Review statuses and outcomes

This page explains the content states implemented by the PCA platform. For the step-by-step governance process, see Content review process.

Status describes lifecycle and provenance. It does not by itself grant access, identify the owner, or replace an assessment of whether content fits your use case.

Draft

Draft means the content has been persisted with an IRI but has not entered formal review.

It is searchable and visible to other users. A Creator can edit a supported Draft, save a new change justification, or submit it. Draft is not a private workspace and must not be presented as approved content.

Submitted

Submitted means an authorized user explicitly moved a complete Draft into the review queue. The interface may label this status Pending review.

The resource is locked against Creator editing. Automatic validation is a prerequisite to the transition, not the review outcome.

Approved

Approved means the relevant Working Group has decided that the content is acceptable for shared use in the PCA governance context.

Approval is more than a technical pass. It means an authorized review accepted the content and recorded justification and dependency awareness under the applicable governance process.

Rejected

Rejected means the relevant Working Group has reviewed the content and decided not to approve it for shared use in the PCA governance context.

Rejection does not necessarily mean the idea had no value. It means the proposal was not accepted in its current form or for its current purpose. It remains available for usage and traceability with the recorded decision.

Deprecated

Deprecated means the content is still retained for usage and traceability, but it should no longer be treated as the preferred current version.

This status is relevant when content has been superseded. The Replaces relationship connects versions while the old IRI remains resolvable. In the current authoring behavior, recording a replacement can mark the referenced resource Deprecated during creation or update; Creators and Reviewers must therefore verify the IRI before using Replaces.

Externally Managed

Externally Managed means PCA provides a digital representation of content governed outside PCA's review process.

This applies to standards or collections managed by another authority. The interface can also use this label when a resource has no PCA lifecycle provenance. It cannot be edited or submitted through the Creator Draft flow. Users must consult the named external owner and release context rather than infer PCA approval.