Who Is This For?
Document Owners — initiating and signing the retirement
Process Managers — coordinating document lifecycle within the process
QA / Document Controllers — overseeing state changes and audit readiness
How to Do It?
Step 1: Open Documents
From the sidebar, go to Documents. Click the dropdown and select Effective & Retired. Use the search bar to locate your document and select its effective copy.
❗Reminder: Retiring a document removes it from all active lists. Users will no longer access it for operations or training.
📎 Reference: Making a Quality Document effective
Step 2: Retire Document
At the bottom of the Properties card, open the three-dots menu (if shown) or use the available actions, then click Retire.
❗ Compliance reminder: Ensure there is no active need for this document (operations, audits, training) and that a replacement, if needed, is already effective.
Step 3: Provide version details
Enter a clear Version Description (e.g., “Superseded by SOP-123 v4”) and click Submit.
Step 4: Approve and sign
Select Approve and Sign, then enter your SimplerQMS username and password to provide the electronic signature.
What happens after retiring a document
What happens after retiring a document
The document’s state changes to ‘Retired’.
Retiring or archiving documents that require a Change Request
Retiring or archiving documents that require a Change Request
If the document is controlled by a Change Request (CR), retirement is performed within the CR. Follow the full CR process. Once the CR is approved, the system automatically transitions the document to Retired/Archive — no direct action on the document is required.
📎 Reference: Executing a Change Request
Tips
💡 Confirm linked items (training, forms, templates, relations) won’t break by retiring this document; point users to the replacement where applicable.
💡 Include a specific reason in the Version Description (e.g., superseded, process discontinued) to strengthen traceability.
💡 If you only need to stop using the document temporarily, consider whether updating or replacing is more appropriate than retiring.