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How can I manage versions of a topic?

Once a topic has been published, there are several ways to keep on top of changes and plan for the future.

Written by Matthew Mast

Each time you publish a topic, Tribal Habits tracks which version you have published, along with your notes outlining what has been updated. Details of older versions are also retained and can be explored by Admins for reference.

Topic versions are tracked in the following locations:

  • The Version tab of each topic: View version history for any given topic and manage future updates.

  • Topic Versions report: Provides oversight of all topics and their version history.

  • Learner history: When a learner completes a topic, the version that they completed is stored in their enrolment history.

The Versions tab is the best place to manage and view topic versions.

The Versions tab

To access the Versions tab:

  1. Navigate to Admin → Knowledge → Topics and open a topic.

  2. Click on the Versions tab.

The Versions tab contains two sections: Version History and Version Management.

Version history

For each version update, this section lists:

  • Version number: Whole numbers (2.0) for major updates, decimals (2.1) for minor updates.

  • Notes: Any notes provided by the person who published the update.

  • Date and time published

  • Published by: the person who published the version update.

  • Actions:

    • Click 'View' to launch an learner-style view of the topic, useful for seeing what a topic looked like at a prior version.

    • Click PDF to open a PDF of the topic's content.
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Version Management

This panel allows you to set a topic review date, along with reviewers, and instructions. This allows Admins to set a date the topic needs an update, and instructions on what needs doing.

Note: Version Management is particularly useful for topics that reference information subject to change, such as policies and regulations.

Setting up version management

  1. Assign reviewers: In the Versions management panel, assign the users responsible for reviewing the topic's content periodically.
    ​This is not a new type of enrolment - it simply designates who is responsible for reviewing the content.

  2. Add review instructions: Add instructions explaining how the review should be carried out. This is useful because reviewers may or may not be creators of the topic.

  3. Set the next review date: Set the date for the next review.

  4. Add review notes: Add review notes as a running list of things to check in the next review.

When the review date arrives

  • Reviewers are notified: On the review date, reviewers are sent an email stating that it's time to do a review. The email includes a copy of the review instructions and the review notes.

  • Complete the review: Your organisation will need a business process in place to manage the review from this point - consider timelines for review, a process for when to publish the new version of the topic, etc.

  • Update the panel: After the review is complete, update the next review date and clear or replace the review notes if necessary.

FAQs

Can I see the content from a previous version of a topic?
Yes. The Versions tab found in each topic contains a list of all previously published versions of a topic. For each version, you can click 'View' to open the topic as it appeared to learners or click 'PDF' to generate a PDF of the content.

I opened the Versions tab but see no version history. Why?

This will happen if the topic has never been published. This means it is an unpublished version - remember that you can still enrol learners into a topic that is unpublished.

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