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Capability template for quality management

Obsolete copy check

The quality lead gets the master document list set against the copies found at each point of use: which copies are out of date, which withdrawn documents are still held, and what proof of withdrawal exists. The document owner withdraws and replaces copies; nothing is changed.

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The outcome

When a procedure is revised, the old version does not disappear on its own. It stays pinned above a bench, saved on a shared tablet or filed in a binder, and the people using it have no way to know. This capability gives the quality lead a clear answer to one question: where is an instruction in use that should no longer be?

You receive a comparison of your master document list with the inventories of the places where copies are kept. Every copy found is sorted: current, out of date, a withdrawn document, a revision nobody recognises, a document the master list does not know, or not yet due to change. For each out-of-date copy you see the withdrawal evidence on file and whether it agrees with what was found. You also see the places nobody has inventoried, so the report never pretends to be a clean bill of health.

The capability changes no document and removes no copy. Document control confirms what is obsolete, and the document owner withdraws and replaces copies through your agreed process.

Who starts the work, and when

The document controller or the quality lead starts it when the agreed document-control review is due, after a batch of revisions has been released, or before an audit. Area owners supply the inventories for their own places. Document control reviews the comparison and decides what happens to each finding.

What they supply

  • The master document list: one row per document, with its current revision, effective date, status and owner.
  • The revision history, so a superseded revision can be told from one that is simply unrecognised.
  • The distribution list: where each document should be held and how many copies.
  • The point-of-use inventories: what was found at each location, which revision, how many, in what form, and when it was checked.
  • The withdrawal records: where and when a superseded revision was taken out, and the reference to the evidence.
  • The settings: the organization or site name, the review date, the document control role and how recent an inventory must be to count (30 days unless you choose otherwise).

If the columns of an export are named differently from those the template expects, the assistant stops and asks which is which.

What comes out

One report in a fixed order. It opens with a count of every copy found and a tie-out line proving the counts add up. Then come the out-of-date copies, each with the evidence of withdrawal on file; copies of withdrawn documents; unrecognised revisions; documents missing from the master list; coverage gaps; copies not yet due to change; and withdrawal records that match nothing found. The report ends with a numbered list of decisions for document control, and a line stating what it cannot prove.

An invented example

Illustrative example with invented data. The firm, the people, the documents, the locations, the dates and the references below are all invented. The firm is an invented 70-person precision-parts maker whose document controller runs the monthly review of controlled documents. First come the inputs the document controller supplied, in full, then the report the capability returned.

The inputs

1. Settings

Review date: 2026-11-09
Organization or site: Firm A
Document control role: Document controller
Inventory age limit: 30 days

2. Master document list

doc_id,title,current_revision,effective_date,status,owner
WI-101,Cell 1 setup and first-off check,D,2026-09-14,Current,Production manager
WI-102,Torque check on final assembly,B,2026-06-01,Current,Production manager
WI-140,Manual deburring station,C,2025-08-12,Withdrawn,Production manager
WI-205,Goods-in inspection,F,2026-10-05,Current,Quality lead
WI-210,Gauge handling and storage,C,2026-03-20,Current,Inspection supervisor
WI-330,Despatch labelling,E,2026-11-16,Current,Despatch lead
FM-310,Nonconforming material tag,A,2025-11-02,Current,Quality lead

For WI-140, the effective date is the date the document was withdrawn.

3. Revision history

doc_id,revision,obsolete_from
WI-101,B,2025-11-17
WI-101,C,2026-09-14
WI-102,A,2026-06-01
WI-205,D,2026-04-20
WI-205,E,2026-10-05
WI-210,B,2026-03-20
WI-330,D,2026-11-16

4. Distribution list

doc_id,location,expected_copies
WI-101,Cell 1,1
WI-101,Cell 2,1
WI-102,Final Assembly,1
WI-205,Goods-In,1
WI-205,Inspection Bay,1
WI-210,Inspection Bay,1
WI-210,Gauge Store,1
FM-310,Quarantine Cage,1
WI-330,Despatch,2

5. Point-of-use inventories (seven locations, joined)

location,doc_id,revision,copy_type,count,date_checked,checked_by
Cell 1,WI-101,D,printed,1,2026-11-03,Cell 1 team leader
Cell 1,WI-101,C,printed,1,2026-11-03,Cell 1 team leader
Cell 1,WI-140,C,printed,1,2026-11-03,Cell 1 team leader
Final Assembly,WI-102,B,printed,1,2026-11-04,Final assembly lead
Final Assembly,WI-102,A,saved file,2,2026-11-04,Final assembly lead
Goods-In,WI-205,F,printed,1,2026-11-05,Goods-in supervisor
Goods-In,WI-205,E,printed,1,2026-11-05,Goods-in supervisor
Inspection Bay,WI-205,F,saved file,1,2026-11-05,Inspection supervisor
Inspection Bay,WI-210,D,printed,1,2026-11-05,Inspection supervisor
Gauge Store,WI-210,B,printed,1,2026-10-12,Gauge store keeper
Gauge Store,WI-210,C,printed,1,2026-10-12,Gauge store keeper
Quarantine Cage,FM-310,A,printed,1,2026-08-18,Quality technician
Despatch,WI-330,D,printed,2,2026-11-06,Despatch lead
Despatch,LBL-77,B,printed,1,2026-11-06,Despatch lead

6. Withdrawal records

doc_id,revision,location,withdrawn_date,withdrawn_by,evidence_ref
WI-101,B,Cell 1,2025-11-20,Cell 1 team leader,Return slip RS-0301
WI-102,A,Final Assembly,2026-06-03,Final assembly lead,Return slip RS-0412
WI-205,E,Inspection Bay,2026-10-12,Inspection supervisor,Return slip RS-0529
WI-210,B,Gauge Store,2026-10-20,Inspection supervisor,Return slip RS-0533

The output

OBSOLETE COPY CHECK: Firm A, review date 2026-11-09

  • For: Document controller. Inventories count if checked on or after 2026-10-10 (30 days before the review date).
  • Prepared: 2026-11-09, from the master list (7 documents), revision history (7 rows), distribution list (9 lines), inventories (7 locations, 14 rows) and withdrawal records (4).

Copies found: 16 in 14 rows at 7 locations. Current 6. Out of date 5. Withdrawn document 1. Revision not recognised 1. Not on master list 1. Not yet due 2. Tie-out: 6 + 5 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 2 = 16.

Locations: 8 on the distribution list; 7 inventoried; 1 not inventoried; 1 inventory too old.

Out of date: 5 copies

  • Gauge Store: WI-210 Gauge handling and storage, revision B found, 1 printed copy; current revision C; out of date since 2026-03-20 (234 days). Checked 2026-10-12 by Gauge store keeper. Withdrawal evidence: record 2026-10-20, Return slip RS-0533, inventory not later, location needs a new look.
  • Final Assembly: WI-102 Torque check on final assembly, revision A found, 2 saved files; current revision B; out of date since 2026-06-01 (161 days). Checked 2026-11-04 by Final assembly lead. Withdrawal evidence: record 2026-06-03, Return slip RS-0412, copy found after it.
  • Cell 1: WI-101 Cell 1 setup and first-off check, revision C found, 1 printed copy; current revision D; out of date since 2026-09-14 (56 days). Checked 2026-11-03 by Cell 1 team leader. Withdrawal evidence: no record.
  • Goods-In: WI-205 Goods-in inspection, revision E found, 1 printed copy; current revision F; out of date since 2026-10-05 (35 days). Checked 2026-11-05 by Goods-in supervisor. Withdrawal evidence: no record.

Copies of withdrawn documents: 1 copy

  • Cell 1: WI-140 Manual deburring station, revision C, 1 printed copy; document withdrawn 2025-08-12 (454 days). Checked 2026-11-03 by Cell 1 team leader. Withdrawal evidence: no record.

Revision not recognised: 1 copy

  • Inspection Bay: WI-210 Gauge handling and storage, revision D found, 1 printed copy; current revision C; revision D is not in the history. Checked 2026-11-05 by Inspection supervisor.

Not on master list: 1 copy

  • Despatch: LBL-77, revision B, 1 printed copy. Checked 2026-11-06 by Despatch lead.

Coverage gaps

  • Not inventoried: Cell 2 (WI-101).
  • Inventory too old: Quarantine Cage, checked 2026-08-18 (83 days before the review date).
  • Expected copy: Inspection Bay, WI-210 Gauge handling and storage: none found.
  • Distribution lines: 9. Met 6. Cannot say 2. Short 1. Tie-out: 6 + 2 + 1 = 9.

Not yet due: 2 copies

  • Despatch: WI-330 Despatch labelling, revision D, 2 printed copies; still in force until 2026-11-16, replaced by revision E.

Withdrawal records with no copy found: 2 of 4 records

  • WI-101 revision B, Cell 1, 2025-11-20, Return slip RS-0301: consistent, no copy in the inventory of 2026-11-03.
  • WI-205 revision E, Inspection Bay, 2026-10-12, Return slip RS-0529: consistent, no copy in the inventory of 2026-11-05.

Decisions for Document controller: 10

  1. Gauge Store, WI-210 revision B. A printed copy of a revision obsolete since 2026-03-20 was found on 2026-10-12. The record of removal, RS-0533, is dated 2026-10-20, after that inventory. Has the copy been removed since, and does the Gauge Store need a new look?
  2. Final Assembly, WI-102 revision A. Two saved files of a revision obsolete since 2026-06-01 were found on 2026-11-04, although RS-0412 records withdrawal on 2026-06-03. The record and the inventory disagree. Which is wrong, and do you confirm the files as obsolete?
  3. Cell 1, WI-101 revision C. One printed copy of a revision obsolete since 2026-09-14, with no withdrawal record. Do you confirm it as obsolete, and who removes it through the agreed process?
  4. Goods-In, WI-205 revision E. One printed copy of a revision obsolete since 2026-10-05, with no withdrawal record. Do you confirm it as obsolete, and who removes it through the agreed process?
  5. Cell 1, WI-140 revision C. One printed copy of a document withdrawn on 2025-08-12, with no withdrawal record. Do you confirm it as obsolete, and who removes it through the agreed process?
  6. Inspection Bay, WI-210 revision D. One printed copy of a revision that is neither the current revision C nor in the history. Who establishes what this copy is, and does the history need to change?
  7. Despatch, LBL-77 revision B. One printed copy of a document that is not on the master list. Is it a controlled document that should be added, or something that should not be in use?
  8. Cell 2. No inventory was supplied, and WI-101 is expected there. Who inventories Cell 2, and by when?
  9. Quarantine Cage. The inventory is 83 days old, and FM-310 is expected there. Who takes a new inventory, and by when?
  10. Inspection Bay, WI-210. The one expected copy of the current revision C was not found, and a revision D copy is there instead (decision 6). Which revision should the Inspection Bay hold, and who supplies it?

Not proven: Cell 2 has not been inventoried and the Quarantine Cage inventory is 83 days old, so nothing can be said about old copies at those two locations. The one copy counted as Current at the Quarantine Cage (FM-310) comes from that old inventory and is not confirmed as current. The other six inventories show only what was found on the day each was taken.

Draft for Document controller's decision. No copy has been confirmed, removed, replaced or recorded, and no document has been changed.

Where it fits

  • Quality management, where controlled documents are one of the first things an auditor asks to see in use.
  • Manufacturing, where work instructions sit at the machine and a superseded one can stay there for months.
  • Life sciences, where the revision in use at the point of work matters as much as the one approved.
  • Construction, where site teams work from printed method statements and drawings kept in cabins and vehicles.
  • Established businesses, where copies have accumulated over years and nobody has a full picture of them.

What has to change for your company

Fix the files and their column names once, so each review starts from the same exports. Decide how recent an inventory must be to count; the template assumes 30 days. Decide what counts as evidence of withdrawal in your business, such as a signed return slip or a recorded removal. Agree who inventories each place and in what form, including saved files on shared drives and tablets, which are copies too. Name who confirms an obsolete copy and who removes it. Settle how revisions are written, since the comparison reads them as they appear.

What has been checked

Fully Powered AI wrote this capability template. It was editorially reviewed on 10 November 2026. It was tried once on its invented example in Claude on 10 November 2026; the record is published with it, and it was not a blind trial, since the run had seen the published output before writing its own. The points that run and the independent review found open were settled afterwards, without a rerun. It has not yet been tested in a client environment, or tested as a packaged version in ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot or Gemini.

Testing in your environment means running it on a past review you already know well, with cases written in advance: a withdrawal recorded but the copy still there, a location nobody inventoried, an inventory that predates the withdrawal, a revision not on the history. Document control checks every finding against the physical copy before anyone relies on the report. Pilot acceptance-test preparation sets those cases up, and what we test before we call an AI workflow ready describes the record we keep. For writing the procedure itself, see Write an SOP from how the work is done; for tidying electronic folders, see Shared folder filing plan.

The full capability template

Everything above is the outline. The complete capability template is the working version: the roles, the inputs, the procedure, the exceptions and stop conditions, the output format, the reviewer checklist, the acceptance tests, the instructions for an AI assistant and what to customize for your company. It comes with a download and the link to its folder in Fully Powered’s public repository.

View the full template

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Next step

Put this capability to work for your team: on your plan, or built with you in a sprint.

Put this on your plan

Add it to a workflow in the Fully Powered Planner, beside the teams and roles that will run it.

Build this in a sprint

In a sprint, Fully Powered adapts this capability template to your rules, proves it on your own work and puts it in the hands of the roles that own it.

Two ways to begin:

Rather talk it through first? Book a fit callDiscuss adapting this

  • Write an SOP from how the work is done

    Turn a walkthrough of how one piece of work is really done into a written procedure anyone on the team can follow: who does each step, how they know it is done, what to do when it goes wrong and when to stop and ask. The owner approves it before anyone relies on it.

  • Shared folder filing plan

    The office coordinator gets a plan for tidying a shared folder: a proposed folder structure, every file's move with its owner named, and the duplicates and access questions to settle first. Owners approve their own moves; nothing is moved, renamed or deleted.

  • Pilot acceptance-test preparation

    Go into every AI pilot with the test already written: the cases that matter, what good looks like for each and the rule your owner will use to decide.