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Validity

A validity period can be defined for processes either manually or as part of a publication with or without the approval workflow. The descriptions in this article also apply to documents. Display and…

Dennis Reichle
Updated by Dennis Reichle

A validity period can be defined for processes either manually or as part of a publication with or without the approval workflow.

The descriptions in this article also apply to documents.

Display and meaning

The current validity of a process can be viewed in the Details list below the process model.

In the settings for process management, you can specify that the validity data should not be displayed for users with a viewer license.

The validity is used in the application to send a reminder email to the process owner (for documents, the document responsible) after a specified period of time, thus ensuring that the processes are regularly checked to ensure that they are up to date.

If the process owner does not react to the reminder and the validity of a published process expires, it still remains published.
Reporting can be used to filter for processes with the state “Validity exceeded”.

After the reminder has been sent, the process owner has various options:

  1. If changes to the process are necessary, these can be implemented and the changed process can be published with a new approval workflow.
  2. If no changes are necessary, the validity can be extended manually. This is described below.

Extend validity manually

Before expiration

Next to the display of the current validity is the <Details> button, which can be used to look up the history of previous validity periods.

A new validity period can be entered in the upper area of the window for the published process. If the “Valid from” and “Valid to” fields are changed, a mandatory comment field appears. If only the reminder function is edited, no comment is required. Click <Save and close> to extend the validity to the specified date and the entry will be recorded in the history.

After expiration

If the validity of the process has already expired, users with editing rights for the process are shown a banner above the process model that indicates the expired validity and offers the user a direct link to the validity history window with the Extend validity button.

Display of the currently valid version for viewers

It is possible to set the “Valid from” value of published processes to a date in the future so that versions that will only become valid in the near future can be provided in advance.

Based on the validity dates of all published versions, SmartProcess automatically determines which version of the process is initially displayed to a viewer (user without editing rights for the process):

  • If the latest published version of the process is currently valid based on “Valid from” and “Valid to”, the viewer is initially shown this version.

  • However, if the latest published version will only become valid in the future, SmartProcess searches through the past published versions and initially shows the viewer the version that is currently valid based on “Valid from” and “Valid to”.
    In addition, the viewer is shown a banner above the process model indicating that there is a newer version that will become valid in the future. The viewer can use a link in the banner to view this upcoming version if required.
Example for the display of future valid versions
- Today is 22.11.2024
- The most recent publication of a process is version 3.00. This version is valid from 01.01.2025 to 31.12.2026 - so it will only become valid in the future.
- The previously published version 2.00 is valid from 01.01.2023 to 31.12.2024 - it is therefore currently valid.
- When opening the process, the viewer is now initially shown version 2.00 with a banner indicating that version 3.00 will be valid from 01.01.2025.
Users with editing rights for a process are always initially shown the latest available version, regardless of the validity. By clicking on the Viewer mode button in the SmartProcess application header, the user with editing rights can check the view of the viewer if required.

How did we do?

Publication of processes / documents

Read and edit access

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