Correctly setting up compliance requires more than just assigning a status. By making clear agreements in advance about assessment, documentation, and follow-up, you ensure consistent evaluations, clear expectations, and better collaboration.
Why clear agreements are crucial
Without clear agreements, differences in approach quickly arise. Assessments are interpreted differently and are not always equally well substantiated. This makes compliance harder to manage and justify.
By documenting within your organisation how compliance is assessed and recorded, you increase the quality and consistency of follow-up.
What you should agree on beforehand
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How compliance is assessed
Define on which criteria users base their compliance assessments. Preferably work with standard parameters for a uniform and objective evaluation. -
Which statuses you use
Clearly agree on when something is considered compliant, partially compliant, non-compliant, or not relevant. -
How compliance is substantiated
Determine which evidence and minimum explanations are expected per assessment. -
How you handle changes in legislation
Address changes only after the original legislation has been substantively assessed. If no baseline measurement has been made yet, temporarily mark changes as not relevant and completed. -
How often you follow up
Set fixed moments to follow up on new and amended legislation, possibly via monthly email updates.
Tip
Work with fixed assessment parameters. This increases consistency, speeds up the process, and makes reporting more transparent.
Example: assessing and substantiating compliance
In this example, the compliance status is set at 60%. The explanation clearly describes which measures have already been implemented and where improvement is still needed.
Based on this assessment, concrete follow-up tasks are created. This keeps clear which actions are still needed to further increase compliance.
Example of an assessment scale
100% – Fully demonstrably implemented, process up to date.
80% – Fully demonstrably implemented, review required.
60% – Partially implemented, process up to date.
40% – Partially implemented, review required.
20% – Partial documentation available, process not yet validated.
0% – No demonstrable implementation.
You can adapt this scale to your own operation, as long as the meaning of each score is clear and applied consistently.