Policy Management System- How To Become A System Administrator

Organizations always wonder how many resources are needed to implement a policy management system. Some common questions I hear from healthcare organizations that we are engaging with include: Do we need a Project Manager? Do we need a Policy Committee? Do we need an IT Specialist to help implement the system? These are all great questions, and very understandable considerations, however, during my time in interacting with healthcare workers I have learnt a more pertinent question to ask is, “how much time and skill is needed to be a System Administrator of a policy management system?” In some instances you may find our policy management software requires less time and skills when compared to other solutions, or it may be that other software vendors are a better fit for your needs and thus require less time and skills. Regardless of which situation is relevant to you the considerations are the same.

From the implementations I have been involved with I have seen a growing trend where healthcare workers are always concerned about this particular question. I realized they are concerned about the time it would take from their daily tasks and the skills they will need to learn in order to use a new application. There are several different variables that we need to take into consideration, such as the size of the organization, how many employees are going to be accessing the application, and how the policy management system is going to be used within the healthcare facility. However, in this article I am going to layout some of the fundamentals, in terms of time and skills, needed to be a System Administrator.

Time Management

First, let’s define what a System Administrator is. This individual provides support for an organization’s electronic document management system. This job has general administrative responsibilities, however it may also require a focus on a particular area, such as nursing, finance, reporting or human resources administration. This individual will provide policy management support to their colleagues and acts as a liaison. Healthcare workers always ask me how much time they are going to have to give up to manage a policy management system. My answer to them is that you are not really giving up your time. Although we know that your time is very valuable, you are actually helping increase the quality of care for patients and eliminating any potential risks of incidents. There is no simple formula, but based on my current and previous experiences, a System Administrator does not need to spend more than three hours per week to maintain a policy management system. Please note this is based on a single facility that has 200 to 300 full time employees (FTE). The amount of time will increase as the number of facilities and FTE’s grow larger. In addition, the estimate of three hours per week is based on 750 to 1000 documents that are housed in the Policy Management system. Therefore, if an organization, for example, has 2000 documents the System Administrator may need to spend more time per week. Also, some System Administrators have noticed that implementing a policy management system actually saves them time, as they do not have to waste effort trying to locate a document in a binder, and/or on a shared folder drive on their computer.

Skills

Clients always want to ensure that they assign the System Administrator role to the right person within their organization for their policy management system. Some clients have the misconception that you need to be an IT Specialist to be the System Administrator of an application. Depending on the policy management system that is going to be implemented, these are the skills you would need to be able to become a System Administrator:

Tech Savvy: Intermediate to advanced computer skills with regards to Microsoft Office. Familiar with the internet and how to use search functions.
Planning and Organization: Manage workload and set priorities with little supervision. Detail oriented.
Communication: Proficient in written and verbal communication. Excellent grammar, punctuation and spelling.
Team Player: Proven ability to work with a team to complete tasks.

If you would like to learn more about the System Administrator role please click here. This will help provide further details as to the skills needed to fulfill this role.

In order to get the most out of your policy management software it is highly advisable to use a System Administrator to oversee the whole policy management system of your healthcare organization. It may be that our software is a great fit for your healthcare policy management needs, or it may be that it can’t fulfill those needs. In either situation the advice we offer for being a System Administrator is the same. If you would like to see firsthand if our software can help you, please request a demonstration. Alternatively please contact us to talk through any further questions you may have.

Written By:

Yusuf Rawji

Clients Interactions Manager

Email: yusuf@policymedical.com

Phone: 1-888-697-6331 Ext: 707

About the author

Yusuf Rawji

I have been with PolicyMedical for nearly 3 years and my role within the organization is as Client Interactions Manager. This role allows me to interact with our audience members in several ways and I manage the team that is responsible for implementing, training and supporting our clients for our various products. Working at PolicyMedical has helped me develop several skills in my professional and personal life. With over 15 years of experience in the customer service field I am continually learning new things and ideas on how to keep our clients happy. The greatest thing I love about working with PolicyMedical is it allows me to be myself (some of my team members argue this is a bad thing) and allows me to help individuals in their daily lives.