How do policy versions work?
A policy is a container; its actual wording lives in one or more Versions. This tab is the heart of the module.
Adding a draft version
Click New Draft Version. You'll fill in:
- Change Summary — a short line describing what's different in this version. This is exactly what employees see under "What changed" when they're asked to re-acknowledge, so write it for a reader, not for an audit trail.
- Policy Text — the actual wording, typed or pasted directly into the box. This is the primary content: it's what employees read in the ESS reader, and it's the only thing the AI assistant and any future search can see.
- Text Source — leave as "Authored." (The other option, "Extracted," is reserved for a future automatic PDF/Word text-extraction feature that doesn't exist yet — there's no way to auto-pull text out of an uploaded document today.)
- Require re-acknowledgment from everyone — on by default. See "Re-acknowledgment" below.
Save the draft, then optionally Upload Document on that same version to attach the official PDF/DOCX. The file is stored inside the database itself (never a shared upload folder), so it can be sealed and hashed exactly like the text.
A version needs at least one of Policy Text or an uploaded Document before it can be published — an empty version can't go live.
If a version ends up with a file but no policy text, the reader shows "This policy is provided as a document — open the file to read it" instead of inline text, and internally that version is marked as not searchable: it will never be covered by the AI assistant, because there's no text for it to read.
Published versions are sealed
Once a version is published (see §5) it can never be edited again — the Edit and Upload buttons disappear and the panel simply states "Published versions are sealed and cannot be modified." This is deliberate: it's what makes the evidence trustworthy. Each sealed version carries a lock icon once its fingerprint exists.
The fingerprint (SHA-256 hash) is computed automatically at the moment of publish — not before, and never editable afterward. There are actually two separate fingerprints: one over the policy text (if present) and one over the uploaded file's bytes (if present). Either can be verified independently, which matters if only one of the two exists.
Re-acknowledgment
- On (default): every employee in the audience must acknowledge this specific new version — a prior acknowledgment of an older version does not carry over.
- Off: anyone who already acknowledged an earlier version of this same policy is automatically considered covered ("carried forward") for the new one — no new acknowledgment is required or recorded for them. This is meant for versions with only cosmetic or minor changes. Use it thoughtfully: it means those employees will never see a "What changed" prompt for this version.
Version status badges you'll see in the accordion: Draft (not yet published), Current (the live version), Superseded (an older, still-retained version).