Objective:

• To understand how to make small changes to a policy without requiring the approval process.
• To understand how to add a new Approver to a workflow without restarting the approval process

Environment:

• PolicyStat

Additional Information:

For most users of PolicyStat, making changes to an existing policy requires following an Approval Workflow.

Site Administrators have the ability to use an Administrative Override to change to a policy. This is ideally designed to be used for small changes like typo correction, name modification, etc. These changes do not create new versions but instead are considered overrides to the current, active version.

In addition to content and property overrides, Site Administrators also have the option to simulate approvals. This is applicable for circumstances such as adding an Approver to a workflow (e.g. a Subject Matter Expert) who may not be a part of the regular Workflow but does need their approval to be noted on the historical record.

Keep in mind that there is no autosave function when doing an Override.  The save occurs when the override is completed regardless the status the document is in, whether pending or active.  Only minor changes are intended to be made in an override. 

Procedure:

Closed captions | Text transcript

Administrative Override

IMPORTANT NOTE:  When changing the owner or to change an approval workflow a document must be instead edited and restarted for the change to take effect.  Otherwise, by just an override the changes will not take effect until a new version is started into approval.  

1. To make an Administrative Override, click the Override link in the bar on the top right of the policy. NOTE: This is visible for Site Admins only and is not seen in Draft status.  In Draft status use the Edit button to make changes.   
   
   
2. After making the edits or other modifications to the policy, describe the changes made (1) and click the Override the Policy button (2).
   
   
3. The changes are reflected in the history for the policy document.

Adjust Dates

Certain policy dates can be added or adjusted during the Override. These dates are explained below.

Please Note: This graphic uses default terminology which may differ from your site. However, all functionality is the same.

1. Next Review: This is the date on which the policy is next due for review. This applies to the current, active version.
2. Default Period to Next Review: This is the period of time between the final approval date and when the next review period will begin. If modified, this will impact future versions only. In other words, when the policy completes the next review, this period will be applied to the new version.
3. Origination: This is the date when the original version of the policy became active, and this may have occurred prior to starting with PolicyStat.
4. Approved: This is the date when the policy last completed the Approval Workflow.

Simulate an Approval

1. To simulate an approval, click the Override link in the bar on the top right of the policy. NOTE: This is visible for Site Admins only.
   
   
2. Click the Approval Simulation tab. NOTE: This is only visible during an override.
   
   
3. Enter the name of the Approver (1) and the date they provided their approval (2).
   
   
4. Describe the changes made (3) and click the Override the Policy button (4).
   
   

ABOUT SIMULATING APPROVALS:

• The process can only be used to add one approver at a time. For multiple approvers, repeat the process.
• This process is adding a new approver, and does not advance an Approval Workflow. To advance a Workflow, log in as a proxy for any existing members who have not approved on the current step and mark the approval on their behalf.
• Please note that no notifications are sent when an override has been completed.

This article applies to the following user roles: