Publication and retention

The Publishing Manager uses the document’s current revision and its independent review decision to decide whether content can move forward. The document’s status distinguishes draft, reviewed, approved, published and archived content. The publication record also retains a completion date, content hash, version number and retention date. Earlier version entries remain linked to the parent when a later revision is published.

A publication operation has a run and numbered steps. A step can hold an external receipt ID, source, date and attached receipt evidence. This matters when a source repository or distribution channel acknowledges an action after the local approval. The manager can inspect the receipt and the operation status rather than assuming that an approval means the content reached its destination.

• Decision. A current independent review decision supports the approval of the chosen revision.
• Receipt. The step trace records any acknowledgment from the connected destination.
• Retention. The date and archived state make later disposition a deliberate document-control task.

Define who may approve publication, where published content is distributed and which external acknowledgment must be retained. Agree how to handle a failed or unknown attempt. The operation run can show failure or a need for reconciliation, and an attempt can retain its provider reference and failure reason. The team needs a practical owner for those exceptions before go-live.

Agree retention periods by category and identify who authorizes archive decisions. A date alone does not decide disposition; the controller must consider the document’s organization, category and any unresolved actions. Set the access policy for archived material and check that readers see only the content their role permits.

Take a reviewed policy revision with an approved independent decision. The Publishing Manager checks the source revision, evidence and content hash, then approves and publishes the document. Review the operation steps for the external receipt, compare the parent status with its state history and confirm that prior versions remain present. If the receipt is uncertain, work the reconciliation queue before treating a local change as proof of delivery.

Later, bring the same document to its retention review date. The Document Controller inspects the policy reference, owner, follow-up work and historical versions, then records the archive decision under the agreed policy. An authorized reviewer should still be able to explain what was published and when.

• Published documents — Find current published records with version and retention details.
• Retention review — Find documents whose retention date has arrived.
• Runs needing reconciliation — Inspect publication exceptions and their reasons.

Follow the publication and retention process and the execution review process.