A policy draft is ready to read. That does not mean it is approved, active, or acknowledged by the people expected to follow it.
The Sythe platform separates those steps. This walkthrough starts with a policy in your organization and requires the relevant document-management permissions. Read-only users will not see the same editing and version controls.
The current published version is the active policy
Open the policy and look at Current policy. The interface distinguishes Current published policy from Draft preview - this policy is not in force.
Read that state before making an operational decision based on the text. A proposed change to an access-review interval, for example, should not be treated as active simply because it appears in the editor.
Use Editor and Policy versions to review the version you intend to change or submit. Compare the proposal with the version people currently rely on. Confirm the business facts with the policy owner rather than accepting a generated passage because it reads smoothly.
The review route determines the approval record
The status card in Overview owns the approval-review flow. Depending on the applicable workflow, it supports a platform reviewer, external reviewers, or evidence of prior approval.
Choose the route that describes what actually happened. A document that was previously approved needs the supporting record. A policy awaiting a decision needs a reviewer. Those are different circumstances and should not be represented by the same shortcut.
Review the requested version and any outstanding decision before continuing. Software can organize the review, but it cannot establish that the approver has accepted a policy merely because a draft exists.
Publishing activates the version and assigns acknowledgments
Before publishing, read Changes in this version in Overview. After approval, use Publish and review the confirmation so the text being activated is the text you intended to approve.
Publication activates the version and creates acknowledgment tasks for assigned people. That is why publishing is a separate action: approval of a proposal and putting it into use have different effects.
If an active policy is eligible for Renew without updates, that is a distinct renewal path. Use it only when the existing text still represents the organization's decision; do not use an unchanged renewal to conceal a substantive policy change.
Approval and acknowledgment answer different questions
Review Acknowledgments, Signatures, and any authorized Past decisions relevant to the policy. An approved document and an employee's acknowledgment establish different facts.
When someone asks which policy applied to an event, identify the published version and its decision record. When someone asks whether assigned people acknowledged it, inspect that work separately.