A Standard is the organization’s accountable answer to “How do we do this?” It is authoritative, versioned, owned by a responsibility Role, and readable according to its visibility. Only one published revision is active at a time.
Draft
Write the rule and collaborate safely.
Ownership
A named person is accountable through a Role.
Publish
Activate one revision for governed internal answers.
Maintain
Update, unpublish, or archive without losing history.
Work by task
- Write a Standard to create the rule and its explanation.
- Publish and update to put one revision in force.
- Choose an owner to satisfy the ownership gate.
- Control who can read it with Role visibility and exposure.
- Unpublish or archive when the rule should no longer be active.
What belongs in a Standard
A Standard should make a decision or requirement clear enough to follow. Supporting evidence can remain in Knowledge and be linked from the Standard.
Standards in answers
The active revision is projected into internal retrieval. When it conflicts with ordinary Knowledge, the Standard is the governing source. An Agent answering the public never uses Standards; create visitor-safe Knowledge for that audience.
The full lifecycle of a Standard
A Standard begins as a working draft. Give it a clear title, write the decision in language people can act on, and assign an eligible Role as owner. When the ownership and governance checks are satisfied, publish the revision that should be in force. Later edits create new working material; they do not silently change the active revision. Publish again when the update is ready.
Unpublishing removes the active revision from governed retrieval while leaving the record available for further work. Archiving is for a Standard the organization no longer intends to maintain. These are different decisions, so choose the smallest change that matches what happened.
Ownership, visibility, and exposure are different controls
Ownership says which responsibility Role is accountable for the Standard. Visibility says which Roles may read it. Exposure describes where it may be used beyond ordinary internal reading. None of these controls replaces the others.
Before publishing, check all three from the reader’s perspective: who maintains the decision, who needs it for their work, and whether its content is suitable for the intended answer surface. An Agent answering the public never uses Standards, even when a Standard is visible to the whole organization.