The life of a controlled document
Follow SOP-012 from first draft to superseded
Every controlled document in IE QMS walks the same road — and every step of it leaves a record no one can quietly edit later.
Chapter One · Draft
Someone writes it down
Every procedure starts as words in motion. Author it in the app, or import the Word file the team already argues in — either way it becomes SOP-012 v3.0: numbered, versioned, and owned. A draft is the one place in the system where the words are still allowed to change.
audit_log +1document.draft_created · A. Rivera
Chapter Two · Review
The team weighs in
The draft is routed to named reviewers and approvers — no forwarded attachments, no “did you see my email?” Everyone reads the same version, and the route itself becomes part of the record: who was asked, who answered, and when.
audit_log +1document.submitted_for_review
Chapter Three · Approval
A signature that means something
Approval here is not a button — it's a Part 11 e-signature. It demands re-authentication, records a stated meaning, and hashes the exact content on screen. The moment it lands, the database freezes the version's text. From here on, what was signed is what stays.
audit_log +1signature.applied · meaning: approval
Chapter Four · Effective
The SOP goes live — and gets read
On its effective date, v3.0 becomes the procedure. Training assigns itself by role; each person acknowledges with a signature, and an effectiveness check later proves the reading actually stuck. Trained isn't a claim in this system — it's a query.
audit_log +1training.assigned · 12 people, by role
Chapter Five · Change
The world changes. The record keeps up.
When the process moves on, a change order opens v3.1 — with a reason, a risk assessment, and approvals of its own, linked to everything it touches. v3.0 is superseded, never erased. Nothing in IE QMS is rewritten; it is only ever succeeded.
audit_log +1document.superseded · by v3.1 (CO-018)