The day a reviewer's credential lapses, their approval rights at the depths it backed are suspended, held actions in their queue move to a certified colleague, and reading access continues. Rights return only when the renewed credential shows as current at source. This lapsed certificate procedure template sets those steps out with owners, timings and the record each step leaves.
What does the procedure cover?
It covers people, not agents. A person's professional certificate typically lasts 12 or 24 months; when it lapses, what changes is what that person may approve. An agent's certificate is a different thing: it lapses after 90 days, and a run that clears no depth drops the agent to depth 1 the same day. That has its own procedure and should not be mixed into this one.
The procedure answers one practical question: what must happen, by whom, so that no held action is approved by someone whose credential has lapsed? For the reviewer's side of it, see what a lapsed certificate means for a reviewer.
Why write it as a procedure?
Because lapses are predictable and still cause trouble. Expiry dates are known months ahead, yet a team lead on leave, a renewal quiz left until the last day, or a register nobody checked can leave someone approving payments for a week on a lapsed credential. A written standard operating procedure makes the response automatic and gives an auditor something to test.
Place it next to your human oversight procedure, which says who reviews what. This procedure says what happens when one of those people stops qualifying.
How do you adapt it?
- Name roles, not individuals, as owners.
- Set the reminder points to suit how long renewal takes in practice.
- Decide whether any approvals made after the lapse date must be re-reviewed. The safe answer is yes.
- Decide how cover works when the person with a lapsed credential was one of two approvers on a high-value action.
The procedure template
| Step | Trigger | Owner | Action | Record left |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 60 days before expiry | Register owner | Notify the person and their manager; confirm renewal route | Reminder logged on the register |
| 2 | 30 days before expiry | Manager | Confirm renewal is booked; plan cover if not | Note on the register |
| 3 | 7 days before expiry | Register owner | Escalate any unrenewed credential to the head of the function | Escalation logged |
| 4 | Expiry day | Workspace admin | Suspend approval rights at the depths the credential backed; keep reading access | Rights change in the access log |
| 5 | Expiry day | Team lead | Reassign held actions in the person's queue to a certified colleague | Reassignment in the record |
| 6 | Within 2 working days | Team lead | Check for any approvals made after the lapse; re-review each | List of items and outcomes |
| 7 | On renewal | Register owner | Check the renewed credential at source; record number and new expiry | Register updated |
| 8 | After step 7 | Workspace admin | Restore rights at the same depths and limits | Rights change in the access log |
| 9 | If not renewed within 30 days | Head of function | Decide: remove approval role, extend support, or retrain | Decision recorded |
Two rules sit above the table. No grace period applies to approval rights. And where a two-person rule applies, the lapsed person cannot be either approver; the two-person approval procedure sets out how the pair is re-formed.
A worked example
Take a sample lender's refunds team of six. Values are illustrative.
L. Adeyemi holds a professional operator certificate that backs release of held refunds at depth 4 up to 2,000. It expires on 31 May. Step 1 fires on 1 April; the renewal update module is booked for mid-May. On 20 May she goes on unplanned leave and the renewal quiz is not taken.
On 31 May, step 4 suspends her depth 4 right. Reading stays on. Step 5 moves her eight held refunds to J. Moore, whose certificate is current. On 2 June, step 6 finds one refund she released on 31 May at 17:40, after the suspension should have applied but before the admin made the change. J. Moore re-reviews it, agrees with the decision, and both outcomes are filed.
On her return, she completes the renewal. Step 7 checks the new certificate at source on 10 June, and step 8 restores the depth 4 right that day. The register shows a ten-day gap with no unqualified approval left unreviewed. The longer conversation with someone who keeps lapsing is covered in handling a reviewer whose certificate has lapsed.
Where the Academy fits
Pryme Intelligence Academy certificates show their status at source: a lapsed or revoked certificate shows as such on the same VerifyDoc.ai page, so step 7 is a lookup by number or QR code. Renewal of the Certified Pryme Operator certificate is an update module and a short quiz, and the admin view shows expiry dates for the whole team. The guide to AI literacy and certification for people who work with agents has more.
Questions people ask
Can someone with a lapsed credential still draft or comment?
Yes, if your policy allows. The suspension applies to the approval rights the credential backed, so reading, drafting notes and training others can continue.
What if every approver on a shift has lapsed?
Held actions wait. That is the purpose of a hold. Escalate to the head of function to approve or to arrange a certified approver from another team.
Should the procedure apply to managers?
Yes, without exception. A manager's lapsed credential suspends the same rights as anyone else's, and the reassignment step names who covers.