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Using Workflow

How to control access and manage permissions on your content.

When Web Content Goes Wrong

Have you ever assigned someone to create content for a few web pages and later discovered they did something like this?

for use at http://weblion.psu.edu/services/documentation/bootcamp-beginners/workflow. it is meant to illustrate how web content can go very, very wrong. as of the time of this screenshot, this site really exists: http://www.angelfire.com/super/badwebs/.

(Yes, this is a real site. At the time of this screenshot it lived at angelfire.com/super/badwebs.)

Workflow Can Solve Quality Control Issues

  • Reviewer vets content before publication.
  • Can fix content or send it back for revision.
  • Prevents bad surprises.

Plone's Default Workflow States

In Plone's default workflow a content item can be in one of three states:

for use at http://weblion.psu.edu/services/documentation/bootcamp-beginners/workflow.

... and What they Mean

  • Private: Visible only to those logged in.
  • Pending (Pending review): Reviewer publishes or sends back to author.
  • Published: Publicly visible.

The State Menu

It's easy to tell the state of an item in Plone by looking at the State menu when logged in:

shows state menu with private as the current state.

Develop the habit of checking the state menu when working with content. Content types will not appear for the public on your website unless they are published.

Let's take a closer look at how these states work...

Workflow States and Navigation

When you are logged in, you will see this same color coding in navigation and folder listings, such as in this folder_contents view:

shows workflow cues (color coded) in contents_view navigation. this is an example of how states are shown in navigation when you are logged into a site.

Non-authenticated users (those not logged into your site) will see only published items.

Reviewing Content Before it Goes Public

Individuals whose job it is to check content before it is published have the role of Reviewer in Plone.

When content providers are ready to have their work checked, they Submit for publication. The content is now Pending review.

In Plone's default workflow, if you are not a Reviewer (or site Manager), you cannot publish your own content.

a content provider can submit for publication a piece of content to the editor (or site manager). it is now pending review. for use at http://weblion.psu.edu/services/documentation/bootcamp-beginners/workflow.

From Pending Review to Published

If content that is pending review needs no further changes before going public, the Reviewer can Publish it.

content provider has submitted content for review. reviewer publishes content. for use at http://weblion.psu.edu/services/documentation/bootcamp-beginners/workflow.

Reviewers Can Publish Directly

Reviewers (and site Managers) can publish their own content. They do not need to submit it for publication.

someone in the reviewer or manager role creates and publishes a content item.

Sending Pending Content Back

The Reviewer can send back to the author content that needs more work before it's ready to be published.

reviewer (or manager) sends a content item back for revision.

Sending Published Content Back

The Reviewer also can send published content back to the author for revision. The author then must submit it for publication after revising.

a reviewer (or manager) sends back content directly published by someone with a reviewer or manager role. for use at http://weblion.psu.edu/services/documentation/bootcamp-beginners/workflow.

Retracting Content that is Pending

The author of a content item can decide it needs more work and retract it from the pending state. The author must then submit it again when he/she feels that it is ready.

a content provider retracts a content item from pending review so that he/she can continue working on it. for use at http://weblion.psu.edu/services/documentation/bootcamp-beginners/workflow.

Retracting Published Content

The author (or the Reviewer) also can retract published content.

a reviewer (or manager) retracts content from the published state.

Problems

This workflow may serve your site well if you want to vet each new piece of content before it goes live. For many organizations, that's important.

However, on a lot of sites, it is too restrictive.

For one thing, workflows requiring content to be retracted before editing can lead to puzzling and inconvenient experiences for users. If published content is retracted, end users landing upon it will face a login prompt!

And consider this question: Is it necessary within your organization to check every news item, event, and page on your site before it is published? If so, do you have a team that will handle this so that no one individual becomes a bottleneck?

The reality is, overly busy content editors and site managers can end up becoming click monkeys—they resort to clicking Publish without checking content just to keep information moving through the publishing cue.

So to summarize, workflows requiring all content to be reviewed before publication and retraction of live content for editing can present the following issues:

  • Too restrictive for many sites.
  • Non-authenticated users may attempt to navigate to retracted content.
  • Reviewers can turn into click monkeys.

Sometimes Simpler is Better

If you don't want to be a click monkey, and you don't want to inconvenience users by retracting live content, a much simpler workflow may work better for your site:

workflow: simplified

In this workflow, anyone with permissions (see Users, Groups, and Permissions) can publish content. Content can be edited while published, and anyone with permissions can retract content when it is no longer relevant.

You may also want to maintain a stricter workflow on web pages but have a simpler workflow for news items and events. Work with your site administrator to put in place the workflow that best serves your web presence.

CMF Placeful Workflow

Plone comes with a workflow policy tool called CMF Placeful Workflow. This tool makes it possible to set up different workflows on different areas of your site.

With this tool, you can

  • Set up workflow policies on a folder-by-folder basis.
  • Create an Intranet, Extranet on your site.

Activating CMF Placeful Workflow

CMF Placeful Workflow is listed with Add-ons in Site Setup. Check the box next to it, and click Activate to make it available on your site:

shows workflow policy product installed on site.

Viewing Workflow Policies

Once CMF Placeful Workflow is installed, look for the Workflow policies link under the Add-on Configuration heading on the main Site Setup page. This link leads you to the prefs_workflow_localpolicies_form:

shows available workflow policies listed in site setup.

This shows the policies available site-wide. You can also use this form to add custom policies (we'll cover how to create a custom policy in Workflow Management).

Applying a Policy to a Folder Using CMF Placeful Workflow

Supposing you want to create an Intranet within your site. First, create a folder for your Intranet. Then, using the State menu on that folder, select Policy:

shows 'policy' item in state menu.

Selecting the Folder's Policy

You can then select Intranet as the policy for this folder and folders beneath it (any folders contained within your Intranet).

shows workflow options for setup within a folder on a site.

Other Tools for Monitoring Content

Plone provides a number of tools that can help you to monitor content activity on your site. Consider using these tools in conjunction with workflow:

  • Groups, and Permissions: Control who does what, and where.
  • Content Rules: Notify yourself and others of additions, modifications, deletions...
  • Recently Modified (/recently_modified): Built in collection that tracks content activity.
  • Collections: Set up your own to track specific activity.

Some Final Advice

  • Start simple.
  • Add restrictions as needed.
  • Make the best use of the other tools.
  • Train and document how your content should be managed.
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