Policy is linked | Track and Rail Infrastructure Division |
Requirements | Specific conditions or criteria to be met under the Policy | Daily track inspections for Class 4-5 track, bi-weekly for Class 1-3 |
Compliance Metrics | Measures to ensure adherence to policies | Inspection completion rate: 99.4%, Documentation accuracy: 98.7% |
Review Frequency | How often the Policy is reviewed and updated | Annual review with quarterly compliance assessments |
Approvals | Individuals or groups that must approve the Policy | FRA Administrator, Chief Safety Officer, Regional Directors |
Related Policies | Policies that are related or linked to this Policy | Track Inspector Qualification Policy, Track Maintenance Standards |
Compliance and Standards | Regulatory requirements and standards the Policy must adhere to | 49 CFR Part 213 - Track Safety Standards, Part 214 - Railroad Workplace Safety |
Risks | Potential risks associated with the Policy and its implementation | Documentation gaps, inspection delays, resource constraints |
Improvement Opportunities | Areas where the Policy can be enhanced or improved | Implement digital inspection records, streamline approval process |
Strategic Alignment | How the Policy aligns with the Organizations strategic goals and objectives | Supports zero-accident goal through systematic inspection procedures |
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