Understand the topic workflow template

Inspire provides you with a template for the content development tasks you need to complete before translation or publication. This workflow is centered around the content and uses Activities, Workgroups, and Transition Actions to organize the development work.

If you want to start with nothing pre-defined, you can create a completely new workflow template.

  • To create a new component that has a type of Workflow, follow the steps in: Create a workflow template component.
  • You must define all your building blocks before you can create Activities and Transitions. Follow the steps in: Use the workflow editor.
  • You can use this topic to understand how a topic workflow template is built before creating your own from scratch.

If you want to save a copy of an existing workflow to edit, use Save As to create a copy to customize. Follow the steps in: Save a copy of a workflow template.

In this topic you can learn about:

Required permissions

You must have permission to work with workflow templates.

  • By default, only users with the following permissions can create project workflows and assignments:
    • Administrator permissions
    • Access to the Project Module with the Create permission
  • Even if you don't have these permissions, you can be granted a special permission to create workflows and project assignments after a project is created.

The default topic workflow template

Inspire provides default workflow templates in the Workflows folder.

If you move a workflow out of this folder:

  • It retains its file type of Workflow.
  • When you open the component, you can edit it in the workflow editor (not Oxygen).
  • You can select it when you're working in a project and click Create workflow.
  • To move a component, refer to the steps in Move components.

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.
  • Inspire checks to see if there is an Action assigned to the Transition. By default, there are no actions defined.

    By default, the user in the Writer Workgroup must manually create the review.

    • 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.

Users work on the Review Activity.

  • The workflow moves to the next Activity: Review.
  • The workflow has a Status of Reviewing.
  • The Reviewing activity must be assigned to a workgroup of users that have reviewing permissions.
  • 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: Reviewer and the coordinator.
  • All reviewers can edit the components at the same time.
  • All reviewers can see each other's comments.
  • The Activity ends when users in the Workgroup Reviewers or the coordinator completes their task.

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

  • If the users in the Workgroups: Reviewer or the coordinator select the next step to be Make revisions, Inspire moves the workflow back to the initial Activity: Develop Topic(s). The workflow starts again at step .
  • Inspire checks to see if there is an Action assigned to the Transition. By default, there are no actions defined.

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 checks to see if there is an Action assigned to the Transition. By default, there are no actions defined.

    If there are no Actions defined, the user approving the review must manually open the Review Approval screen and specify the appropriate components to be included in the approval.

    • To automate the process, you can add an Action to have Inspire perform part or all of the approval process.
    • Use the approval notification action (InspireCreateApproval). Inspire sends an email notification to each user in the Review workgroup (or the workgroup assigned to the previous user activity). The Review workgroup users can confirm if they want to include component references in the approval process.

      Add a Create Approval Action to a topic workflow template

    • Use the automatic approval action (InspireApprove). When the workflow advances to the Send for Approve Transition, Inspire automatically approves the components in the review. No referenced components are included in the approval and no user confirmation is required.

      Add an Inspire Approve Action to a topic workflow template

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

  • The workflow moves to the next Activity: Approve.
  • The workflow has a Status of Approving.
  • Inspire notifies the coordinator about the workflow's progress.
  • 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 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 checks to see if there is an Action assigned to the Transition. By default, there are no actions defined.

Inspire sends a notification to the Workgroup (Production).

  • The workflow moves to the next Activity: Produce Deliverable.
  • The workflow has a Status of Publishing.
  • Inspire notifies the coordinator about the workflow's progress.
  • 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

How you can customize it

You can update any existing workflow template in a workflow editor to create the workflow that your organization requires.

Workflow templates include building blocks that are added, configured, and connected to create a workflow process. You can customize one or all of these building blocks in the default template.

Workflow building blocks are unique to a template.

If you create or update one of these building blocks in a template, to re-use it in another template you must re-create it in that specific template.

If you want to save a copy of an existing workflow to edit, use Save As to create a copy to customize. Follow the steps in: Save a copy of a workflow template.

Customize Activities

Inspire workflow templates are designed around an Activity.

Workflow Activities are unique to a template.

If you create or update an Activity in a template, to re-use it in another template you must re-create it in that specific template.

Activities

Inspire workflow templates are designed around an Activity.

  • Each action step is an activity. For example, Review.
  • Activities are connected by transitions. For example, Send for Review.
  • By default, Inspire provides the following activities:
    • Write
    • Review
    • Edit
    • Approve
    • Publish

    You can create your own activities in a workflow if necessary.

Each activity includes the following information:

  • Name: Identifies one task to be completed in the larger workflow (for example, Second Review)
  • Status: Identifies the progress of the task (for example, Writing, Reviewing, Publishing)

    You can define your own Status when you create a new Activity. Manage activity status in a template.

  • Project Activity: Identifies the larger goal in a project (for example, Write Content, Approve Content, Edit 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, the Save and Submit options are not available until you correct the errors in the workflow template.

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

      You must correct any errors before you can Save or Submit the workflow template.

    You can define your own values for Project Activity. Manage workflow template activities

  • Initial or Final: Identifies the activity as the first in the workflow or the last.

    Only one activity can be marked as Initial or Final, so these checkboxes may be unavailable if an activity is already designated as one of these values.

  • Duration: Sets a deadline for the activity to be completed (in minutes from 0 to 525600 which is 1 year)

    By default, the user is given a Duration of 0 minutes to complete the activity, so you will need to set your own duration.

    Tips and tricks

    • When setting a duration in minutes, you can refer to these values:
      • 1 day = 1440 minutes
      • 2 days = 2880 minutes
      • 3 days = 4320 minutes
      • 4 days = 5760 minutes
      • 5 days = 7200 minutes
    • When starting a project workflow, the initial project assignment Due By date is set by adding the duration of the first activity to the current date.
    • As the workflow progresses and new assignments are created, each assignment gets its Due By date from the activity Duration
  • Claimable: Specifies that this activity can be set to a State of Ready to Claim. In this case, the activity is not assigned to one user but to a list of users who are notified that an activity can be claimed. The first user to claim the assignment completes the work.

    For more details, read:

  • Workgroups: You use these collections of users to identify a list of participants with a common skill or job title

    Inspire provides the following empty workgroups:

    • Writer
    • Reviewer
    • Content Owner
    • Publisher

    Tips and tricks

    • Workgroup participants complete activities in a workflow.
    • You can create your own workgroups.
    • You can assign workgroups to an activity to identify who needs to complete the work.
    • Workgroup participants are chosen from the list of users and roles included as a project participants.
    • You can add one or more participants to each workgroup.
    • The same participant can be added to multiple workgroups

Workgroups

You use these collections of users to identify a list of participants with a common skill or job title.

  • Workgroup participants complete activities in a workflow.
  • Every Activity in a workflow template must have a Workgroup assigned.
  • You must add at least one participant to each workgroup.
  • The same participant can be added to multiple workgroups.
  • When you start a workflow and select this template, you can assign tasks to the users in the Workgroups you create here in the template.

Workflow Activities are unique to a template.

If you create or update an Activity in a template, to re-use it in another template you must re-create it in that specific template.

If you are working on a template provided by Inspire, you may see the following empty workgroups:

  • Writer
  • Reviewer
  • Content Owner
  • Publisher

To add users or roles to a workgroup, you can update it.

To create your own workgroup for the template you are working in, use the Create option.

If you created a new workflow template component, you must create at least one Workgroup to assign to an Activity.

Transitions and Actions

When designing your workflow in a template, you connect your Activities with a Transition. Transitions can optionally contain an Action.

  • You use transitions to identify what should happen when a workflow Activity is completed. This is especially important if something needs to be done before the next Activity can begin.

    • For example, after a writer creates content, you can create a transition with a Name that specifies the files should go to an editor for review.
  • If there is also an Action that needs to be done, such as Take a snapshot, you can select from a list of Actions that have been created for this template.

Workflow Actions are unique to a template.

If you create or update an Action in a template, to re-use it in another template you must re-create it in that specific template.

Use the toolbar option to define Actions.

  • Create Inspire transition Actions. You can configure a workflow template to include Actions that Inspire runs automatically. These Actions must be pre-configured before you can select them on the Update Transition screen.
    • InspireCreateReview. When a user advances a project workflow Activity and the next Transition has an Action of InspireCreateReview, Inspire opens the Create Review screen for the current user. Any known information is pre-populated for the user. To create this action, follow the steps in: Add a Create Review Action to a topic workflow template.
    • InspireCreateApproval. When a user advances a project workflow Activity and the next Transition has an Action of InspireCreateApproval, Inspire sends an email notification to each workgroup user assigned to the workflow activity that triggered the Transition. To create this action, follow the steps in: Add a Create Approval Action to a topic workflow template.
    • InspireApprove. When a user advances a project workflow Activity and the next Transition has an Action of InspireApprove, Inspire automatically approves the source components associated with the workflow activity that triggered the Transition. This approval does not include component references and takes place without any user intervention. To create this action, follow the steps in: Add an Inspire Approve Action to a topic workflow template.

  • Manage your custom actions. You can create your own actions that Inspire does not perform but that tells the workflow user what to do next, such as hire a copy editor. Manage custom actions in the following ways:

Select an Action when creating or updating a Transition.

When a user completes a project workflow Activity and advances it to the next task, Inspire uses the Transition details to inform the workflow user what needs to be done next.