How do I publish a policy?

Last reviewed 9 October 2026 · Part of Policy management

Once a draft version has content, a Publish vN call-to-action appears below the version list. Publishing does the following, all in one step:

1. Validates that the version has content (text or file) and that the policy's audience resolves to at least one active employee (see §6). If either check fails, publishing is rejected with a specific message telling you what's missing.
2. Seals the version — computes and locks the SHA-256 fingerprint(s).
3. Makes it current — the previous current version (if any) is demoted to Superseded first, then this one is promoted. A policy always has exactly one current version.
4. Snapshots the audience — the exact list of employees this version applies to, at this moment, is captured permanently. This snapshot is what Compliance's "Publish snapshot" view shows later, even if you change department assignments afterward — it's the historical record of who this version applied to, and it never moves.
5. Builds the searchable/AI-readable content, if the version has policy text.
6. Sets the policy to Published, and locks version ordering going forward — you cannot publish an older draft once a newer version has already gone live.

There is no separate "effective date" to set — the version becomes effective on the date and time it's published.

As noted in §1, publishing does not yet send an actual notification email. Employees find out through their My Policies pending badge and list.