Controlled documents

A controlled document keeps its title, version, attachment, effective date and lifecycle status. Quality Manager prepares a revision and sends it through review. The release workflow checks the title when a revision enters review and marks it approved. Approved revisions are then available in a dedicated list, while review items remain in the pending release queue. A separate acknowledgment record links a document to the person and date of acknowledgment.

Take a revised inspection instruction as a pilot. Quality Manager enters the title and new version and attaches the document. Quality Manager checks that the title, version and attachment identify the intended instruction before submitting it for review. The release workflow checks the title and marks the revision approved. Inspectors can then refer to the approved revision. When a person acknowledges it, the acknowledgment links back to that exact document record rather than being counted as a general training note.

• Revision record. Title, version, attachment and effective date travel together.
• Release review. A document submitted for review is checked by the release workflow before it becomes approved.
• Acknowledgment. Each acknowledgment identifies the document, person and date.

Agree a version convention that readers can distinguish at a glance. Decide who prepares a revision, who checks its content before submission and when the effective date is set. Make sure the attached file matches the title and version on the record before release. Choose a practical process for employees to acknowledge revised material and how Quality Manager will check those acknowledgments against the approved document.

Use the distinction between draft, review, approved and obsolete deliberately. A draft is working material; review is the decision queue; approved is the released revision; obsolete identifies material no longer intended as the current instruction. The document record should be readable without needing a filename convention to explain its status.

Prepare a revision of the inspection instruction and move it to review. Check the title, version and attachment before submission. Submit the revision for review and confirm that it appears in approved revisions. Have one Inspector acknowledge that document and check that the person’s acknowledgment date can be read beside it. Repeat with another version so the team can distinguish the acknowledged record from the later one.

Discuss what the team will do with the earlier revision when the new version takes effect. Keep the decision on effective material visible in the document statuses. The acknowledgment should point to the intended document record, so an audit reader can trace the person’s action to the revision they saw.

• Pending release — Revisions waiting for a title and version review.
• Approved revisions — Released documents with version and effective date.
• Open audits — Audit work that may call for document evidence.

Document release shows the review decision. Roles helps the team rehearse access.