Policy lifecycle

Overview

Policies in VerifyWise follow a defined lifecycle from initial creation through publication and eventual retirement. Understanding this lifecycle helps you manage policies effectively and ensures stakeholders always know which policies are active and authoritative.

Each policy has a status that indicates where it is in the lifecycle. Moving policies through these stages creates a clear workflow for policy development, review, and maintenance.

Policy status workflow

A clear status workflow ensures that policies are properly reviewed before becoming authoritative and that stakeholders always know which version applies. The workflow creates accountability by requiring policies to pass through defined stages, with visibility into who changed what and when. This structured approach also supports audit requirements by demonstrating that policies undergo appropriate review before publication.

Policies progress through the following statuses:

Typical policy workflow

A typical policy moves through the following stages:

1. Draft: Author creates or updates the policy content
2. Under review: Author submits the policy for stakeholder review
3. Approved: Reviewers confirm the policy meets requirements
4. Published: Policy becomes active and authoritative
5. Archived: When superseded, policy is archived for reference

Changing policy status

To change a policy's status:

1. Click on the policy in the table to open the detail view
2. Locate the status field
3. Select the new status from the dropdown
4. Save your changes

Scheduling policy reviews

Policies should be reviewed periodically to ensure they remain current and effective. The next review date field helps you track when each policy is due for review.

• Set review dates: When creating or editing a policy, set a next review date
• Filter by review date: Use the filter to find policies approaching their review date
• Track overdue reviews: Policies past their review date should be prioritized for attention

Tracking policy changes

VerifyWise automatically tracks who made changes and when:

• Last updated: Timestamp of the most recent change
• Updated by: The user who made the most recent change
• Author: The original creator of the policy

Retiring policies

When a policy is no longer needed, you have two options:

• Archive: Use this when the policy is no longer active but you want to keep it for historical reference. Archived policies remain searchable and can be restored if needed.
• Deprecate: Use this when a policy has been superseded by a newer version or is scheduled for removal. Deprecated status signals that the policy should not be followed.

Avoid deleting policies unless absolutely necessary. Maintaining a historical record demonstrates governance maturity and supports audit requirements.