A key step in the implementation phase of a robust supplier Social Responsibility program is the development and adoption of tools and guidance to provide a common understanding among business partners of Code requirements and the management systems that screen out non-compliance with these standards. A customized SR Management Systems Guidebook is the central component of our tool kit.

The Guidebook serves as a practical “how-to” manual that provides a Management Systems framework for understanding how to ensure that Code standards are met in day-to-day business operations. The illustrated chapters help facility management to:

• Understand labor standards and the Code at both a conceptual and practical level, and be able to relate them to international conventions and country law
• Visualize how the standards can be achieved in the context of existing management systems
• Introduce or strengthen organizational mechanisms for ensuring that SR standards are being met through the factories' employment policies and systems
• Take advantage of templates and checklists for documentary and other requirements for meeting standards (including policies, procedures, and records) and best practices
• Understand physical requirements for meeting standards
• Adopt mechanisms to increase worker awareness on standards
• Implement internal monitoring and feedback mechanisms to ensure that policies and systems function in ways that positively impact working conditions.

Besides serving as a practical reference document for SR systems, standards and best practices, the Guidebook:

• Provides a framework around which to develop Management Action Planning
• Can serve as the foundation for orientation seminars and technical capability-building workshops, both at the factory level and for groups of business partners, on a broad range of SR issues
• Can include compatible systems assessment tools for internal, Brand or 3rd-Party monitoring