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Document Control

The backbone of your QMS. Versioning, approval workflows, periodic review, and controlled distribution — all designed to support compliance with ISO 13485 and 21 CFR Part 820.

Document lifecycle

Every document in ArvoDocs follows a clear lifecycle: Draft → In Review → Approved → Effective → Obsolete. Status transitions are enforced by the system — you can't skip steps or bypass approvals.

When a document is effective, it's locked. To make changes, you create a new revision, which starts a new draft. The previous version remains accessible in the version history.

Version control

ArvoDocs tracks every revision automatically. You can compare any two versions side-by-side with the built-in diff view — no more emailing Word documents back and forth.

  • Automatic version numbering (major.minor or custom schema)
  • Rich diff view between any two revisions
  • Reason-for-change captured on every revision
  • Full version history accessible to authorized users

Approval workflows

Configure approval workflows per document type or per document. ArvoDocs supports both sequential and parallel approval chains.

Sequential: Reviewer A must approve before Reviewer B sees the document. Good for hierarchical review processes.

Parallel: All reviewers are notified simultaneously. Faster for peer reviews where order doesn't matter.

Mixed: Combine both — for example, a peer review stage (parallel) followed by a quality manager final approval (sequential).

Periodic review

Set review intervals on any document (e.g., every 12 months). ArvoDocs sends automated reminders before the review date and tracks overdue reviews on your dashboard.

During a periodic review, the document owner can either confirm the document is still current or initiate a new revision.

Document numbering

Configure custom numbering schemas to match your existing system. Use prefixes, sequential numbers, and separators — for example, SOP-001, WI-2024-001, or whatever convention your team uses. Auto-increment handles the rest.

Controlled copies & distribution

Generate watermarked PDFs for controlled distribution. Each copy is stamped with the recipient, date, and copy number. Uncontrolled copies are clearly marked — so there's never confusion about which version is current.