In one sentence
A document moves from Draft to Approved through a 1-, 2-, or 3-step approval chain — the final step picks the revision type, the system writes a permanent snapshot, and a question-health check warns if any audit questions just lost their anchor.
- The approval chain derives from the Reviewer and Approver fields on the document. Routing rules can pre-fill them.
- The final approver picks the revision type (Patch, Minor, Major) — that's what bumps the version.
- Approval writes a permanent snapshot. Every prior version stays accessible, restorable, and exportable.
The approval chain
Each document stores a Reviewer and Approver. The chain derives from those fields:
| Setup | Resulting chain |
|---|---|
| No approver set | Cannot submit |
| Only an Approver | 1-step (Approver only) |
| Reviewer = Approver | 1-step |
| Different Reviewer and Approver | 2-step (Reviewer → Approver) |
Routing rules at Admin → Documents → Approval Routing can auto-fill these based on facility, class, and category. See Admin: Documents for the rule mechanics.
Submitting for approval
On a Draft or Rejected document:
- Confirm (or update) Reviewer and Approver.
- Open the Approval panel in the sidebar.
- Optionally write Revision notes describing what changed.
- Click Submit for approval.
Status changes to Under Review and the first approver is notified.
Approving a step
When it's your turn, the document shows approve / reject controls.
- Non-final steps have an Approve Step N button.
- The final step also asks for a Revision type (Patch / Minor / Major) with a live preview of what the new version number will be.
- The author's revision notes (if any) are shown for context.
If your organization has Require passkey for approvals turned on, approving any step prompts for a fresh passkey confirmation. The same gate applies to direct-publishing a patch revision (when Allow patch direct-publish is enabled at Admin → Documents → Settings), since that flow is effectively self-approval. The confirmation lasts 5 minutes; the approver must have at least one passkey enrolled — see Auth policy and Passkeys.
What revision types do
| Type | Effect on version |
|---|---|
| Patch | Bumps no part of the version. Used for spelling and grammar fixes. |
| Minor | Increments the minor part. |
| Major | Increments the major part; resets minor to 0. |
Rejection
Any step can reject. A Rejection reason is required. The document returns to Draft; the rejection reason is preserved on the next submission until replaced.
Return to draft
From Under Review, a reviewer or approver can return the document to Draft without a formal rejection — handy for minor tweaks that don't warrant a rejection record.
Delegations
Admin → Delegations lets approvers temporarily route their approval authority to someone else for a date range.
While a delegation is active:
- Approvals route to the delegate.
- The chain shows delegate (on behalf of original) so the audit trail is preserved.
- The delegation step shows a purple delegated badge.
See Approvals for the user-facing delegation flow.
Question health check on approval
Because audit questions can reference document sections by heading, approving a change to a linked document can invalidate questions. On approval, the system runs a health check:
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Broken | The heading a question pointed at has been removed. |
| Needs review | The heading is still present but its section content changed materially. |
If any are flagged, an amber notice appears with a link to the Question Bank so you can repoint or retire affected questions.
The health check is a warning, not a block. The approval still goes through. Open the Question Bank link from the notice and address flagged questions before the next audit runs.
Version history
Every approval writes a permanent version snapshot — title, content, metadata, author, approver, notes. The Version History sidebar shows them newest-first with:
- Version number
- Revision type (Major / Minor / Patch)
- Date and actor
- Notes (if any)
Click any version to view it as it was at approval time.
Restoring a prior version
Click Restore on any historical version to pull its content back into the current draft. This only copies content — it doesn't revert metadata or re-open an approved document. The current version number is preserved; the restore action is tracked in the activity log.
Diff view
Toggle Diff to compare the current draft against the last approved version side-by-side. Additions, deletions, and heading changes are highlighted. Useful for reviewers who want to focus on what actually changed.
Retiring a document
Mark an approved document Obsolete from its actions menu. The system detects documents that link to it (by title, heading anchors, or doc-link references) and warns before completing the transition.
Obsolete documents:
- Disappear from the active register.
- Stay reachable via direct URL for the audit trail.
- Cannot be picked in reference / link pickers.
- Retain all prior versions and activity.