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Workflow Usage

Add a new object with workflow

This section only applies to custom models under workflow

Adding a new object with workflow enabled is much like the process without workflow, except that there are review/approval/publishing steps to follow.

In addition, if the option to Allow any User to Propose Objects is selected when enabling workflow, any user may propose an object.

Steps

  1. Sign in as a user which has Editor Workflow object role assigned for one or more terms or the glossary itself.

  2. Navigate to that object page of the glossary to place a object in the root, or to a parent you wish to place it under (contained by).

    This interface is simply the standard object page and all the same features are available.

  3. In the section for that object click the Create plus sigm.

  4. Enter the Name of the new object.

    You may check the box to Create another object to cause the New dialog to stay open for adding additional objects each time you click OK.

  5. Click OK.

  6. After creating, you must move the object through the workflow before the results are visible in the Published configuration.

Example

Sign in as Ed (the Glossary Editor).

Add the Account Number term to the Workflow Example Glossary.

The term is now in the Draft workflow state. In this state the editor may edit the term or START the REVIEW process.

Any User may Propose a Custom Model Object

This section only applies to custom models under workflow

If the option to Allow any User to Propose Objects is selected when enabling workflow, any user may propose a term.

The new term becomes a Candidate and will not be visible to the user who proposed the term until it is Published.

Steps

  1. Sign in as a user without any workflow responsibilities.

  2. Navigate to that object page of the custom model (e.g., glossary) you for which you wish to propose an object (e.g., Terms or Acronyms).

  3. Go to More Actions and select Propose > (object).

  4. Enter a NAME and DESCRIPTION.

  5. Click OK.

The new term becomes a Candidate and will not be visible to the user who proposed the term until it is Published. You may, however, review proposed objects.

Example

Sign in as Bob (which is a simply a Business User without any workflow responsibilities) and navigate to that object page of the Workflow Example Glossary.

Go to More Actions and select Propose > Term.

Enter "Proposed Term" for the NAME and "User Guide candidate term" DESCRIPTION

The new term becomes a Candidate and will not be visible to the user who proposed the term until it is Published.

However, sign in as Administrator and you will see the candidate term:

Review Proposed Custom Model Object Status

This section only applies to custom models under workflow

You may review the status of the object you have proposed to see where they are in the approval process.

Steps

  1. Sign in as a user without any workflow responsibilities.

  2. Navigate to that object page of the custom model (e.g., glossary) you for which you wish to propose an object (e.g., Terms or Acronyms).

  3. Go to More Actions and select Propose > My Current Proposed Objects.

The proposed object starts out as a Candidate and will not be visible to the user who proposed the term in any other way Published.

Example

Sign in as Bob (which is a simply a Business User without any workflow responsibilities) and navigate to that object page of the Workflow Example Glossary.

Go to More Actions and select Propose > My Current Proposed Terms.

Edit an object under workflow

Steps

  1. Sign in as a user with the Workflow Editor capability object role assignment on the custom model (glossary) where the object resides.

  2. Navigate to that object page of the custom model (glossary) or use the Grid Mode to edit the properties of the object (e.g., term).

    You may also use the My Workflow Tasks or My Changed Objects.

  3. When analyzing metadata in grid mode, one may bulk update any property associated with any of the rows (or list items in the list view).

  4. After editing, you must move the term through the workflow before the results are visible in the Published configuration.

    This interface is simply the standard object page and all the same features are available. However, according to the workflow steps one must first place the object in Draft status. To do so for an Approved object, click on the Create Draft button in order to allow editing. One may also create a new object which will be placed in Draft status using one of the methods below.

Example

Sign in as Ed (the Editor) that we assigned the proper responsibilities to the Workflow Example Glossary and search for Account Number and pick the term that is in this glossary.

It is in the Draft workflow state and thus ready for editing.

If you sign in as a user without workflow responsibilities to this glossary, the term will not be visible as it was never published.

Enter "General purpose account number for the finance domain" in Description.

Click the Create plus sign in the Contains section and pick Acronym. Enter "AcctNr" in the New Acronym dialog and click OK.

Click START REVIEW to move the term on through the workflow for reviewers.

Move an object through the workflow

Adding and editing an object with workflow enabled is much like the process without workflow, except that there are review/approval/publishing steps to follow.

Steps

  1. Sign in as a user with the Workflow Editor/Reviewer/Approver/Publisher capability object role assignment on the glossary (custom model) where the object (term) resides.

  2. Navigate to the object page of the object (term) or use the Grid Mode to update the workflow state of the object (term).

    You may also use the My Workflow Tasks or My Changed Objects.

  3. When analyzing metadata in grid mode, one may bulk update any property associated with any of the rows (or list items in the list view).

This interface is simply the standard object page and all the same features are available. However, according to the workflow steps one must first place the term (term) in Draft workflow state. To do so for an Approved object (term), click on the Create Draft to allow editing. One may also create a new object which will be placed in Draft state using one of the methods described.

Example

Sign in as Ed (the Editor) that we assigned the proper responsibilities to the Workflow Example Glossary and search for Account Number and pick the term that is in this glossary.

It is in the Draft workflow state and thus ready for editing.

If you sign in as a user without workflow responsibilities to this glossary, the term will not be visible as it was never published.

Click START REVIEW to go to the review step.

Enter a comment that is tied to this workflow transition.

The term (object) is Under Review.

Also, the next transition buttons (REQUEST CHANGE and RECOMMEND APPROVAL) are not displayed. This is because Ed is not a Glossary Reviewer.

To review, we should sign in as Robin, who is a member of the Glossary Reviewers. Please do so.

Click RECOMMEND APPROVAL to send it on to the approver, enter a comment and click OK.

Now, we should sign in as an approver. This time, however, after signing in as Administrator we will go to OBJECTS > My Workflow Tasks.

We see there are three objects to shepherd through the workflow, and we completely forgot about one of them, i.e., the acronym we created.

Let's deal with that acronym now as we are Administrator:

Click START REVIEW on the acronym, comment and click OK.

Click RECOMMEND APPROVAL on the acronym, comment and click OK.

Now, both the Account Number term and the AcctNr acronym are in the same status. Thus, we can work on them in bulk now.

Select both objects (lines) and click the More Actions in the 2 selected button

Click Edit, check the box next to Workflow transition, enter a comment and select Approve.

Click OK.

The parent object (the term) is ready to publish. The child object (the acronym) must await the publication of the parent.

So, click PUBLISH first on the term then on the acronym (refresh in between), and we are done.

Now the term is visible to Bob.

Move a child object to a new parent object with workflow

This section only applies to custom models under workflow

Moving an object (term) which can be a child to another parent is the same as for the case without workflow.

Before you Publish a child object (e.g., term contained within a term) or Approve if automatic publishing is enabled, you must first Publish the parent object. Thus, when adding an entire structure of objects under workflow and in a hierarchy, you must either Publish the parents first (and in order down the hierarchy) or select all using the bulk update and Publish all at once.

Deprecate a Custom Model Object Under Workflow

This section only applies to custom models under workflow

You may not simply delete an object. Instead, you must move it through the defined workflow process until it is Deprecated. The process is basically identical to the publication process, except that one marks the object (term) for deprecation by setting the Workflow Deprecation Requested under Attributes of the object (term) to "True" when editing the Draft.

When deprecating a term, all child terms must first be deprecated.

Workflow Actions Presented in Grid Mode

When analyzing metadata in grid mode you may include a special column Workflow Actions to display the possible workflow step-based actions available to you with the workflow object role assignments you have.

Please see the example under Move an object (term) through the workflow.

You may also update the Workflow Deprecation Requested settings in bulk in a worksheet.