Why is my request policy superseded?
The request policy editor warns that a policy is superseded by another policy when it believes the policy can never change an outcome: another published policy already covers the same people and the same products, with an approval at least as strict. You can still save it.
What an employee may request is set on their entitlement. See How is requestability decided? for how request policies relate to it. This article explains the warning for anyone still editing a policy directly.
In this guide
What the warning checks
It compares your policy with every other published policy and warns when one of them:
- matches everyone yours matches,
- allows every product yours allows, and
- has an approval at least as strict.
It is conservative about the first point: it only claims another policy matches the same people when it can prove it — a company-wide policy, or identical targeting.
When the warning is wrong: hardware categories
For hardware, Velory decides approval per item, and a policy that names the item's category beats one that covers all hardware — even if the catch-all is stricter. Strictness only decides between policies that are equally specific. See Who approves a request?.
The warning does not know this. It compares strictness alone, so it can call a category policy superseded when it is not.
Example: your company has "All hardware — Manager approval" for everyone. You create "Peripherals — Instant access", naming the mice and keyboards categories. The editor may warn that the new policy is superseded. It is not: for a mouse or a keyboard, the policy that names the category wins, and those items are approved instantly.
When the warning is right
- Software policies. Approval for software is decided across all matching policies, and the strictest wins. A software policy that grants nothing new and approves more loosely than a policy covering the same people changes nothing.
- Hardware policies that cover all hardware. If your policy names no categories, and another policy for the same people names no categories either and is at least as strict, yours changes nothing.
What to do instead
- To relax approval for some people: take them out of the stricter policy's audience — switch it from company-wide to groups that leave them out. For hardware, naming the categories in your policy also works.
- To grant more: widen your policy's products or categories beyond what the other policy allows. The extra items become requestable.
- Neither: the policy is redundant. Delete it, or keep it as a draft.
Good to know
Does priority decide which policy wins?
No. Priority only breaks ties between policies that are equally specific and equally strict.
Do draft policies supersede anything?
No. Only published policies count, and a draft or archived policy affects nothing.
The warning is missing. Is my policy working?
Not necessarily. The warning only appears when Velory can prove a policy has no effect. See How do I check what a change would give people?.
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