Guidance for the Development and Review of UW System Administrative Policies, Procedures, and Guidance

Original Issuance Date: February 23, 2026
Last Revision Date: February 23, 2026

1. Purpose of Guidance

This guidance supports UW System Administrative Policy 1, Development, Revision, and Approval of UW System Administrative Policies, Procedures, and Guidance, and are intended to help guide Responsible UWSA Officers and their teams in their work on UW System Administrative policies, procedures, and guidance.

2. Publishing Office(s)

Office of the Vice President for Finance and Administration

Office of the Senior Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs

3. Affected Stakeholders on Campus

This guidance applies to all offices at UW System Administration (UWSA) that own UW System Administrative policies, procedures, and/or guidance.

4. Primary Responsibility

The UWSA Policy Committee (UWSAPC) Chair is responsible for monitoring the development, revision, and finalization and approval process for all UW System Administrative policies, procedures, and guidance. The UWSAPC, Responsible UWSA Officers, and members of their offices who participate in the UW System Administrative policy process are primarily responsible for adhering to this guidance.

5. Guidance

A. Drafting of UW System Administrative Policies, Procedures, and Guidance

Responsible UWSA Officers should engage and/or consult with relevant internal and external stakeholders as appropriate throughout the drafting process for UW System Administrative policies, procedures, and guidance. Recommended engagement and consultation activities include:

• As necessary, forming a working group consisting of subject matter experts from UWSA and the universities to help guide content and identify implementation concerns.
• Engaging with other Responsible UWSA Officers and internal UWSA stakeholders to ensure alignment with other policies and practices.
• Informing relevant subject matter experts at the universities of proposed changes during regular community of practice meetings.

B. Consultation and Review of UW System Administrative Policies, Procedures, and Guidance

The UWSAPC Chair will coordinate the formal processes for the consultation and review of draft UW System Administrative policies, procedures, and guidance. Draft policies and procedures must be accompanied by a policy summary document and, for revisions, a tracked changes document that demonstrates the revisions to the currently approved document.

I. UWSAPC Consultation and Review

The UWSAPC Chair will share draft policies, procedures, and guidance with UWSAPC members for their review and comments. During the UWSAPC review, drafts are simultaneously shared with the Office of President for awareness and feedback.

Distribution of drafts to the UWSAPC generally occurs on the first Monday of the month. UWSAPC members generally have two (2) weeks to provide any feedback. (The two (2) week rule may be waived or shortened at the approval of the UWSAPC Chair.)

II. Institution Stakeholder Consultation and Review

Following the UWSAPC review, the UWSAPC Chair will share drafts with institution stakeholders for consultation and review. Drafts are distributed to:

1. • Chancellors
   • Provosts
   • Chief business officers
   • Senior student affairs officers
   • Senior student enrollment officers
   • Compliance officers
   • Shared governance statewide representatives
   • Other relevant communities of practice
   • Other relevant stakeholders identified by institution leadership

(Recipients are encouraged to share the drafts with others at their institution.)

Distribution of drafts to the institutions generally occurs on the third Friday after the first Monday of the month. (Dates for the current calendar year are published on the Administrative Policy Development page.) A reminder notice is sent two (2) weeks after the initial distribution. Institution stakeholders generally have the following timeframes for feedback:

1. • Academic and Student Affairs Policies (100 series): standard of 30 calendar days, with the ability to extend up to 60 calendar days at the discretion of the Responsible UWSA Officer in consultation with the Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs and the President.
   • Finance and General Administrative Policies (200-1200 series): standard of three (3) weeks.

C. Finalization and Approval of UW System Administrative Policies, Procedures, and Guidance

1. Following the end of the institution consultation and review period, the UWSAPC Chair will send the compiled feedback to the Responsible UWSA Officer. The Responsible UWSA Officer will review the comments, incorporate any relevant feedback into the final draft document, and provide a summary of the comments received and their responses in the policy summary document.
   • When substantial changes are made to the distributed draft in response to university feedback, Responsible UWSA Officers are encouraged to communicate these changes to the relevant subject matter experts at the institutions prior to the approval and publication of the UW System Administrative policy, procedure, or guidance.
2. The Responsible UWSA Officer submits the draft to the relevant Vice President for their final review and briefs the Vice President on any changes made to the final draft.
3. Following the Vice President’s review, the Responsible UWSA Officer submits the final draft policy and summary document (with the summarized feedback and responses) to the UWSAPC Chair. The UWSAPC Chair reviews the documents for consistency with UW System Administrative policy standards and verifies that the tracked changes documents for revised policies, procedures, and guidance exactly reflect changes to the currently approved version.
4. The Chair of the UWSAPC submits the final draft policy for approval. Policies are reviewed and signed by the UWSAPC Chair, the Responsible UWSA Officer, and the relevant Vice President prior to the final approval and signature of the UW System President.

D. Publication and Notification of UW System Administrative Policies, Procedures, and Guidance

1. Following receipt of the approved policy, procedure, or guidance, the UWSAPC Chair will publish the content to the UW System Administrative Policies & Procedures webpage.
   • For revisions to existing policies, procedures, and guidance, the prior version is archived as a PDF and saved in the SYS policy repository.
2. The UWSAPC Chair notifies the Responsible UWSA Officer, relevant Vice President, and UW System President of the publication and provides the link to the newly published policy, procedure, or guidance.
3. The UWSAPC Chair notifies institution stakeholders of the approval and publication in the next regularly scheduled communication.

6. Contact

Office of Strategic Initiatives

7. Guideline History

Original Issuance: February 23, 2026

8. Scheduled Review

January 2031