As part of good governance and ISO compliance, documents within any quality system must be reviewed periodically. The frequency and the period of review may be different for different content. For example, high risk documents may require review every six months while lower risk documents may require review every 3 years.

 

The review process can either be triggered in one of two ways:

  1. Automated / policy-driven – the review process is automatically triggered based your compliance requirements.
  2. Manual – the review process is manually initiated by a user.

Document owners are responsible for ensuring that the review process is seen through to completion. The System will notify the document owner when a review is to occur.

Review dates are automatically set as document metadata and managed via our web hooks. Having the review process driven from metadata also allows reports (for example, upcoming / in-progress / overdue reviews) to be easily generated using out of the box SharePoint list views / export to Excel functionality.

How it works?

The review dates and the review cycle (for example, low, medium or high risk) drive the review process. These are set as metadata fields in the Unpublished library. The review date is set for both new documents being published for the first time or existing documents going through their scheduled review process. The date values are set using a day offset from the published date and the offset is set from the review cycle item value.

The review process is automated by default but can also be manually initiated. A scenario where a manual review may be required is when unforeseen circumstances demand an immediate review of a document instead of waiting until its next scheduled review date.

The process is driven via the review cycle and the review dates stored as document metadata. When a review is required, an automated e-mail notification is sent out to the document owner and a copy of the published document is created in the unpublished library with an “under review” status. This becomes a draft document which can be worked on by the document owner. The published version remains intact until the review process is completed, and the new version is approved, at which point it is overwritten with the updated version.

If there is a requirement to amend the review date to something other than the date dictated by the automated review cycle policy, this can be done using a context menu in the Published library. Selecting this option will display a popup form within which a user can either select a new review date or specify that the document requires an immediate review.
Initiating the review process manually

There are two ways to manually send something for review. These option will differ based on the compliance level you are running.

  • “Manual” review cycle – for Mid-level compliance document management.
  • Completing the “Amend Review Date” form – for High-level compliance.

When a document is sent back for review, the “In Review” status will be set to true or “ticked” to indicate a review is in progress.
“Manual” review cycle and setting the review date

This is only supported for the Mid-level compliance setting of the QDC. The review process is triggered via the changing of the review cycle to “Manual”. This blanks out the review date and starts the review process by sending it back for review.

Once the reviewed document has been approved and re-published, the review cycle for all manually reviewed documents is set to none. If the review cycle for the published document needs to change, go to the published repository and change the review cycle metadata.
“Amend Review Date” form

The “Amend Review Date” form can be used to allow authorized users (e.g. staff on the quality team) to modify the review date or the review cycle of a document in the Published library. Any modifications to the review date are tracked in the version history of the document. A modification reason comment is also captured.

The form can be launched using the context menu in the Published library. The screen shot below shows the form which provides two options:

  1. Changing the current review date
  2. Initiating an immediate review

Review date workflow processes

The workflow process sends an email to the initiator and the document owner informing them that the review approval process has started. If the document owner is no longer with the company then the notification e-mail is sent to the Quality Team.

A copy of the published document is made in the Unpublished library with a “Draft” status. The appropriate security permissions are set on the document – if it is a sensitive document that needs to be locked down then the draft version will also be locked down.

The document owner then makes the necessary changes to the draft. When they have finished revising the document, they fill in a DAP form and launch the Workflow Approval Process.

If the document is rejected at any point in the DAP process, then a notification is sent to the owner / initiator. The document remains in the Unpublished library where the owner can address the comments / feedback.

If the document is approved, then the next approval date is calculated based on its review policy (e.g. low, medium or high risk).

The new version of the document is then copied to the Published library. If required, at this point company logos can be inserted into the document, QR codes generated and the document can be converted to PDF.

If the document needs to be locked down, then unique security permissions are set at this point.

Setup the Review Cycle reference data

The QDC supports the reviewing of documents if required. This process helps keep documents up-to-date and ensures document do not become out-of-date. The Review Cycle list manages the review cycle phases and the number of days (offset) from last review to next review.

Review Cycle Number of days
Low 730
Medium 365
High 90
None 0 (DO NOT modify this value)
Manual 0 (DO NOT modify the value)

Please note: A review cycle of “None” means no review will ever be initiated by the QDC automatically.