Updating the RPM

Title:	Updating the RPM - Procedure
Publication date:	8/23/2023
Effective date:	6/1/2021

PROCEDURE

A. General

Berkeley Lab's Requirements and Policy Manual (RPM) is an institutional document and therefore subject to version and configuration controls as described in the Document Management Policy.

Persons finding errors (however large or small) are encouraged to inform the policy's listed Contact, and copy the Requirements Management Program Manager (RM PM) at [email protected].
A Policy Author who wishes to make changes to a policy should do the following:
1. Obtain a Word version of the currently published Policy from their function's assurance point-of-contact (POC), or the Requirements Management (RM) Program Manager at [email protected].
2. With the help of their assurance POC, create a package that includes:
  1. Policy text document in a Word format that describes the exact changes to be made (including links that have been tested) in track-changes format,
  2. Completed Significance Rating Determination Form,
  3. Completed Approvals Form,
  4. Implementation plan (if deemed needed by the Significance Rating analysis).
3. Complete a Policy Change Request Smartsheet form. Be sure to attach all the above documents. Note that some of the questions in the Smartsheet form are mandatory. The assurance POC (or RM Program Manager) can assist.
4. RPM policies must be reviewed within 90 days of the Next Review Date. Policies that are overdue for over 90 days are subject to management escalation where the Office of Institutional Assurance and Integrity Sr. Manager will contact policy owner's Division Director with a request to approve an estimated review completion date and provide justification.
Persons wishing to introduce a new institutional policy should seek guidance from their function's assurance point-of-contact (POC), or the Requirements Management (RM) Program Manager at [email protected].
Policy Authors and/or division assurance POCs should use risk-based policy review criteria and choose the Next Review date based on these criteria. If Laboratory requirements and/or operational needs are not expected to change in the long term, the Next Review Date can be 5 years from the Publication date. Please see the table below describing criteria for determining an appropriate review cycle.

Review Cycle Length	Criteria
1-year	Applicable to high-risk policies that need to be reviewed and updated frequently to minimize the risk of improper communication of requirements that materialize into significant exposure to the UC and the Laboratory. High-risk policies may pertain to areas such as financial, human resources, security, safety, and research where our contract requirements and/or business/operational environments are prone to frequent changes.
3-year	Applicable to most policies. As a general rule, the Laboratory has embraced the practice of reviewing its policies at least every three years to ensure that policies are accurate, current, and aligned with contract requirements and best practices. Policies in this criteria may pertain to areas where routine changes are expected based on periodic modifications and/or business/operational needs.
5-year	Applicable to policies that are not expected to change routinely because the contractual and/or business/operational environments are stable, and not likely to be modified in the foreseeable future (i.e. Ethics and Conduct or Nonsmoking policies).

Types of Changes to the RPM

Type of Change	Definition	Review/Approval authority
Major Change	Includes the addition of a new policy, the retirement of an obsolete policy, or revision to an existing policy that significantly changes its meaning, requirements, responsibilities or method of implementation, or is an extensive rewrite of an existing policy. May have high impact on other institutional documents.	(Graded per Significance Rating Determination Form) Lab Director (A, B) COO (or designee) (B, C) Sr. Line Manager (C, D, E) Legal (A, B, C, D)
Major Change/ 30 Day Notice (Specific to Lab HR policies)	A Major Change to HR policy that affects employment terms and conditions. 30 day comment period starts with policy notice announced in Elements.	Deputy Director for Operations (or designee) Chief HR Officer Legal
Minor Change	A change that makes no substantial alteration in requirements or responsibilities, in the judgment of the Sr. Line Manager and/or RMC representative.	Responsible RMC representative or Line manager
Editorial change	Includes, for example: Typos, format, grammar, Updating hyperlinks, doc number changes Editing text to clarify or be consistent with existing requirements within the document and/or with other institutional documents	Inform Responsible RMC representative, or Line Manager, or SME.

B. Roles and Responsibilities

Role	Responsibilities
Policy Author	Ensures accuracy of policy content including requirements interpretation and translation into Laboratory policy language. Develops policies, ensures appropriate level of review of the content, and obtains the necessary approvals. Applies the Document Management policy, process, and procedures. Works with their function's Requirements Management Committee (RMC) representative on policy-related matters.
RPM Editor	Ensures document meets Berkeley Lab standards for publication. Publishes the approved document in the RPM.
Division Assurance POC	Assists Policy Author to ensure adherence to the RM and Document Management processes, including determining policy change type, significance rating for approvals, completion (if necessary) analyses of requirements, risks, impacts and completion (if necessary) of implementation plans. Applies the RM and Document Management policies, processes, and procedures.
RM Program Manager	Has authority delegated for oversight of the RPM and institutional policy management. Chairs the RMC. Provides monthly updates to RMC on progress.

C. References

Source Requirements Documents

Document number	Title	Type
04.04.001.000	Requirements Management Policy	Policy
10.06.001.000	Document Management Policy	Policy

Implementing Documents

Document number	Title	Type
10.06.001.202	Policy Template	Template
10.06.001.203	Policy Approvals Form	Form
04.04.001.202	Implementation Plan Template	Template
04.04.001.206	Significance Rating Determination Form	Form
N/A	Policy Change Request	Form

D. Contact Information

Requirements Management Program Manager or another authorized staff member of the Office of Institutional Assurance and Integrity

[email protected].

E. Revision History

Date	Revision	By whom	Revision Description	Section(s) affected	Change Type
2/20/12	0	L. Young	Initial	All	Minor
4/29/14	0.1	L. Young	Add submission steps via Smartsheet	Section A.2	Minor
7/29/14	0.2	L. Young	Add flowchart	Section B	Minor
3/7/2017	0.3	M. Stoufer	Update "Chief Operating Officer" position title to "Deputy Director for Operations"	All	Editorial
3/11/2021	1	D. Soustin	Remove flowchart, add risk-based approach to reviewing policies. Edit roles and responsibilities.	All	Minor
9/1/2022	1.1	D.Soustin	Updated the Significance Rating Determination Form with rev. 1.2	Implementing Documents	Editorial
8/23/2023	1.2	D. Soustin	Added management escalation procedure for overdue policies	Section A.2	Minor

DOCUMENT INFORMATION

Title:	Updating the RPM
Document number	10.06.001.104
Revision number	1.2
Publication date:	8/23/2023
Effective date:	6/1/2021
Next review date:	8/22/2028
Policy Area:	Document Management
RPM Section (home)	Home
RPM Section (cross-reference)	none
Functional Division	OIAI
Prior reference information (optional)	Procedure for Submitting Changes to Update the RPM and Definitions of Terms in the RPM

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