Automated Change Detection

Relying on human notification for process documentation updates is a single point of failure. The team member responsible for notifying the process owner may not know who the process owner is. The process change may happen in a system that has no connection to the documentation system. The person who made the change may not have documentation on their checklist at all. Automated change detection builds the connection between process changes and documentation review into the system, eliminating the dependency on human memory.

1. Integration Triggers Connect documentation review triggers to the systems where processes live: deployment pipelines (when a new software version ships, flag process docs that reference the old version), policy management systems (when a policy updates, flag all process docs that cite it), HR systems (when a role changes ownership, flag all processes owned by that role). The trigger fires automatically; the process owner receives a review task.
2. Drift Detection via Usage Signals Track when practitioners report errors or file help requests that reference a specific process document. High help-request rates on a specific process are a leading indicator that the document has drifted from the actual process. A documentation system that ingests support tickets and flags documents with elevated issue rates identifies drift faster than any manual review schedule.
3. Scheduled Certification For every process document, set a maximum certification interval — the longest the document can go without review, regardless of whether a change event has occurred. Critical processes: 90 days. Routine processes: 180 days. At the certification interval, the process owner receives a review task and must either update or certify the document as current. Silence is not certification.

# Process Document Lifecycle Configuration
# Example: documentation system integration config

document:
  id: proc-enterprise-onboarding-v3
  owner: jane.doe@company.com
  created: 2025-09-01
  last_certified: 2025-12-01

review_triggers:
  # Scheduled
  max_days_without_review: 90

  # System integration triggers
  systems_referenced:
    - name: Salesforce CRM
      version: Summer 2025
      trigger_on: major_release
    - name: IT Onboarding Portal
      version: 4.2.1
      trigger_on: any_release

  # Policy reference triggers
  policies_cited:
    - id: pol-security-access-control
      trigger_on: any_update
    - id: pol-data-classification
      trigger_on: any_update

drift_detection:
  # Flag for review if help requests reference this doc
  help_request_threshold: 3  # per 30-day period
  monitor_channels:
    - it-helpdesk
    - onboarding-support-queue

notifications:
  review_assigned:
    channel: email
    template: doc-review-required
    sla_hours: 48  # for critical docs
  overdue_escalation:
    sla_overdue_hours: 72
    escalate_to: jane.doe-manager@company.com