General

What are the Corporate Administrative Policy Manuals?

The Corporate Administrative Policy Manuals (formerly Management Manuals) are a series of four publications containing the Government of Nova Scotia's corporate administrative policies and procedures with application across government.

The manuals provide a common standard reference system, permitting all government employees to operate under the same rules. Think of it as having everyone singing from the same song sheet. The manuals are crucial to the effective internal operation of government with the consolidation of information in one place. Furthermore, the manuals serve as a corporate communication tool and will be a useful training resource for all employees.

Who is required to follow the policies and procedures in the Corporate Administrative Policy Manuals?

Category I: Direct application of the policies and procedures in the Corporate Administrative Policy Manuals to departments, offices of government and all public service votes as well as any additional entities as indicated in a specific policy or procedure.

Category II: Direct application to Crown corporations, who are to use the policies and procedures in the Corporate Administrative Policy Manuals to the extent that there is no conflict with their existing legislation, regulations, or existing contracts. Where possible, Crown corporations are to make their bylaws reflective of policy objectives, as appropriate.

Category III: Entities that receive government funding, primarily other government service organizations, are asked to embrace the intent of the policies/procedures, where such is determined reasonable for the efficient and effective operation of their organization.

Now that the Corporate Administrative Policy have been released, what happens next?

The focus now will be on maintaining the information and publishing the policies still under development. The Executive Council Office has the responsibility to ensure the Corporate Administrative Policy Manuals are current.

Who authorizes a policy?

All manuals have received the endorsement of Executive Council. Individual policies in the Corporate Administrative Policy Manuals have been approved by a number of different means, such as Executive Council, ministers and deputy ministers.

Check the history table at the end of each policy to see who approved the policy, the approval date, the manual release date and the date of the most recent review. The date of Treasury and Policy Board's approval of the manuals has been used in instances where the origins of the original policy were not determined.

What's the process for making changes to an existing corporate policy?

Any change to the content of a corporate policy must be authorized by the originating department or government entity, i.e., the owner of the content. Policy owners are to consult with the Operations Analyst, Executive Council Office to determine if a proposed revision is significant enough, i.e., material, to require review again by the Executive Council or its Committees. Revisions considered to be material are to follow the same approval process as for new corporate policies (see How is a new corporate policy approved?).

For revisions of a "housekeeping" nature, i.e., not material, approval by the deputy minister/deputy head/CEO for the department / government entity is required. Once revisions are approved, forward the revised policy to the Operations Analyst, Executive Council Office for publication.

What format should I use when developing a new policy?

The policy template developed by the Information Policy Initiative in 1995 and approved for government-wide use by the Business and Technology Advisory Committee (BTAC) is the recommended format for policies in the Corporate Administrative Policy Manuals.

While many policies are written using this standard policy template, you will notice some that are not. Often, these are older policies which have migrated from the original versions of the manuals. All of these policies have been reviewed to ensure the currency of the information. Some may be adapted to the policy template during a future review of their content.

How is a new corporate policy approved?

All new corporate policies require the authorization of Executive Council. Departments/government entities submit their proposed corporate policy with the appropriate documentation (i.e., Memorandum to Executive Council) to the Executive Council Office. A Cabinet Advisor from the Executive Council Office as well as a Corporate Financial Analyst from Treasury Board, Department of Finance and Treasury Board, will be assigned to the file, preparing the staff assessment. For more information about the Cabinet decision-making process, see Chapter 3 of the Management Guide. Approved policies must be forwarded to the Operations Analyst, Executive Council Office by departments/government entities, for publication.

 

Using the Manuals

You will require the Adobe Acrobat Reader in order to be able to view the policies/procedures in PDF, available at www.adobe.com for free downloading.

How do I use PDF documents?

Once you open the PDF document, you have two options: Viewing or Printing. The page layout has been designed to invite on-screen reading. Bookmarks and Thumbnails (on the left-hand column) have been used to help in the quick retrieval of information. The Annotations feature has not been used.

How do I print from PDF?

You have the capability to print anywhere from a single page to the entire policy. PDF repaginates a document from page one through to the end with no distinction for the chapter number-page number format used in the publications. If you only want a page or two in a 26 page policy, please verify the starting and ending page numbers. Then select those specific pages under the Print command.

How do I find a policy?

Use the Search feature or select the manual that you think contains the information you are seeking and go to the Table of Contents.

Using the Table of Contents
When you select a specific manual, you will go to the HTML Table of Contents screen for that manual. Policies are listed by chapter.

Selecting any of the highlighted policies will open up the PDF document at that particular policy if your browser is set up to do this. Otherwise the PDF file will open at the Table of Contents. Contact your IT Helpdesk for assistance with your browser settings.

Selecting the heading Table of Contents will open up the PDF document at the publications Table of Contents. The Bookmark feature also serves as a table of contents for the manual. You may make a selection either from the bookmarks or from within the Table of Contents.

How do I know if a policy is new or has been revised?

A Record of Revisions is provided for each manual listing all changes to its policies. Select the highlighted policy to open up the PDF document. You may also join the Listserv for automatic notification of revisions posted to the Web site.

You will receive confirmation email from the listserv administrator when you join or unsubscribe.

Only the current version of a policy/procedure will be available on the Web site. Please contact us should you have any questions concerning the currency of a particular policy/procedure.

Who do I contact if I have a question or comment?

If you have a general question about the manuals, please email manuals@novascotia.ca

For information about a specific policy or procedure, see the contact information under the ENQUIRIES section of the policy/procedure.