Model status
What are the model status and what do they mean in BusinessOptix?
What is Model Status?
Every model in BusinessOptix has a status that indicates where it is in its lifecycle. Status is used to communicate whether a model is being worked on, is going through a review process, has been approved for use, or has been retired.
Status can be set manually by a model author while editing, or it can be updated automatically by steps in a workflow. The default approval workflow, for example, will set the status to FOR REVIEW and FOR APPROVAL at the appropriate steps in the process.
Default Statuses
BusinessOptix provides the following statuses out of the box. These cover the typical model lifecycle from initial creation through to retirement.
| Status | Meaning | Typical usage |
|---|---|---|
| DRAFT | The model is being created or edited and is not yet ready for review. | Set by the author when work is in progress. Also set automatically by the default approval workflow if a model is not approved. |
| FOR REVIEW | The model has been submitted for review. | Set by the review step in the default approval workflow. |
| FOR APPROVAL | The model has passed review and is awaiting final approval. | Set by the approval step in the default approval workflow. |
| APPROVED | The model has been approved. | Set when the approver accepts the model. |
| ACTIVE | The model is approved, published, and in use. | Set by the default approval workflow when the model is approved and published to Stakeholders. |
| WITHDRAWN | The model has been retired and should no longer be used, but remains available for reference and compliance purposes. | Set manually by an author when content needs to be taken out of active use. |
Status and the Approval Workflow
The default approval workflow in BusinessOptix automatically updates model status as the model moves through the process. When a model is submitted, the workflow sets the status to FOR REVIEW at the review step and FOR APPROVAL at the approval step. If the model is approved, the status is set to ACTIVE. If it is not approved, the status is set back to DRAFT so the author can make changes and resubmit.
Status and Versioning
It is important to understand that status applies to a specific version of a model, not to the model as a whole. A model can have different statuses in different library areas at the same time.
For example, a model that has been approved and published will have a version with the status ACTIVE in the Stakeholders library. At the same time, the author may be making changes to the next version of that model in the Shared library, where it will have the status DRAFT. Both versions exist simultaneously — one published and in use, the other being worked on.
Tip: When you set a status on a model, you are setting it on the version you are currently editing. The published version in Stakeholders retains its own status independently.
Withdrawn
The WITHDRAWN status has special significance in BusinessOptix. It is used to indicate that a model should no longer be actively used, while keeping it available in the system for reference, audit, or regulatory compliance purposes.
What Happens When a Model is Withdrawn
A withdrawn model is hidden from dashboards that display model cards, and it is excluded from library search results. However, it is still visible when browsing the folder structure directly, and authors with appropriate permissions can still open and edit it.
How to Withdraw a Published Model
When a model exists in both Shared and Stakeholders, withdrawing it requires two steps. First, set the status to WITHDRAWN on the version in the Shared library. Then use Publish to Stakeholders to update the Stakeholders version, which will set its status to Withdrawn as well. This ensures the model is withdrawn from both the working and published areas.
Important: Simply setting a model to Withdrawn in Shared does not affect the published version in Stakeholders. You must also publish the change to Stakeholders to fully withdraw the model from active use.
Forms and the Archived Status
Forms that have been submitted cannot be set to Withdrawn. Instead, the Archived status serves the same purpose — it removes the form from active search results and dashboards while retaining it in the system.
Finding Withdrawn and Archived Content
By default, withdrawn and archived content is hidden from search results. If you need to locate a model or form that has been withdrawn or archived, use the Advanced Search page in BusinessOptix. The advanced search includes an option to include archived and withdrawn content in the results.
What about deleting models?
In order to delete a model the person will require read-write access to the model. When a model is in both Shared and has been published to Stakeholders it must be deleted from Stakeholders before it can be deleted from Shared. This is to prevent a library admin or author incorrectly leaving an orphan in Stakeholders.
Custom Statuses
In addition to the default statuses, a library can define custom statuses that are specific to your organisation's processes. Custom statuses appear in the status dropdown alongside the defaults and can be selected by authors or used in workflow steps, just like the built-in statuses.
Tip: Custom statuses are useful when your organisation has additional lifecycle stages — for example, a "Legal Review" or "Pending Retirement" status — that are not covered by the defaults.