Policy templates use {{variable_name}} placeholders that are automatically replaced when rendering a policy preview or generating a PDF. Missing values appear as highlighted [VARIABLE NAME] markers in draft previews so you can easily identify what needs attention.

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How Variables Work

1

Auto-Resolution

When you preview or download a policy, LowerPlane fetches your organization details, security roles, and active integrations to fill in placeholders automatically.
2

Manual Overrides

Any auto-resolved value can be overridden per-policy via the policy editor metadata. Overrides take precedence over auto-resolved values.
3

Missing Value Handling

Unresolved placeholders appear as [VARIABLE NAME] highlighted in yellow during draft preview. In approved documents and PDFs, they appear as plain text without highlighting.

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Organization Variables

These are resolved from your organization settings (Settings page).

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Framework & Integration Variables

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Date & Version Variables

These are set automatically and always have values.

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Security & Compliance Defaults

These always have hardcoded defaults and will never show as missing. Override them per-policy if your organization uses different values.

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Security Role Variables

These are resolved from your Security Roles assignments (Personnel > Security Roles). If a role is assigned to a person, their full name is used. If not assigned, the variable shows as a highlighted placeholder.
Custom security roles are also supported. Any role added to Security Roles automatically generates a variable using the pattern: role name in lowercase with spaces replaced by underscores, followed by _name. For example, Network Engineer becomes {{network_engineer_name}}.

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Overriding Variables Per-Policy

You can override any auto-resolved variable for a specific policy:
  1. Open the policy in the editor
  2. Go to Policy Settings or Metadata
  3. Add custom placeholder values
  4. These overrides take precedence over the auto-resolved defaults
Common overrides include data_retention_period (some policies require different retention than the default), review_frequency (critical policies may need quarterly review), and classification (some policies are “Confidential” rather than “Internal”).

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Missing Value Display

Review your policy preview before submitting for approval. Highlighted placeholder markers indicate missing values that should be filled in — either by assigning the relevant security role or by adding a manual override.