Beacon works for everyone who writes, approves or signs a policy
Twelve roles, from the adjuster signing on a phone to the auditor testing the control. Find yours to see what gets in the way today, what Beacon gives you, and two examples of it at work.
Frontline and field staff
Contact-centre agents, field adjusters, branch and operations staff.
What gets in the way
Policy updates arrive as all-staff emails that get buried
No idea which policies apply to you, or that a deadline has passed
Signing something you don’t fully understand
What Beacon gives you
Every policy you owe in one list, with its due date and status
What changed in a new version, before you sign
Ask the owner a question, then sign with your name
ExampleAn overdue sign-off, found before the audit
A field claims adjuster has been on the road for three weeks. The updated information security policy was due for sign-off ten days ago, and the annual code of conduct sign-off opens this month.
Without Beacon
The announcement went to his inbox with 400 other messages. Nobody tells him he's overdue until the audit, when HR finds his name missing from the spreadsheet and his manager has to chase him by phone.
With Beacon
My policies shows the information security policy marked Overdue with a red banner and a count in the navigation, and the code of conduct as Not started with its due date. He opens the policy, reads it, types his full name and submits. The signature is recorded against that version with the date, and his manager's view updates.
Staff see what they owe and when it's due in one place, and an overdue sign-off is visible to the person and their manager before anyone has to go looking for it.
ExampleA policy she isn't sure she understands
A contact-centre agent is asked to sign the updated gifts and entertainment rules in the code of conduct. A supplier has offered her team lunch, and she isn't sure whether the $100 limit applies.
Without Beacon
Today she either signs without understanding it, or emails HR and waits. The question and the answer live in someone's inbox, and the sign-off spreadsheet only says she signed.
With Beacon
From the signing screen she asks the policy owner a question. Her sign-off stays open until she signs. The owner answers from the dashboard, and the question and answer stay with the policy under Your questions.
Staff can ask before they sign rather than signing what they don't understand, and the owner sees which parts of a policy raise questions.
Office, hybrid and remote staff
Head-office staff in finance, HR, IT, underwriting and other teams, many working from home.
What gets in the way
Reply-to-confirm emails that don’t say which version you read
Rereading a whole policy to find what changed
No receipt when you’re asked what you signed
What Beacon gives you
Read the policy as a page or as the document
Sign once per version, with the change summary in front of you
Your own record of what you signed and when
ExampleA new version with a short change summary
The expense and travel policy moves to v5.0: new per-diem rates, and all travel is now booked through one booking tool. Everyone who travels must sign the new version within 30 days.
Without Beacon
The new file replaces the old one in the library and an email says "please read the attached". People reread a nine-page document to find the change, or don't, and the per-diem rates are wrong on expense claims for a month.
With Beacon
Once the approver publishes v5.0, it appears in My policies marked New version, and the signing screen shows the owner's summary of what changed before the signature box. The old v4.1 signature stays on record against v4.1.
People read what changed instead of the whole document, and the record shows who has signed the version now in force.
ExampleProof of what she signed, when she's asked
Months after an expense claim was questioned, an underwriter is asked whether she had acknowledged the expense policy in force at the time.
Without Beacon
She searches her sent mail for a reply she may or may not have sent. HR searches the spreadsheet. Neither can show which version she read.
With Beacon
Her completed policies show Signed by her name with the date, and View record shows the version she signed. HR can find the same record in the audit log.
Employees can see their own record, and the answer to "did you sign it?" is the same on both sides.
People managers
Team leads, claims managers and department heads: anyone with direct reports in Entra ID.
What gets in the way
Chasing names from a spreadsheet HR sends before an audit
Certificates that lapsed months ago without anyone noticing
No way to record a sign-off for someone without a computer
What Beacon gives you
Your team’s status, with how late each overdue item is
A reminder to one person or everyone, in one click
Verify certifications and record paper sign-offs
Name someone to cover while you’re away
ExampleThree people overdue, one click to chase
A contact-centre team lead has three people overdue: one on the code of conduct, two on the information security policy.
Without Beacon
She finds out when HR forwards a spreadsheet two days before an audit. She writes three separate emails and still can't tell who has signed since.
With Beacon
Team compliance shows the overdue list, sourced from the manager field in Microsoft 365: each person, the policy and version, and how many days late. She sends a reminder to one person, or uses Remind all. Beacon also reminds people itself, so her reminders are for when she wants to nudge.
Managers see who is overdue without waiting for HR, and chasing takes one click instead of a round of emails.
ExampleA lapsed safety certificate and a paper sign-off
A claims manager has a field adjuster whose workplace safety training expired last month, and a warehouse temp who signed the code of conduct on paper because he has no Microsoft 365 account.
Without Beacon
The expired certificate sits in a spreadsheet nobody opened this quarter. The paper form goes in a drawer and never reaches the record.
With Beacon
Team certifications shows the expired certificate and anything waiting for verification. The adjuster uploads his renewal from My certifications, and the manager reviews the evidence and verifies it. For the temp, the manager uses Record paper sign-off, which adds a signature to the record marked as a paper form recorded by the manager.
Expired certifications reach the manager who can fix them, and people without a device still end up in the record.
HR business partners
HR business partners and coordinators who support managers.
What gets in the way
Doing the chasing for managers who don’t
Compiling completion figures by hand for department heads
What Beacon gives you
Cover a manager’s team while they’re away, with your actions logged
Completion by policy and a CSV of every attestation
ExampleA manager on leave in the middle of a sign-off cycle
The annual code of conduct cycle opens while a claims manager is on six weeks of leave. Her 14 adjusters still need to sign, and two certificates are waiting to be verified.
Without Beacon
Nobody owns the team's sign-offs while she's away. The cycle closes with gaps, and the certificates wait until she's back.
With Beacon
Before she leaves, the manager uses Cover while you're away to name the HR business partner. The HR business partner sees the team's status, sends reminders and verifies the certificates, and each decision is logged under their own name. Cover ends automatically on the date she chose.
Sign-offs and verifications keep moving when a manager is away, and the record shows who acted.
Example"Which teams are behind?" before the leadership meeting
The VP of Claims asks the HR business partner which teams are behind on this year's sign-offs, the day before the leadership meeting.
Without Beacon
She exports the spreadsheet, filters it by hand and cross-checks names against an org chart that's already out of date.
With Beacon
Completion by policy on the dashboard shows each current version's progress, and the audit log export lists every attestation with the employee, version, status and whether it's current, ready to sort by team.
Status questions take minutes, using the same record the auditor will see.
People who own, approve and track
They write policies, approve them and keep certifications current.
HR policy owners
HR and people-operations leads who own the code of conduct, anti-harassment, remote work and similar policies.
What gets in the way
Policies in a library with no review dates
Approvals by email, and sign-off rebuilt from replies before every audit
A typo fix that either breaks the record or makes everyone sign again
What Beacon gives you
Upload a document or write a policy page from the template
Reviews flagged before they’re due; mark reviewed or start a new version
Major and minor versions, so only real changes ask people to sign again
A needs-attention list and completion by policy on the dashboard
ExampleA review comes due, and nothing needs to change
The anti-harassment policy comes up for its two-year review. HR reads it and decides it's still right.
Without Beacon
Nobody knew the review was due, so it happens late, if at all. When it does, HR either issues a pointless new version that makes everyone sign again, or leaves no record that the review happened.
With Beacon
The dashboard's "Policy lifecycle — needs attention" list flags the review ahead of its date, set in the lifecycle settings. The owner opens the policy and chooses Mark reviewed. The next review date moves on, nobody is asked to sign again, and the review is logged in the policy's activity.
Reviews happen on schedule, and a policy that doesn't need to change doesn't cost staff a new sign-off.
ExampleA typo fix that shouldn't trigger 1,200 sign-offs
HR spots a broken link and two typos in the code of conduct a month after everyone signed it.
Without Beacon
Fixing the file quietly breaks the link between what people signed and what's published. Issuing a new version makes 1,200 people sign again for a typo.
With Beacon
The owner starts a new version and marks it a minor change with a one-line summary. Once approved, existing signatures still apply, and the version history shows exactly what changed and who approved it. A major change would ask the audience to sign again.
Small fixes don't cost the organization a sign-off cycle, and the record still shows every version.
Policy owners in IT, finance and privacy
The CISO or IT security lead, the controller, the privacy officer.
What gets in the way
Policies drafted in Word by legal, then posted where anyone can overwrite them
Retiring an old policy means losing its record
What Beacon gives you
Upload the approved Word or PDF file exactly as it is
Drafts hidden from staff until they’re approved
Retire a policy with a reason and its replacement, and keep every signature
ExampleA security policy drafted by legal, uploaded as it is
The CISO's working group finishes a new acceptable-use policy in Word, reviewed by external counsel. It must stay exactly as written.
Without Beacon
Reformatting it as an intranet page risks changing the wording. Posting the file to the library makes it visible before it's approved and gives no record of who approved it.
With Beacon
The owner chooses New policy, then Upload a document, sets the approver and audience, and submits it. The draft stays hidden from staff, and the approver reviews the same file. Once approved, it's published and the audience is asked to sign.
Policies that must stay as the approved document go through the same approval and sign-off as any other.
ExampleRetiring the clean desk policy without losing its record
The clean desk policy is folded into the new information security policy. The old one has to go.
Without Beacon
Deleting the file removes the evidence that people signed it for the past three years. Leaving it up confuses staff, and the annual reminder keeps going out.
With Beacon
The owner chooses Retire and gives a reason and the replacement policy. Beacon stops the policy's attestation cycle, cancels unsigned sign-offs and hides it from staff, but keeps every version and signature for the record.
Retired policies disappear for staff and stay intact for auditors.
Legal counsel and approvers
In-house counsel, the chief compliance officer or an executive named as approver.
What gets in the way
Approving an email attachment with track changes half off
No easy way to see what changed from the published version
Nothing stops someone approving their own draft
What Beacon gives you
An Approvals queue with the change summary
The new version beside the one staff see today
Approve with a confirmation, or send it back with a reason
You can never approve a version you wrote
ExampleApproving v5.0 against what staff see today
Legal counsel is asked to approve the expense and travel policy v5.0 before month end.
Without Beacon
She gets a Word attachment by email with track changes half off, has to compare it with the version on the intranet by eye, and approves by replying "approved". That reply is the only record.
With Beacon
Approvals lists v5.0 with the change summary and who submitted it. She toggles between the published v4.1 and v5.0, then approves. The confirmation says it will publish straight away and ask three people to sign within 30 days. Her approval is recorded against v5.0, and v4.1 shows as superseded.
Approvers see exactly what's changing and what approval will trigger, and the approval is on record against the version.
ExampleSeparation of duties that doesn't depend on memory
The chief compliance officer redrafts the whistleblowing policy herself, and she is also its usual approver.
Without Beacon
Nothing stops her approving her own draft. An auditor later asks who independently approved it, and the answer is nobody.
With Beacon
Beacon won't let the author be the approver: when she submits, she has to choose someone else. If the approver sends a version back, a reason is required, and it's logged.
Independent approval is enforced by the tool, not by people remembering the rule.
Health, safety and licensing coordinators
Health and safety, training and licensing coordinators.
What gets in the way
Certificates spread across one spreadsheet per manager
Finding a lapsed certificate after an incident or audit
What Beacon gives you
Certification types with validity and evidence rules
Reminders before expiry, and an expiry watch across the organization
Renewals with evidence, verified by the manager
ExampleFirst aid certificates about to lapse across three sites
Provincial rules require a minimum number of first aid attendants per site. Several certificates expire over the summer.
Without Beacon
The coordinator finds out when a site manager mentions someone's certificate expired in May. By then, the site may have been short of attendants for weeks.
With Beacon
Each certification type has a validity period, so every certificate gets an expiry date. Staff are reminded 60, 30 and 7 days before it expires, their manager is notified while it's expired, and the dashboard's certification expiry watch lists every lapsed certificate with how long ago it expired.
Expiry is tracked on the certificate's own date, and lapses are visible before an incident brings them up.
ExampleA renewal with evidence, checked once
An adjuster renews his workplace safety training and needs it on record before his next site visit.
Without Beacon
He emails a PDF certificate to his manager, who forwards it to the coordinator, who updates a spreadsheet. Nobody can find the PDF later.
With Beacon
He adds the renewal in My certifications with the certificate attached. His manager reviews the evidence and verifies it, and the record shows who verified it and when, with the evidence file named.
Certificates and their evidence are in one place, and every verification has a name and date.
People who govern, audit and run it
They answer for the program, test it, pay for it or keep it running.
Chief compliance officers
The chief compliance officer, chief risk officer or head of compliance.
What gets in the way
No confident answer to how many policies are past review, or who hasn’t signed
Days to show which version was in force and who approved it
What Beacon gives you
The program on one dashboard: completion, overdue items, expired certifications
Version history with approver and dates, and an audit log export
ExampleThe audit committee wants the policy program on one page
The audit committee asks for the state of the policy program: policies past review, completion of this year's sign-offs, and lapsed certifications.
Without Beacon
Compliance asks HR, IT and each department for their numbers, then reconciles them. The answer takes a week and is out of date when it's presented.
With Beacon
The Compliance dashboard shows overall completion, overdue attestations, expired certifications and published policies at a glance, with the needs-attention list and completion by policy below. The Policies register shows every policy's version, status, owner and next review, filtered by stage.
The program's status is one screen, read from the same record staff sign into.
ExampleWhich version was in force, who approved it, who signed it
A regulator asks which information security policy was in force last March, who approved it, and whether a named employee had acknowledged it.
Without Beacon
The library has been overwritten since. Approval is in an email thread, and sign-off is a spreadsheet row with no version on it.
With Beacon
The policy's version history shows each version with its author, approver, dates and change summary. The audit log export lists every attestation with the employee, version, typed signature, date and whether the version is current, including signatures on versions that have since been replaced.
The examiner's three questions are answered from one record instead of a week of reconstruction.
Internal audit and examiners
Internal auditors, external auditors and examiners.
What gets in the way
Testing a sample because the full population can’t be produced
No way to see whether the policy itself was changed
What Beacon gives you
Every attestation, tied to its version, in one export
A lifecycle audit trail of every draft, approval, publication, review and retirement
ExampleTesting the attestation control on the full population
Internal audit tests whether all in-scope staff signed the code of conduct within 30 days of each new version.
Without Beacon
They're given a sample, because the full population can't be produced. The sample can't show whether the signature matched the version in force.
With Beacon
The audit log export includes every attestation, with the employee, version, due date, completed date, typed signature or paper form, and whether the version is current. Auditors test the whole population in a spreadsheet.
Audit tests the control on everyone, from a record tied to versions, without waiting on HR.
ExampleWas the policy itself changed?
An auditor wants to confirm that the expense policy wasn't edited after approval and that nothing was published without an approver.
Without Beacon
Files in a library can be overwritten by anyone with edit rights, and the library's history doesn't say who approved what.
With Beacon
The lifecycle audit trail logs every draft, submission, approval, change request, publication, review and retirement, with who and when. Each version is approved by someone other than its author before it reaches staff.
Changes to the policy itself are on record, not just changes to sign-offs.
Executives
COOs, CHROs and chief risk officers.
What gets in the way
Reassurance instead of figures when the board asks whether staff know the rules
A policy SaaS stuck in vendor security review
What Beacon gives you
Completion, overdue and expiry figures from the system of record
Records inside your own Microsoft 365, with no new sign-in
ExampleThe board asks whether staff know the rules
After an industry incident, the board's risk committee asks: "How do we know our people have read the conduct and security policies?"
Without Beacon
The honest answer is that HR sends emails and keeps a spreadsheet, and the last audit found gaps.
With Beacon
The sponsor reports completion by policy for the current versions, the overdue count with manager escalation in place, and lapsed certifications, all from the dashboard.
The board gets figures from the system of record instead of reassurance.
ExampleNo new vendor cloud holding employee signatures
The CHRO likes a policy-management SaaS product, but the CIO and privacy officer object to employee records in another vendor's cloud.
Without Beacon
The project stalls on a vendor security review, a new login for 1,200 people and a data residency question.
With Beacon
Beacon runs inside the insurer's own Microsoft 365: a SharePoint web part, lists and a document library, with Entra ID and Power Automate. Staff sign in with the accounts they already use, and records stay under the insurer's own security and retention settings.
The decision is about the policy program, not about a new platform.
IT and Microsoft 365 admins
Microsoft 365 administrators, IT managers and Beacon’s administrator.
What gets in the way
Another vendor platform to assess and another login to support
User lists that break in every reorganization
Every new compliance rule becoming a change request
What Beacon gives you
One deployment package, built for your organization and installed by iomer
Departments and the manager chain from Entra ID
Cycles, certification types and lifecycle rules set in Beacon’s console, not code
Standard Power Automate connectors covered by Microsoft 365 licences
ExampleSetting the rules once, without code
Compliance wants reviews flagged 30 days ahead, 30 days to sign a new version, Word and PDF only, and an annual code of conduct cycle for everyone.
Without Beacon
Each rule becomes a change request to IT for another flow or another list column.
With Beacon
The administrator sets the policy library, page template, allowed file types, default review cycle, how early reviews are flagged and the time to sign in Settings, adds certification types with their validity, and adds the annual cycle in Attestation cycles. Settings are stored as JSON in a SharePoint list, the same pattern as Journey and Hazel.
Compliance's rules are configuration, not development work.
ExampleA reorganization that doesn't break the audience
Claims merges two regional teams under a new manager. The new manager needs to see her team's status the same day.
Without Beacon
Hand-maintained distribution lists and spreadsheets are wrong for weeks after any reorganization.
With Beacon
Audiences, departments and manager chains come from Entra ID through Microsoft Graph, so Team compliance follows the manager field IT already maintains. The theme inherits the SharePoint site theme, so Beacon looks like the rest of the intranet.
IT maintains people in one place, and Beacon follows it.
The examples are set in a regional insurer of about 1,200 staff. The same patterns apply to credit unions, banks, utilities, health organizations, the public sector and other regulated organizations. Names, figures and screens are illustrative.
Bring the people in your organization who need this
Watch the 45-second tour, then book a walkthrough with your policy owner, an approver, a manager and someone from IT. We’ll show each of them the part that matters to them.
