Use of the Cosmetic Change Option When Revising Documents

The Cosmetic Change option can be used when minor corrections are needed to documents but you don't want to impact the linked Training Activities and require users to complete training again when there was not a substantive change.   

If the Cosmetic Change box is checked when authoring a new version, additional training will not be triggered, even when Recurrence based on Document Revision is set for the Training Activity.  The associated Curriculum will remain unchanged but will automatically be linked to the updated document version so that trainees who have not yet completed the Training Activity will view the new document.   Trainees that had already completed the Training Activity will receive collateral credit for the new document, which will be identified as such on Training Reports with a check mark in the right-hand "Cosmetic" column.

A document can be processed for a Cosmetic Change by either keeping the current Version number the same or by going up to the next Version number.  Either way, the updates are reflected on the Audit Trail of the document.  In either case, it is also best to use the Reason for Change field to describe the purpose of the update since the document will be going through another Approval Cycle and therefore have a new Effective Date.  These options are discussed below along with any related considerations.  

OPTION 1:  Keeping the same Version number

When processing a document revision as a Cosmetic Change, the Version field can remain the same.  When approved, it will have a new Effective Date related to the most recent Approval Cycle.  

The Internal Version field is impacted however so it will be ahead of the Version number.  This will be evident wherever both numbers are displayed.   If that is a concern for you, then OPTION 2 may be a better choice.

Since the Version number remains the same it will still align with the related Curriculum version since that is not impacted.   When trainees open the document for training though, they will get the updated document.

Training History Reports for those who had already completed their training will include two listings for this version of the document, both with completion on the original completion date and one with the "Cosmetic" box checked.

Training Compliance Reports, since they display compliance against only the most current requirements, will show only the latest version.  Since these reports include both the Version number and the Internal Version number it will be listed as follows.  Training completion will be on the original completion date and the "Cosmetic" box will be checked.

OPTION 2: Going up to the next Version number

When processing a document revision as a Cosmetic Change, the Version field can also be incremented to the next number.  When approved, it will have both a new Version and a new Effective Date related to the most recent Approval Cycle.  

In this case the Internal Version field will be the same as the Version number, as it would be for a regular revision.  

Since the Version number changed but the related Curriculum did not get recreated, there will not automatically be a Curriculum with a version number that aligns with the document.  However, the linked document will automatically be updated to the new version - Version 3.0 in this example.  Trainees who had not yet completed this training will get the updated document, as will any new assignees.

Note:  Curriculum Name is an editable field so if there are ever concerns regarding the Names given when they are automatically created upon recurrence, those can be edited, possibly not to include a version number at all.

Training History Reports for those who had already completed their training will include a listing for each Version number of the document, both with completion on the original completion date and one with the "Cosmetic" box checked.

Training Compliance Reports, since they display compliance against only the current requirements, will show only the latest version.  Since these reports include both the Version number and the Internal Version number it will be listed as follows.  Training completion will be on the original completion date and the "Cosmetic" box will be checked.

Another Possible Option:

Since the Version field is editable when modifying a document, you could create your own unique version numbering scheme for cosmetic changes and define it in your local SOPs.   That way the Version number would immediately identify it as a cosmetic change.

Related Articles:

SOLABS QM10: Revising a Document - https://docs.solabs.com/hc/en-us/articles/360041573174-SOLABS-QM10-Revising-a-Document