What Happens When a Document is Deleted From QM10?

It is possible to delete a newly created document in SOLABS QM10, but only if it is not yet in an Approved status (Approved, Not Effective, or Approved & Effective).  The Delete option is available for a document while it is in Authoring status.  This option is available to users having Modify privileges on the document.  If the document is in an active Review Cycle or an active Approval Cycle, the Stop Cycle option will move it back to the Authoring status.  As long as a document had never been approved, there is no formal Audit Trail for the document once it is deleted.  While it is 'In Progress, there is only an Authoring History.  

Once a document is approved, it will no longer be possible to delete it from the system.  If it is no longer required, it can be either Superseded by another document or Retired. (See related articles below.)

What happens when a document is deleted?

When a document is deleted, the deletion action deletes all the metadata-related information linked to that document, as well as the uploaded file (if there is one), from the database.

If the document was of a Document Type set with an “Auto-generated Control Number”, the number generated and assigned to the document will be ‘lost’.  When creating the next new document of that Document Type, the number generated and assigned is chronologically incremented from the last one generated.  The ‘lost’ number (control number of the deleted document) cannot be re-used and assigned another time for Document Types having an Auto-Generated Control Number setting.

Related Articles:

Superseding a Document: https://docs.solabs.com/hc/en-us/articles/360042644853-SOLABS-QM10-Using-the-Superseded-Document-Option

Retiring a Document: https://docs.solabs.com/hc/en-us/articles/360041574034-SOLABS-QM10-Retire-a-Document