Add a workflow to a single page

Overview

Any individual user with Edit permissions in a space can choose to add and apply a Comala Document Control workflow to individual blogs or pages.

Add and apply the workflow

On a page, choose Page Tools and Add Workflow... :

Ensure the Apply only to page option is highlighted and choose Next:

The dialogue box will display the available choice of installed workflow templates to add and apply to the page.

Highlight one of these workflows and choose Apply:

The workflow will be applied to the current page.

If the workflow requires parameters to be setup, for example the Content Expiry Workflow asks the user to set an expiry period for the published content, these may need to be added or changed:

A screen notification confirms that the Comala Document Control workflow has been successfully applied to the content. The page sub-title will show now include the status indicator circle for the state and the state name:

The content is now considered as draft content and is in the default initial workflow state: the Review state. Only users with Edit or Admin permissions will be able to view the page or blog post.

Workflow states

The workflow added will consist of a number of different states depending on the choice of workflow template.

The three workflows available are:

• Simple Approval Workflow
• Content Expiry Workflow
• Quality Management System Workflow

There are different transitions that can occur between each of the three states depending on the activity. Some states in a workflow may have a content review, with different destinations for the approve and reject decisions. There are also automatic transitions on editing and updating a page or blog post.

In the Content Expiry Workflow there is an automatic transition from the published Approved state after a set time period (starting from the time the page transitioned to the Approved state):

Approve the content

By default, any user with Edit permissions can undertake any content reviews (the approval) in a workflow state to approve or reject the page or blog post. This is done through the workflow popup:

The content review (approval) is usually characterised by two buttons "Approve" and "Reject". Approving or rejecting the content will cause the page or blog post to transition (move) to another state in the workflow. The reviewer has the option to Add comment. The comment will be included with any notifications of the approval.

The workflow added above is the Content Expiry Workflow. In the Review state for this workflow:

• an approval decision will publish the content to the Approved state, allowing users with View permissions to view the page or blog post
• a rejection decision will move the content to another draft state, the Rejected state

The workflow progress tracker bar does not show the Rejected state except when the workflow is in the Rejected state:

Content in the Rejected state is also subject to a content review. A rejection decision does not cause a transition - although it is recorded as an event in Page Activity. If the page is edited and updated, the workflow will cause a transition from this state to the Review state.

Published content

The Approved state is the published version of the page or blog post. In the published Approved state the workflow popup displays a message confirming the content has gone through an approval process:

Once a version of the content has been approved, this published page or blog post can be seen by View-only users. 

If you are working on a draft, the published Approved version will still be available. View-only users will not be able to see any versions that are considered as draft, these are versions in either the Review or the Rejected states.

The popup also includes the time period for the content expiry from the time of transition to the Approved state. This is the time period set in the workflow setup, the workflow popup displays the time remaining to the due date.  It can be amended by a user using the Page Tools menu. If another version is approved and published before due period expires this time period will be reset.

Assign a reviewer

One or more users can be assigned to undertake the content review. Simply choose +Add Reviewer, search and assign a reviewer:

Once a reviewer is assigned to a content review, the approve and reject buttons in the popup for that content review will be disabled for all other users including those with Admin permissions. However, a user with Space Admin privileges can unassign the review and assign another user as a reviewer.

If specific reviewers are required for a content review they will need to be re-assigned to the content review each time the workflow state occurs.  An exception is in the Quality Management System Workflow, where the reviewers are assigned by the workflow from the values of user of group parameters defined on initial workflow setup or updated by space admins.

Each content review can have more than one assignee. Simply choose +Add Reviewer, search and assign another reviewer. Multiple reviewers for a content review all need to agree on the review decision before a transition will take place.

The assignee's avatar will be added to the workflow popup.

Allowing use of page workflows in a space

For a user to add and apply a workflow to a page in a space: 

• the addition of page workflows must be allowed in global configuration for the space
• no unfiltered space workflow must be enabled for the space.