Customize the building blocks for a topic workflow template

Required permissions

You must have permission to the Projects Module to work with projects and workflows. Other than that, you do not need special permissions to create, edit, or delete workflow templates.

However, keep in mind that administrators and other users can set permissions on components and folders.

• You must have permission to edit the workflow template component.
• You must have folder permissions where the template is stored.
• For details on how to check and set permissions, refer to: Set permissions

For a complete list of permissions, including starting a workflow from a template, read: Workflow permissions.

Tips and tricks

• You can create an entirely new workflow template component that has no default Activities and Transitions.
  • Use the Topic workflow template explained in this topic as an example of what you can create.
  • To create a new template, follow the steps in: Create a workflow template component.
• If you aren't sure what specific options you might need before creating a workflow, you can add new ones at any time.
• For Activity configurations, you should build the options you need for Status, Project Activity, and Workgroup.

  

  • Status. You track the progress of a content development Activity by assigning it a Status. By default, Inspire includes the following statuses: Writing, Reviewing, and Publishing. You can customize this list.
    • After you use the workflow editor to create a new Status or update an existing one, that status is unique to the template you're working in. If you want to use the new or updated Status in another template, you have to re-create it in that specific template.
    • To create or update a Status in a template or for an Activity, follow the steps in:
      • Add a new status to a workflow template
      • Edit a template status
      • Update an activity's status
      • Delete a template status
  • Project Activities. Every project assignment and workflow activity must be associated with a category that defines the work. By default, Inspire includes the following categories for Project Activity: Approve Content, Edit Content, Publish Content, Review Content, Review Image, and Write Content.

    Project Activity is a required field and cannot be left blank. Although this field is not marked with a red asterisks, and you can create a new Activity without selecting a Project Activity, if you leave it blank, you will see an error when trying to Save or Submit the workflow template.

    • If there is an error in the configuration of the Activity, you see the Activity name in red.

      

    • Project Activities are configured by Administrators outside the workflow editor.
    • After a project activity is created or updated, it can be used across all templates.
    • If you are an administrator, follow the steps in: Manage project activity configurations.
  • Workgroups. You must have a list of users who can complete the work for a project Activity. For example, if the activity is a legal review, you would create a workgroup that includes your company lawyers.
    • After you use the workflow editor to create a new Workgroup or update an existing one, that group is unique to the template you're working in.
    • If you want to use the new or updated Workgroup in another template, you have to re-create it in that specific template.
    • To add or remove users in the Workgroups or create new groups, follow the steps in:
      • Create a new template workgroup
      • Edit template workgroups
      • Delete an existing workgroup
      • Update an activity's workgroup
• For Transition configurations, you should build the options you need for an Action.
  • You create a Transition in the following ways:
    • Use an Activity's title bar and select the Create Transition option
    • Copy and paste an existing one and then edit it
  • Actions you identify are normally completed by the user who is advancing the workflow when they mark a task as Complete.
  • After you use the workflow editor to create a new Action or update an existing one, that Action is unique to the template you're working in. If you want to use the new or updated Action in another template, you have to re-create it in that specific template.
  • Currently, there is a limited list of automated Actions that can be performed by Inspire.

    • InspireCreateReview

      • By default, the 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 and populate any known details so that the workflow user can quickly create the review and advance the workflow to the next stage (Reviewing).

      • This Action is only available in the Topic Workflow template.
      • You must configure it exactly as described in: Add a Create Review Action to a topic workflow template. Otherwise, Inspire won't understand the Action as an automated process.

    • InspireCreateApproval

      • This action is meant to be used on an inbound transition (From).

      • When a workflow is advanced to a new task that has this action, the user is prompted to include referenced components.

      • After that prompt, a notification is sent to all users in the workgroup for the task and then the workflow advances to the next task.

      • You must configure it exactly as described in: Add a Create Approval Action to a topic workflow template. Otherwise, Inspire won't understand the Action as an automated process.
    • InspireApprove
      • This action is meant to be used on an outbound transition (To).
      • When a task is completed with this action, the components are approved.
      • If Electronic Signature is turned on, the user is asked to add their signature.
      • You must configure it exactly as described in: Add an Inspire Approve Action to a topic workflow template. Otherwise, Inspire won't understand the Action as an automated process.
    • InspireCreateTranslation
      • This action is meant to be used on an outbound transition (To).

      • When a workflow is advanced from a task to a transition that has this action:

        • If a workflow has more than one component, the user can select what to translate. For example, the workflow might contain maps, topics, images, and PDFs, and the user wants to translate only the map.

        • If a workflow has more than one component, the user can choose if they want to create a single job or multiple jobs.

        • The user is shown the Translate component screen.

      • Inspire uses the Activity workflow details to populate the following information: Name (uses the Component name), and Components.

      • The user can add, edit, or simply verify these details and click Queue or Translate.
      • Inspire then creates the translation job and either puts it on hold in the queue or prepares the files to send to an integrated vendor or method.
      • Inspire advances the workflow to the next task (such as Translating).
      • You must configure it exactly as described in: Automate translation in a workflow template. Otherwise, Inspire won't understand the Action as an automated process.
  • You can also manage actions in the following ways:
    • Create an action in a template
    • Add an action to a transition
    • Remove an action from a transition
    • Edit a template action
    • Delete a template action