CMS 2005: Meta Data and Workflow
In addition to category and type
information, System 7 CMS also associates metadata with content. This metadata
includes created, published and withdrawn dates, which can be used, for
example, by websites that only wish to display content at the appropriate
moment and for the appropriate duration. In addition to these special dates,
and some other optional information such as focus codes and search tags, System
7 CMS also provides each item of content with a workflow status code.
A range of standard workflow status codes
can be assigned to content, including “Draft”, “Waiting for Approval” and
“Published”, but publishers can also create their own special codes, such as,
for example, “Waiting for John’s Approval”. Typically, only content that has
the “Published” code will appear within syndication channels, and the other
codes provide the basis of the workflow that occurs before it is published.
System 7 CMS content stores provide a facility that makes it very easy to
retrieve a list of all items with a particular status code, and thereby
identify content at a particular lifecycle stage.
For example, imagine a situation where
new articles inside a particular content store must be Okayed by an editor and
then be proof read before appearing on client websites. When a journalist saves
a new article, it will automatically default to “Draft” status, but might then
be set to “Awaiting Johns Approval” (where John is the editor). At any point,
John is able to quickly see which articles are waiting for his approval, and
might then change their status to “Needs Proofing”. Once the article has been
proof read, and its status changed to “Published”, it will then be visible to
syndication channels. Using this straightforward process, a wide variety of
workflows can be implemented.
 next
|
