Who Is This For?
Template Owners – retiring templates at end-of-life
Process Managers – ensuring obsolete templates are removed from active use
How to Do It?
Step 1: Open the Templates module
Go to Templates from the sidebar and use the view dropdown to select Effective & Retired. Search for the template’s Effective copy using the search bar.
📎 Reference: Making a Template effective
Step 2: Initiate retirement
Open the template and click Retire at the bottom of the properties card.
Step 3: Provide justification
Enter a clear Justification explaining why the template is being retired (e.g., replaced by a new template, process discontinued), then click Submit.
Step 4: Approve and sign
Select Approve and Sign and enter your SimplerQMS login + password to provide the compliant electronic signature. The template’s state changes to Retired.
What happens to existing documents created using the template?
What happens to existing documents created using the template?
Retiring a template does not affect documents already created from it. Those documents continue through their own lifecycles independently.
❗ Compliance Reminder: Retirement permanently removes the template from active use. After retirement, no new documents can be created from the template. The record remains stored for audit and historical reference.
📎 Reference: Approving a Template
Tips
💡 Include a specific Justification (e.g., “Superseded by Template XYZ v2”) to improve audit clarity.
💡 Confirm there are no ongoing changes or pending approvals on the working copy before retiring the effective template.