Versioning and labels: understanding, accessing, and managing guideline versions

To find information about publishing versions, see Publishing versions and making a guideline publicly accessible.

• Understanding guideline versions
• Version labels
• Who can see which versions?
• Designating the current version

Understanding guideline versions

Each time a guideline is published, MAGICapp creates a new published version while preserving all previous published versions. By default, the most recently published version is designated as the current version.

However, guideline administrators can designate any published version as the current version, regardless of whether it is the most recently published version. This provides flexibility when managing guideline updates and the review process, ensuring that users see the version that should be considered current for their intended audience.

For example, authors may publish a newer version of a guideline privately to allow a guideline panel or review group to evaluate proposed updates. While that review is taking place, a previously published public version can remain designated as the current version. This ensures that public users continue to see the approved version as current, while the newer private version is clearly identified as Preliminary until it is ready to replace the current version.

Version labels

Version labels help users understand the status of each guideline version at a glance.

Before a guideline is published for the first time, it is referred to as v0.0 and displayed with a grey DRAFT label.

Published versions are labeled according to their relationship to the designated current version:

• Current version: Displayed with a blue label containing the version number (for example, v2.0) and publication date.
• Outdated version: Versions published before the current version are displayed with a red Outdated label, together with the version number (for example, v1.0) and publication date.
• Preliminary version: Versions published after the current version are displayed with an orange Preliminary label, together with the version number (for example, v3.0) and publication date.

Any publicly available guideline version will also display a green PUBLIC label next to the guideline title, whereas a privately published guideline will not.

Draft guideline

Current published version

Outdated published version

Preliminary published version

Publicly available published guideline

Who can see which versions?

The drafts and published versions available to a user depend on their permissions for the guideline, and whether a version has been published publicly.

Drafts:

A draft is either:

• the initial unpublished version of a guideline; or
• an unpublished working copy based on the most recently published version.

Because drafts are always based on the most recent published version, previously published versions cannot be edited directly. If you select Edit while viewing an older published version, MAGICapp will take you to the most recent draft version.

Note: Once a guideline has been published, only the most recently published version can be edited. Older published versions are preserved as historical records and cannot be restored as editable versions.

Draft access depends on a user's permission level:

• Administrators can view all drafts.
• Authors can view drafts if they are assigned as an author to the draft.
• Reviewers can view drafts if they are assigned as a reviewer to the draft.
• Viewers and public readers cannot view drafts.

Administrators and authors can access drafts through the guideline's Edit button or from the Latest draft (not published): MM/DD/YYYY date link on their MAGICapp homepage. Reviewers can access drafts that have been shared with them from the Latest draft (not published): MM/DD/YYYY date link on their MAGICapp homepage.

Published versions:

Published versions are versions of a guideline that have been published and added to the guideline's version history. Depending on publication settings, a published version may be publicly available or privately shared with selected users.

Access to published versions depends on a user's permission level:

• Administrators can view all published versions.
• Authors can view all published versions for which they are assigned as an author, as well as any publicly available published versions.
• Reviewers and viewers can view published versions to which they have been given access, as well as any publicly available published versions.
• Public readers can view all publicly available published versions.

All users can access the published versions available to them through Version history and subscription. Administrators and authors can also access version history through Publishing, version history and subscription in editing mode. Published versions can be viewed in MAGICapp via a direct link, and a PDF that version can be downloaded using the PDF icon in the top-right corner of the page.

Designating the current version

Guideline administrators can change which published version is designated as the current version at any time. When the current version is changed, MAGICapp automatically updates the version labels so that the selected version is displayed as the current version and other published versions are labeled accordingly. 

A version can be designated as the current version in one of two ways:

1. When publishing a new version.
2. At any time while in editing mode.

Designating the current version when publishing a new version

• Under the settings icon, go to Publishing, version history and subscription.
• Select Publish new version.

• The Set current checkbox is selected by default. As a result, the newly published version will become the current version automatically.

• To keep the existing current version unchanged, clear the Set current checkbox before publishing. The previously designated current version will remain the current version.