# Retire or withdraw a release

Stop future issuance or execution with the appropriate release action.

Source: https://help.smartfact.ai/manuals/worksteps/release-changes

Review edition: 25 October 2026

Roles: reviewer, supervisor

Use release lifecycle controls when an approved procedure should stop being used. Establish whether the issue affects future issuance only or makes continued execution unacceptable. The Reviewer makes the release decision; the Supervisor manages affected physical work.

## Check the affected scope

In Releases, find the exact release and inspect its family, kind, state, assignment and event history. Identify the relevant step, table or image revision when the problem is a shared dependency. Do not assume that similar display names mean identical released content.

Tell the Supervisor what is wrong and what immediate physical controls are required. WorkSteps records and enforces application state; it does not perform containment at the workplace.

## Choose the correct action

Retire the release when no new travellers should be issued but eligible work already issued may finish. Supply the reason and complete recent Accounts authentication. Retirement clears its family assignment, so prepare and assign a suitable replacement for future issuance.

Withdraw when execution must stop as well. Read the stated effect before submitting the reason. Withdrawal prevents new issuance and normal continued execution. Affected work requires supervised disposition; a release cannot simply be made executable again by clearing an attempt hold.

When the same faulty step revision, parameter-table revision or image is used in several releases, the dependency withdrawal control can withdraw all releases that use that exact dependency. Review the selected identity carefully before confirming the wider action.

## Verify and hand over

Refresh Releases and check the saved state and event. The Supervisor should inspect affected attempts in Supervision and decide on permitted cancellation, replacement or other displayed dispositions. New instructions require the ordinary saved draft, examples, proof and publication path.

If the state changed while the decision was being made, inspect the current record before retrying. Do not issue units from an old preview after changing the family assignment. Issuance rechecks the preview and can refuse it as stale.

Existing travellers and completions retain their issued content and history. A later withdrawal is part of the evidence that must accompany interpretation of an old result. Use [history and exports](/manuals/worksteps/history-and-exports) when communicating which release and later qualifications a document includes.