Workflow Versioning: What Happens When You Edit a Live Workflow
Workflow versioning means editing a live approval pipeline creates a new version rather than mutating the current one — requests already in flight finish on the rules they started with, and new submissions use the new rules.
The problem versioning solves is the edit-while-running collision: a $40,000 request is at stage 2 of a 4-stage workflow, and someone adds a required stage. Does the in-flight request jump to the new stage? Skip it? Restart? Without versioning, the answer is undefined — and undefined is exactly what you don't want in a control system. The product mechanics: Creating Dynamic Workflows.
How the version boundary works
| Request state at edit time | Which rules apply |
|---|---|
| In flight (already submitted) | The version it started on — finishes on the original stages, conditions, and approvers |
| Submitted after the edit | The new version, from stage one |
Why this is a compliance feature, not a convenience
An approval that changed rules mid-flight is evidence with an asterisk: the audit question "which workflow did this request follow?" needs a single answer, and versioning gives it one — the recorded version, attached to the request's audit trail. Without versioning, process changes silently rewrite the terms of decisions already in progress — the kind of thing auditors find and lawyers remember.
The change-management pattern
- Edit the workflow — add the stage, change the threshold, reassign approvers
- Version 2 is created — the change is recorded, with what moved
- In-flight requests drain — they complete on v1, no surprises
- New requests use v2 — the improvement takes effect immediately for everything new
Frequently Asked Questions
What happens when you edit a live workflow?
A new version is created. Requests already in flight complete under the original rules; new submissions follow the new ones. No request changes rules mid-decision.
Why not just update the workflow in place?
Because a request approved under different rules than it started with is ambiguous evidence — and process changes would silently rewrite decisions in progress. Versioning keeps every request's terms fixed.
Approvdit versions every workflow edit — in-flight requests finish on their original rules, new submissions use the new version, and the change is recorded. Book a live demo.