Owners and Deputies
A controlled document needs somebody who answers for it. Not the person who uploaded it and not whoever approved it once — somebody now.
Where to find it
Architect Panel → Data → Document Control is the register. On a record, the Control panel of the Documents pane is where an owner is set.
A creator is not an owner
The distinction the whole section turns on. Whoever uploaded a policy in 2019 has probably changed job. Whoever approved it answered for that version and not for the document. Ownership is a current, named responsibility, and it is the thing reminders are sent to.
A deputy, because people go on leave
The deputy is told alongside the owner rather than instead of them. A review that falls due during somebody’s fortnight in Spain should not wait for them, and should not silently become somebody else’s.
A team can own it
Where the honest answer is a role rather than a person. “The information governance team owns this” survives people joining and leaving; “Sarah owns this” does not.
The first owner is an administrator’s act
Because a document with nobody answering for it has nobody who could be trusted to name somebody. After that, the owner or the deputy can transfer it — which is what a leaver needs.
The most useful panel is the one about absence
The register’s Nobody owns these list. Everything else on that screen shows things somebody has already thought about; that list shows the ones nobody has, which is where a register earns its keep.
A document with a review date and no owner is the exact case it exists for: the clock runs and the reminder has nowhere to go.
Transfers are recorded
When, and by whom. “Who was responsible for this in March” is a question that gets asked, and a column that only holds the current answer cannot answer it.
Worked example
A compliance manager opens the register and finds eleven unowned documents, nine of which are superseded and two of which are live policies with review dates. The two get owners that afternoon; the nine get withdrawn. Nothing was broken — it was simply invisible.
Recommendations
- Set the owner when you set the review cycle, not afterwards.
- Always name a deputy for anything with a deadline.
- Own by team where the responsibility is really a role.
- Work the unowned list monthly. It only grows.