Review policies help you schedule regular reviews of important items like documents and risk assessments, ensuring they stay up to date and compliant. When you create a review policy, you set how often items should be reviewed (for example, every 3 months or annually) and who should be notified when reviews are due. You can assign these policies directly to documents, or to risk assessments through assessment policies. This article explains how to create, edit, and manage review policies in CalmCompliance.
Before you start
You need the Manager or Admin role in the Site module to create, edit, or delete review policies. If you don't have this permission, contact your site administrator.
You should have users or groups set up in your site, as you'll need to assign them as reviewers
If your site has child sites, you can choose to share policies with them
Step-by-step instructions
Creating a review policy
Navigate to Settings → Governance → Review Policies tab
Click New Policy
Enter a Policy Name (required) — choose something clear and descriptive, like "Annual Health & Safety Review" or "Quarterly Policy Review"
Optionally add a Description — provide more context about when and why this policy should be used
Select a Review Interval — choose how often items should be reviewed:
- Common options include: 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, 1 year, 2 years.
- The interval determines when reviewers will be notified that an item needs reviewing.Select Recipients — choose at least one user or group who will be notified when reviews are due:
-You can select individual users from the left panel
- You can select groups from the right panel
- You can select both users and groups
- Recipients will receive notifications when items (documents or risk assessments) assigned to this policy are due for reviewIf your site has child sites, optionally enable Share with child sites:
- When enabled, child sites can see and use this policy
- Policies shared from parent sites appear as "Inherited" in child sites
- Inherited policies cannot be edited or deleted from child sitesClick Create Policy
Editing a review policy
Navigate to Settings → Governance → Review Policies tab
Find the policy you want to edit in the list
Click the pencil icon next to the policy name
Make your changes to any field:
Note: You cannot edit policies that are inherited from a parent site. To edit an inherited policy, you must edit it in the parent site where it was created.
Click Save Changes
Deleting a review policy
Navigate to Settings → Governance → Review Policies tab
Find the policy you want to delete
Click the delete icon (trash can) next to the policy name
Confirm the deletion in the pop-up window
Important: Deleting a policy will remove the review schedule from any documents or risk assessments currently using it. Those items will no longer have scheduled reviews, but existing review history will be preserved.
Assigning a review policy to documents
When creating a new document or editing an existing one, look for the Review Policy field
Select the review policy you want to assign from the dropdown menu
Save the document
The document will automatically be scheduled for review based on the policy's interval, and assigned reviewers will be notified when the review is due
Assigning a review policy to risk assessments
Review policies for risk assessments are assigned through Assessment Policies
When creating or editing an assessment policy, look for the Review Policy field
Select the review policy you want to assign from the dropdown menu
Save the assessment policy
Important: All risk assessments created using this assessment policy will automatically have the review policy assigned to them. The review schedule will be set based on the policy's interval, and assigned reviewers will be notified when reviews are due
Common questions and answers
Q: Can I have multiple review policies?
A: Yes, you can create as many review policies as you need. For example, you might have one for annual policy reviews, another for quarterly safety documents, and another for monthly training materials or risk assessments.
Q: What happens if I change a review policy's interval?
A: The system will automatically recalculate the next review due date for all documents and risk assessments using that policy, based on when they were last reviewed (or when the policy was assigned if they haven't been reviewed yet).
Q: Can I edit or delete a policy that's inherited from a parent site?
A: No, inherited policies can only be edited or deleted in the parent site where they were created. If you need changes, contact your parent site administrator.
Q: What if I delete a policy that's assigned to documents or risk assessments?
A: The items will no longer have a scheduled review, but any existing review history will be preserved. For documents, you can assign a different policy directly. For risk assessments, you'll need to update the assessment policy they're using.
Q: Do reviewers get notified immediately when I assign a policy?
A: No, reviewers are notified when the review is actually due based on the policy's interval. The system calculates the first review date when you assign the policy.
Q: Can I assign different policies to different documents?
A: Yes, each document can have its own review policy, or no policy at all. Choose the policy that best fits each document's importance and update frequency.
Q: How do review policies work with risk assessments?
A: Review policies for risk assessments are assigned through assessment policies. When you create an assessment policy and select a review policy, all risk assessments created using that assessment policy will automatically have the review policy assigned. To change the review policy for existing risk assessments, update the assessment policy they're using.
Q: What if I want to change who reviews an item?
A: You can edit the review policy to change its recipients (which affects all documents and risk assessments using that policy), or assign a different policy. For documents, assign a different policy directly. For risk assessments, update the assessment policy they're using.
Q: How do I know when reviews are due?
A: Assigned reviewers will receive notifications when reviews are due. You can also check the relevant sections (Documents or Risks) for upcoming and overdue reviews.
Troubleshooting tips
Problem: I can't see the "Share with child sites" option
Solution: This option only appears if your site has child sites. If you don't see it, your site doesn't have any child sites configured.
Problem: I can't edit or delete a policy
Solution: Check if the policy shows "Inherited" in the list. Inherited policies can only be edited in the parent site. If it's not inherited, make sure you have the Manager or Admin role in the Site module. Contact your site administrator if you need this permission.
Problem: The policy form won't let me save
Solution: Make sure you've filled in the Policy Name, selected a Review Interval, and chosen at least one recipient (user or group). All of these are required.
Problem: Reviewers aren't getting notifications
Solution: Check that the review policy has recipients assigned, and that those users or groups are still active in your site. Also verify that the review due date has actually passed—notifications are sent when reviews become due, not when policies are assigned.
Problem: I want to remove a review policy from a document
Solution: Edit the document and change the Review Policy field to "No reviews required" or leave it blank (depending on the form). This will cancel the scheduled review for that document.
Problem: I want to remove a review policy from risk assessments
Solution: Edit the assessment policy that the risk assessments are using, and change the Review Policy field to "No reviews required". This will remove the review schedule from all risk assessments using that assessment policy.
Problem: A policy name already exists
Solution: Policy names must be unique within your site. Try adding a more specific name or including the year or site name to make it unique.