How Often Compliance Elearning Needs Updating
Most compliance modules do not age gracefully. Rules change, internal processes change, and the compliance module that was so good three years ago, will be misleading your staff today.
Annual Reviews for Most Topics
Annual reviews are generally sufficient for the majority of compliance subjects, for example health and safety, equality, anti-bribery etc. These subjects generally do not change much from year to year, and any small changes that do occur can be picked up during a yearly review before they become a large problem.
More Frequent Checks for High-Risk Areas
For financial crime, data protection and anti-money-laundering compliance subjects it is recommended that you check the Compliance Elearning modules for your organisation every 6 months. These subjects are subject to regular updates from the relevant financial crime regulations. The UK data protection obligations for organisations are subject to change quickly with little prior notice, therefore it is sensible to complete a lighter review of the relevant Compliance Elearning modules on a quarterly basis.
Legislation Changes Mean Immediate Action
A new piece of legislation or updated regulatory guidance comes into force. Don’t wait for your scheduled review – flag up the affected Compliance Elearning modules, check them out, update them as necessary and release them to employees as soon as possible. It’s worth building a simple watchlist of the relevant regulations each module covers to make it easier to know when to act.
Internal Policy Changes Trigger a Refresh Too
Even if the compliance e-learning is accurate and up-to-date at the time of publication, a restructured team or new reporting lines or updated procedure documents within your organisation could render the module confusing to staff. Update the module in line with any changes to processes that the module refers to.
Incident and Audit Findings Expose Gaps
If an audit or even a real incident reveals that people have misinterpreted something that they were taught in Compliance Elearning then that module will need to be updated immediately to fix the problem that has been exposed.
Keep a Simple Module Log
A simple spreadsheet, such as a module log, to record the last review date, the regulations covered by the module and who is responsible for the module.
Treat your module log as a live document and it becomes something that you can update as a matter of routine rather than in reaction to a problem.