Understand the topic workflow

Required permissions

To create, view, update, and delete workflows you must either be an Administrator, the project Owner, or have the following permissions:

• Create, read, update, and delete permissions to the Projects module.
• For the Projects module, your user account must be listed under the following Property: can_initiate_assignment.
  • If you are an administrator, refer to Allow users to create project assignments and workflows.

To work with Review workflows, you also need:

If you try to assign work to a participant who doesn't have access to the component, you will see a warning.

• The warning tells you the name of the restricted component.
• The Workflow is still started. You can change the permission, participant, or the component to resolve the conflict.
• For details on how to set permissions, refer to: Set permissions.

Users must be project Participants to start a project workflow.

To start a topic workflow, the Inspire template requires you to enter the following information:

A template. Inspire provides you with a Topic Workflow template or you can create your own.

Workflow Details.

• Workflow Name. By default includes a prefix of the template name. You can add a word or phrase after the prefix that uniquely identifies the workflow or delete the prefix and enter your own title.
• Workflow owner. This is set to the name of the user starting the workflow. This setting cannot be changed.
• Due By date and time. If the template you selected includes Duration times for any of the activities, those times are added up and used as the default value in Due By. You can add more time by extending the due date out, add a new due date if there is no default, or leave this value blank.

Initial Task details.

A Task can be configured as claimable.

1. If it is, after Task, you see that label (Claimable).
2. If a Task is Claimable, the user you select in Assign To is notified to start the work. However, all other users in the Assign To list receive a notification and can become the assignee if they claim the work before the user you select.

• Task. You need to know which activity you want to start with. In the default Topic workflow template provided by Inspire, this is the Develop Topic(s) activity.
• Assign To. You need to know which user in your list of project participants that you want to complete the first step in the workflow.
• Due By date and time. If the template you selected includes Duration time for the selected Activity (Task), that times is used as the default value in Due By. You can add more time by extending the due date out, add a new due date if there is no default, or leave this value blank.
• Description. Optionally, you can add any details about the workflow.
• Note: Optionally, you can enter additional guidelines such as what needs to be completed before the first task is done.

(Optional) Components.

• If you are developing new topics that haven't been created yet, you can leave the Components section blank.
• You can also add any existing components.
• The components can be used at any step of the workflow, not just for the initial task.
• New components can only be added to an assignment in a workflow.

  You cannot add components to the entire workflow process after you create the workflow. There is no option to do so on the Update Workflow screen.

• Inspire checks to see if the components you want to add are in another assignment, project workflow, or review workflow. Therefore, you might see a warning if a component is already in use.

After you click Start, Inspire uses the process that you configured in the selected template.

The default topic workflow template provided by Inspire uses the following process::

Inspire sends a notification to the Workgroup (Writer).

• The workflow starts with an initial Activity: Develop Topic(s)
• The workflow has a Status of Writing.
• By default, the user is given a Duration of 0 minutes to complete the activity, so you will need to set your own duration. After the Duration passes, if the activity is not complete, it is marked as Overdue and notifications may be sent depending on a user's notification preferences.

  You set the time in minutes from 0 to 525600 which is 1 year.

• Inspire checks out any attached components to users in the Workgroups: Writer and the coordinator.
• The notification contains a link to edit the components.
  • You can see the notification on the Notification tab.
  • You can also see the notification by going to your email Inbox.
• The Activity ends when users in the Workgroup Writer or the coordinator completes their task.

Inspire moves the workflow to the Transition: Send for Review.

• Transitions connect activities and tell Inspire what to do next. They are shown in small rectangular boxes.
• When users in the Workgroup Writer or the coordinator marks their task as Complete, then Inspire moves the workflow to the next Activity: Send for Review.
• Inspire checks in the changes to the components or adds the new components to the workflow.
• Inspire notifies the coordinator about the workflow's progress.

  By default, the Send for Review Transition from the Developing topics Activity to the Reviewing content Activity is completed manually by the user in the Writer Workgroup.

  • To automate the process, you can add an Action to have Inspire open a new Create Review screen automatically.
  • The Create Review activity must be assigned to a workgroup of users that are review coordinators.
  • If you want to automate the process of creating a review, you need to add one Activity and two Transitions to your topic workflow.
  • To learn more about this automated workflow, read: Add a Create Review Action to a topic workflow template.

After the Review activity is completed, Inspire evaluates the first transition.

Inspire evaluates the second transition.

• If the users in the Workgroups: Reviewer or the coordinator select the next step to be Send for approval, Inspire moves the workflow to the next Activity: Approve.
• Inspire notifies the coordinator about the workflow's progress.

Inspire sends a notification to the Workgroup (Content Owner).

• The workflow moves to the next Activity: Approve.
• The workflow has a Status of Reviewing.
• By default, the user is given a Duration of 0 minutes to complete the activity, so you will need to set your own duration. After the Duration passes, if the activity is not complete, it is marked as Overdue and notifications may be sent depending on a user's notification preferences.

  You set the time in minutes from 0 to 525600 which is 1 year.

• Inspire checks out the files to users in the Workgroups: Content Owner and the coordinator.
• The Activity ends when users in the Workgroups: Content Owner or the coordinator selects marks their task as Complete.

Inspire processes the next transition (Send to Production).

• When users in the Workgroups: Content Owner or the coordinator complete their task, Inspire moves the workflow to the linked Activity: Produce Deliverable.
• Inspire notifies the coordinator about the workflow's progress.

Inspire sends a notification to the Workgroup (Production).

• The workflow moves to the next Activity: Produce Deliverable.
• The workflow has a Status of Publishing.
• By default, the user is given a Duration of 0 minutes to complete the activity, so you will need to set your own duration. After the Duration passes, if the activity is not complete, it is marked as Overdue and notifications may be sent depending on a user's notification preferences.

  You set the time in minutes from 0 to 525600 which is 1 year.

• Inspire checks out the files to users in the Workgroups: Production and the coordinator
• The Activity ends when users in the Workgroups: Production or the coordinator selects marks their task as Complete