kell_creations/policies/README.md

4.2 KiB

Policy Repository

This directory contains the controlled policy, procedure, standard, guideline, form, exception, and evidence records for the Kell Creations platform.

Purpose

The purpose of this repository structure is to provide a controlled, auditable, and maintainable lifecycle for business policies and supporting governance records.

This repository supports:

  • document creation
  • review and approval
  • publication to active status
  • version control
  • retirement of superseded documents
  • retention of approval and retirement evidence

Repository Structure

active/

Contains approved documents that are currently in force.

drafts/

Contains documents being authored or revised before formal review.

review/

Contains documents that are under formal review and awaiting approval, rejection, or revision.

retired/

Contains documents that are no longer active because they were superseded, withdrawn, or retired.

templates/

Contains approved starter templates for controlled documents.

register/

Contains the master document register and supporting control logs.

evidence/

Contains approval records, review records, exceptions, and retirement evidence.

Lifecycle Model

Controlled documents move through the following lifecycle:

  1. Draft
  2. Review
  3. Active
  4. Superseded or Revised
  5. Retired

Documents should not skip lifecycle stages without documented approval.

Document Types

The following document types are supported:

  • Policy
  • Procedure
  • Standard
  • Guideline
  • Form
  • Exception

Naming Convention

Documents should follow this pattern:

KC-<TYPE>-<DOMAIN>-<NUMBER>-<short-title>.md

Examples:

  • KC-POL-GOV-001-document-control-policy.md
  • KC-PRO-GOV-001-policy-review-and-retirement-procedure.md
  • KC-STD-MKT-001-social-media-publishing-standard.md

Type codes

  • POL = Policy
  • PRO = Procedure
  • STD = Standard
  • GLD = Guideline
  • FRM = Form
  • EXC = Exception

Domain codes

  • GOV = Governance
  • OPS = Operations
  • ECM = Ecommerce
  • MKT = Marketing
  • MFG = Manufacturing
  • FIN = Finance
  • IT = Information Technology
  • SEC = Security
  • PRV = Privacy

Required Metadata

All controlled documents must begin with YAML front matter that includes:

  • document_id
  • title
  • document_type
  • domain
  • version
  • status
  • owner
  • reviewers
  • approver
  • effective_date
  • next_review_date
  • supersedes
  • related_documents
  • related_systems
  • retention_period
  • confidentiality

Document Control Rules

  • All controlled documents must be stored in Git.
  • All changes must be reviewed through the approved repository workflow.
  • Active documents must have an approver and effective date.
  • Superseded documents must be moved to retired/.
  • Approval and retirement actions must be reflected in the control logs under register/.
  • Evidence of approval, review, exception, or retirement should be preserved under evidence/.

Registers

policy-register.csv

The master index of controlled documents.

document-control-log.csv

The record of lifecycle changes and status transitions.

review-calendar.csv

The schedule for periodic policy review.

exception-register.csv

The record of approved and tracked exceptions.

  1. Create a new document in drafts/.
  2. Assign owner, reviewers, and proposed approver.
  3. Move document to review/ when ready for formal review.
  4. Approve and move to active/ when authorized.
  5. Update the document register and control log.
  6. Move superseded versions to retired/.
  7. Store supporting approval or retirement evidence in evidence/.

Relationship to Architecture and Operations

This policy repository supports the architecture and workflow documentation maintained elsewhere in the repository, including:

  • policy lifecycle workflows
  • audit and compliance architecture
  • CI/CD workflow documentation
  • operating procedures for controlled publication

Ownership

Unless otherwise specified in a document, repository governance is owned by the Kell Creations business owner.

Summary

This policy repository is the controlled governance layer for Kell Creations documentation, operational rules, and retained compliance evidence.