Intro to Guide

Why We Created Guide.Foothillsuu.org

Welcome to Guide.Foothillsuu.org, an internal documentation platform designed to centralize and streamline all documentation within Foothills from our governance policies to our processes, procedures, and resources.

This platform is built on the open-source platform called Bookstack, offering an organized, accessible structure for the various documentation needs of our staff, volunteers, and community members.

How To Use Guide

The video below gives you a good orientation to the platform and how it can support our goals for comprehensive, clear, and collaborative documentation.

Documentation Structure

Our documentation system is organized into Shelves, Books, Chapters, and Pages, which allow us to categorize and structure information logically and accessibly. Here’s an overview of the structure:

Shelves group similar topics together, creating a high-level organization of content. Each shelf holds multiple books that fall under a particular category.
Books contain more specific areas of documentation, such as Ministry Handbooks or Governance resources.
Chapters break down each book into manageable sections.
Pages within each chapter contain the detailed information, such as procedures, how-to guides, or specific policies.

This hierarchical structure ensures that staff and community members can easily find what they need. Staff can create pages within appropriate books to centralize procedures for their areas of responsibility. If you are unsure where something should go, please contact your supervisor for guidance.

We are still in the process of exploring what the best structure is for all content, so this will be an emergent system as we refine and adapt it to our needs.

Documentation Levels

Our church operates with a multi-layered governance system that ensures clarity, accountability, and consistency in how our community is organized and managed. This system reflects the various levels of decision-making and responsibility within the church, providing a structured yet flexible framework for how we operate. Each layer plays a distinct role in guiding our actions and aligning them with our shared values and mission.

Layer	Authority	Domain	Accountability
Bylaws	Congregation vote	Foundational governance structure and core principles	Entire congregation
Policy	Board of Trustees	Mission, vision, executive boundaries, board process	Board to the congregation, Board to the bylaws.
Organizational Guidance	Executive-Team or designated staff lead	Ministry-wide strategic interpretations of policy	Executive-Team to the Board
Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)	Staff or designated teams	Day-to-day operational consistency and implementation	Staff to Executive-Team
How To	Staff or designated teams	Practical, congregant-facing instructions for specific tasks	Staff to congregants and ministries they support

Bylaws

Purpose: The Bylaws are the foundational governing documents of our church. They establish the core principles and structures that define how our community is organized and how it operates.

Authority: The Bylaws are set and can only be amended by a vote of the entire congregation, ensuring that the most fundamental rules and principles are reflective of the collective will of the community.

Policy

Purpose: Board policies define the mission-driven boundaries and priorities within which the church operates. Rooted in policy based governance as directed by Foothills bylaws, these policies guide both the Ministry and the Board by articulating:

Vision/Ends: The outcomes the church exists to achieve—what difference we seek to make, for whom, and at what cost.
Executive Directions: Requirements for the execution of ministry
Executive Limitations: Boundaries around the methods and means that staff may not use in pursuit of those Ends.
Board Process: How the Board governs itself to act with integrity, accountability, and vision.

These policies live in the Board of Trustees Policy Book and form the operational between the Board and the Executive-Team.

Authority: Policies are established by the Board of Trustees through a voting process, reflecting the board's role in providing strategic oversight and ensuring that the church operates in a manner consistent with its mission and values.

Organizational Guidance

Authority: Executive-Team , or designated staff lead

Purpose: Organizational Guidance provides ministry-wide frameworks that interpret and operationalize board-level policy. More flexible than policy and more strategic than procedures, these documents offer consistent direction for how staff and ministries live out policies across varied contexts.

They answer:

What does this policy mean in practice? Ie. How is the executive team interpreting the board policy?
How do we stay aligned as we adapt and evolve?

Template for Organizational Guidance.

A Handbook is a curated collection of Organizational Guidances focused on a specific area of church life or ministry. While each individual guidance document may stand on its own, grouping them into a handbook provides clarity, cohesion, and ease of reference for teams and ministries navigating complex or evolving domains.

Standard Operating Procedures

Purpose: Procedures are practical, step-by-step instructions that help staff to enact the Organizational Guidance and daily operations. They are designed to ensure that specific tasks and processes are carried out effectively and consistently across the church.
Authority: Developed and maintained by staff or designated teams.

How To

Purpose: How To guides are practical, congregant-facing step-by-step instructions to enacting specific tasks and actions from the perspective of someone outside the system. These documents are written in an accessible manner for the audience that is expected to use them.
Authority: Developed and maintained by staff or designated teams, these guides provide the necessary detail to support the procedures, ensuring that actions are completed in alignment with church policies and values.

Shelves	Books
1. Governance	Bylaws Board Policy Board Procedure Board Handbook Governance Archive
2. Organizational Guidance	Personnel / Employee Financial Membership Groups & Teams Care & Support Children and Youth Database and Records Building and Facilities Church Events Communication Legal
3. Standard Operating Procedures	Worship Rites of Passage Metrics Event Reservations and Promotion Caring Church Center Shared Ministry Covenanting
4. How To's	Using Foothills Technology
Specific Use Case Shelves (Ie. Group Leaders)

Documentation Structure

Gaining Access to Guide

Go To https://211134-bookstack.peaknetworks.cloud/
Click Sign Up on the top nav menu
Sign up with your work email address
Contact Sean or Katie to be given permission to edit

Creating and Updating Pages

If you are responsible for creating or updating content, the following guidelines will help:

Identify the Correct Book: Begin by finding the appropriate book or shelf that fits the content you are creating. If you’re unsure, consult with your supervisor.
Add Your Page/Chapter: Once you’ve located the correct place, you can create a page that outlines a procedure, how-to guide, or any other necessary documentation.
Continual Updates: As procedures and policies evolve, ensure that the documentation is kept up-to-date to reflect any changes. We are continuously refining the structure, so feel free to reach out if something doesn’t seem to fit, and we’ll work together to find the best placement.

Thank you for contributing to this collaborative documentation effort as we continue to make our systems more efficient and accessible for all at Foothills Unitarian Church!