The Standard Practice Guide applies to the whole institution, but every campus, school, college, and department has unique needs and operations. Individual units may develop policies and procedures to suit their circumstances, provided they remain consistent with SPG requirements and external legal obligations. Below is a hierarchy of the different kinds of legal and policy requirements found at the university:
Legal and regulatory requirements
Laws and regulations (see https://compliance.umich.edu/),
contract and accreditation requirements
University-wide policies and procedures
Apply to the entire institution, must stay consistent
with legal requirements
Bylaws of the Board of Regents
Rules approved by the Regents that concern important matters of general university organization and policy, and delegate executive powers to the administration
Standard Practice Guide
University policies and procedures: read about SPGs
for more information
Other internal requirements that apply
to the whole institution
University-wide policies (non-SPG)
e.g., Research policies, Information Technology
University-wide procedures
e.g., Human Resources procedures, Information Technology policies, Finance procedures, (embedded in M-Pathways
and Concur), Research administration procedures
(embedded in e-Research)
Faculty handbook, Staff handbook,
Non-university-wide policies and procedures
Individual units may have policies and procedures
that address their unique needs, provided they remain consistent with university-wide policies and procedures,
and legal requirements
Campus policies and procedures
e.g., U-M Health System policies,
UM-Dearborn policies & UM-Flint policies
School and college bulletins or handbooks
Official rules, regulations and academic policies,
usually published annually. Focus on student
relationship with the university.
Other school, college or institute
policies and procedures
Departmental policies and procedures
e.g., Internal controls procedures unit COI
implementation policies
Check with your department to find out what
specific policies apply to you