How do I Override a Policy?

Issue/Objective

To understand how to make small changes to a policy without requiring the approval process.

Environment

PolicyStat

Procedure/Resolution

Click to view these steps in the legacy PolicyStat interface.

For most users of PolicyStat, making changes to an existing policy requires editing the document and following an Approval Workflow in order for the changes to take effect.

Site Administrators and Area Administrators have the ability to use an Administrative Override to change a policy without using an approval process to create a new version. This is ideally designed to be used for small changes like typo correction, name modification, formatting, etc. Override changes do not create new versions but instead overwrite the existing 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.

There is no autosave function when performing an Override.  The save occurs when the override is completed regardless of the document status, whether pending or active.  Only minor changes are intended to be made in an override. 

Changes in ownership or workflow cannot always be done with an override.  For pending documents.  Sometimes it will require restarting the approval process.


IMPORTANT NOTE REGARDING ATTACHMENTS

Because attachments are not part of the policy content, override changes to attachments take effect immediately. If an attachment is deleted or updated using override the changes made to the attachment remain even if the override process is not fully completed, 

PROCEDURE

1. Open the policy you wish to Override.
2. Click the Override tab.
   
3. Make the necessary changes to the policy.
4. Click the Override Policy button.
5. Enter the Summary of Changes.
6. Click Override to complete the process.

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. Expiration Date (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 Expiration: 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 Date: 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 Date: This is the date when the policy last completed the Approval Workflow and was last approved.

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Simulate an Approval

You can use an approval simulation to add an approval signature and date of approval to a policy.  For example, if you need a subject matter expert to approve a policy but do not want to add them to the approval workflow, you can use an approval simulation to add their approval to the policy.

For more on simulating approvals, see this article: How do I Add an Approver to a Document without Advancing the Approval Workflow (Approval Simulation)?