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Approval and What Is In Force

Which version of a document people must actually follow — answered from approvals and effective dates, never read off a status column.

Where to find it

On a record, the Control panel submits, approves, records reviews and withdraws. Architect Panel → Data → Document Control is the register of what is in force across the organisation.

It is derived, not stored

The design decision worth knowing. A document marked “final” with no approved control row satisfies nothing, and the register reads the approvals rather than the state column.

That is deliberate: it means somebody adding another way to set “final” cannot accidentally make a document count as approved.

In force is a date question

A version approved today to take effect next month is approved and not in force. A draft v4 can exist while approved v3 is what people must follow.

So the count of approved versions is not the count of documents in force, and the register keeps the two lists apart.

Approval is per version

Not per document. A new version starts again, which is the entire point — the thing being approved is a specific text, and a fresh version is a different text.

Who may do what

  • Read — anybody who can read the document.
  • Submit, approve, review, withdraw — an administrator, or the document’s owner or deputy.
  • Name the first owner — an administrator only.

Waiting on an approver is a list

The register shows what has been submitted and not yet acted on, and who it is with. A submission nobody is told about sits there indefinitely, which is why that panel exists rather than a status somewhere.

Withdrawing needs a reason

And the reason is kept. “Why is this policy no longer in force” is asked long after everybody involved has forgotten.

Worked example

A safeguarding policy is revised. v5 is submitted in February, approved in March with an effective date of 1 April. Through March the register shows v4 in force and v5 approved-not-yet-in-force — and staff being asked to acknowledge v4, correctly, until the first of the month.

Recommendations

  • Use effective dates rather than approving on the day you want the change to bite.
  • Read the register, not the state column.
  • Work the waiting-on-an-approver list; it is where documents go to stall.
  • Write the withdrawal reason as though somebody will read it in three years.