Withdraw a policy without losing the audit trail
When a policy is no longer current (e.g. you’ve replaced it with a new version, or your organisation has dropped that policy area entirely), you withdraw it. Withdrawn policies are no longer visible to staff, but the acknowledgement history stays on file.
Withdraw a policy
- Open the policy from the admin library.
- Click the withdraw action.
- Confirm. The policy moves to Withdrawn status.
The platform clears the assignment targets (so no one new sees the policy in their My Policies), but keeps the database record and every past acknowledgement intact.
What happens to existing acknowledgements
They stay. Anyone who acknowledged the policy while it was active still has that record on their account. You can prove who acknowledged when, even years later. This matters for audits and disputes.
Filtering withdrawn policies
The admin library has a status filter. Switch it to Withdrawn to see only withdrawn policies. They show with a grey Withdrawn badge.
Bringing a withdrawn policy back
If you need to put a policy back in circulation:
- Open the withdrawn policy.
- Click Repush (the platform’s term for re-assigning).
- Pick the new targeting (roles, departments, individuals).
- The policy moves back to Active status and starts collecting fresh acknowledgements.
People who acknowledged it before still have their old record. They’ll also be asked to acknowledge again as part of the new push, since the context (and possibly the content) has changed.
When to withdraw vs delete
There’s no hard delete in the policy module. Withdrawal is the strongest form of “remove this from circulation” you have, and it’s the right tool for almost every case. The audit trail is too valuable to lose by deleting outright.
When to withdraw vs update
If you’re making substantial changes to a policy (e.g. major rewrites, new sections, new obligations), it’s often cleaner to:
- Withdraw the old version.
- Publish the new version as a fresh policy.
- Push the new policy for acknowledgement.
This makes the version history easier to follow, and it’s clearer to employees that they need to read the new one rather than skim a familiar title. For minor updates (typos, contact changes, small clarifications), just edit and re-push the existing policy. See Update a policy and re-acknowledge.