Do signatures need to appear on procedures to indicate review and approval?

[Marc]

I posted this as general info, however as I re-read it, i do disagree. In a big company the reviewer and approver *may* be different people. Nowhere does it state that these can not be done by the same person and quite often this is the case.

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Subject: Q: Review and Approval of ISO Docs/Sullivan/Arter
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1998 10:02:46 -0600
From: ISO Standards Discussion
From: Dennis Arter

Earlier, Bill Sullivan wrote:
>Do signatures need to appear on procedures to indicate review and
>approval?

No. The ACT of review and approval is required. How you care to capture the fact that this act occurred, is up to you. When I was responsible for procedures (many, many years ago!), I kept a separate form in MY file folder to show who reviewed the draft document and who finally approved that document. Yes, I used signatures on this form, but I didn't have to.

Remember, too, that REVIEW and APPROVAL are two different things. REVIEW is performed by colleagues, who make sure that the process described will actually work and is technically sound. It is also known as "peer review." Most successful organizations require several different individuals, from several different disciplines, to perform the REVIEW. On the other hand, APPROVAL is an administrative thing. It is the act of affirming that a) the document is technically sound, and b) it contains everything it is supposed to contain, in the proper format. Little actual thinking is required to APPROVE a document; therefor, it is normally done by a manager. [Dilbert-ish smile]

>Is it sufficient to have a separate log with signatures indicating
>approval?
>

Sure.
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Dennis R. Arter, "The Audit Guy"

Could you suggest me what's the best solution for electric documentation control and distribution; and how to control same documents (eg procedures) in different sites; and how to work Review, Approve, Sign-off and Obsolete phase in electric documentation.

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[Marc]

There are so many solutions it's amazing. I would try a forum search here for DOCUMENTATION. There are a number of threads. The biggest point is there are many variables (everything from your company size to network implementation to PC capabilities, and on and on) that your company has to take a close up look and see what is appropriate for your company.