How to Achieve NQS Quality Element 7.3.5

by | 241016 | Document Management

Lucky last of the elements in ACECQA’s National Quality Standard (NQS), Element 7.3.5 states:

“Service practices are based on effectively documented policies and procedures that are available at the service and reviewed regularly”

Collating and storing all your centre policies and procedures into a paper or electronic folder and making them available to staff and parents may be straight forward. But how do you review and update them regularly and how do you demonstrate that you undertake this review as part of the NQS audit process?

Cloudbridge have addressed this requirement within our Childcare Document Storage Framework by developing a workflow that manages this process for busy centre managers.

Basically when setting up the document you identify how frequently you need to review the policy or procedure. For example, is it six monthly, annually or biannually. The required date for the review of each document is then automatically calculated based on the date it was created.

When that date rolls around an email is sent to the centre manager to remind them that the policy or procedure needs to be reviewed. If this is not actioned, an additional email is sent later as a reminder.

Cloudbridge’s document storage framework tailored for childcare and early childhood education centres assists busy staff manage their documentation, including policies and procedures. This includes:

  • Initial document development, including automating the process to review and release the document;
  • Efficiently communicating the released policy or procedure to all centre staff;
  • Being able to quickly locate the latest version of a procedure or policy when required using standard Google like search tools; and
  • Being able to facilitate updating the procedure at the required time, including automatic email reminders that the procedure needs to be reviewed.

The structure is based on the NQS so centre staff know exactly where to find the latest version of the document they need to access. This structure also assists with undertaking the annual assessment and rating process based on the NQS.

Our Document Storage Framework is built on Microsoft’s cloud based Office 365 and as such brings core functionality without the need to invest in on premise infrastructure.

Check out more details on our Childcare Document Storage Framework at https://www.cloudbridge.com.au/document-management/ or contact us on enquiries@cloudbridge.com.au or on 0409 268 648 to arrange an online demonstration.