Which practice most supports traceability of changes to SOPs?

• A. Versioning and audit trails.
• B. Keeping only the current version and no records.
• C. Deleting all versions after approval.
• D. Random changes without logs.

Answer: (A)

Traceability of SOP changes hinges on maintaining a history of revisions and the individuals who effected them. Versioning assigns each revision a unique identifier and timestamp, capturing what changed and when, while audit trails log who made the change, when, and what approvals occurred. This combination lets you reconstruct the document’s lifecycle, compare different versions, and prove that changes followed the proper workflow. In regulated settings, it supports audits and accountability by showing exactly which procedure was in use at any time and enabling rollback if needed.

Keeping only the current version eliminates the provenance of edits, deleting all versions erases the historical record, and making changes without logs provides no evidence of responsibility or compliance.