Workflows, stages and actions

Workflows, stages and actions
To create a workflow, you will need to understand the roles of workflow actions, workflow stages and workflows.

Workflows
A workflow controls the access to an item, its verification and eventual approval. A workflow comprises one or more stages. Before an item can appear on website, it must pass through a series of stages.
Only if an item is accepted at all stages prior to entering a stage with a publish action can it be published. If the item is rejected at any stage, someone with edit access needs to correct or amend the item and resubmit it into the selected workflow (for approval). All items that are rejected (regardless of the stage they are at in the approval process) are sent back to the first (creation) stage of the workflow.
Workflows must have a minimum of one stage. Only linear workflows are allowed. A reject stage may be specified, which is a stage that is executed when a document is declined, before moving it to the first stage of the workflow. You can also specify that a comment must be entered on every move a document makes in the workflow or only on specific Stages. This comment is added to the document's history section.

Workflow stages
Workflow stages are the building blocks of a workflow. You need to create at least one stage before you can create a workflow. Stages determine:

What actions to execute when entering or exiting a workflow stage

The access levels of users or groups within that stage.

In most cases, actions are run when entering a stage. For example, you add a scheduled move action to run on entering a stage so that it is enabled as soon as an item enters that stage. However, if you set a scheduled move action to run on leaving a stage, it will never run. The most common type of actions to run on leaving a stage are email actions, when you want to notify users that an item has left a workflow stage, or custom workflow actions that have been designed to run a task when an item leaves a stage.
Some actions need to be run in a specific order. For example:

A scheduled move action must always be the final action in a workflow stage, because any actions scheduled after a scheduled move action will not be run.

You cannot run a version action before a publish action because you cannot save versions of draft items.

If using a custom action, you may want to run the custom action before executing an email action so that the draft content item is in a state ready to be reviewed by an approver.

The access settings defined in the properties section of the workflow stage form are the security settings applied to items during a workflow, not the Security section of a workflow stage. The Security section only defines who has access to the workflow stage item itself.

Reject stages
In addition to the workflow stages that make up a workflow, there are also workflow stages that are used as part of rejecting an item. When an item is rejected, a reject stage can be triggered that executes pre-defined actions. Once the actions have been executed, the item is returned to the first stage of the workflow.

Workflow stage actions
Each stage contains sets of actions; those that are executing when entering the stage and those executed when exiting the stage. The exit actions are restricted to non-scheduled actions, since they must be executed immediately.
Table 1. Workflow stage actions

Action Details
Publish Changes an item's Status from Draft to Published. This means the item is available on the rendered site.
An item will only be published once it has entered a workflow stage containing a publish action, and when the selected published date and time has been reached.
Expire Changes an item's Status from Published to Expired. This means the document is no longer available on the site.
An item will only be expired once it has entered a workflow stage containing an expire action, and when the selected expired date and time has been reached.
Email This sends emails when executed. You can create new email actions and specify who the recipients will be. You can select to email approvers, authors and owners. You can also create a list of other users or groups to email.
A link to the Item to be reviewed is included in the email.
Scheduled Move Performs a scheduled move to the next stage on a specified date. A list-box will allow you to select one of four date types that are entered on each individual document, or you specify a static date.
Version This will create a version of an item when executed.
Custom You can also create custom workflow actions by creating a custom workflow plug-in. These can be used and scheduled within a workflow like other workflow actions.

Parent
Work with workflows

December 14, 2011

Apr 1, 2011 1:26:17 PM

});

+
Search Tips | Advanced Search

Action	Details
Publish	Changes an item's Status from Draft to Published. This means the item is available on the rendered site. An item will only be published once it has entered a workflow stage containing a publish action, and when the selected published date and time has been reached.
Expire	Changes an item's Status from Published to Expired. This means the document is no longer available on the site. An item will only be expired once it has entered a workflow stage containing an expire action, and when the selected expired date and time has been reached.
Email	This sends emails when executed. You can create new email actions and specify who the recipients will be. You can select to email approvers, authors and owners. You can also create a list of other users or groups to email. A link to the Item to be reviewed is included in the email.
Scheduled Move	Performs a scheduled move to the next stage on a specified date. A list-box will allow you to select one of four date types that are entered on each individual document, or you specify a static date.
Version	This will create a version of an item when executed.
Custom	You can also create custom workflow actions by creating a custom workflow plug-in. These can be used and scheduled within a workflow like other workflow actions.