Introduction to Sundial's Publishing Workflow

Sundial is a content management system for event information. It aggregates event information from distributed sources. Once collected, this event information can then be published to target audiences via Sundial's publishing workflow.

Sundial's publishing workflow provides a rules-based, information approval system for the publication of events to target audiences. Before an event is viewable to others, it must be approved for publication to them by 1) people given responsibility for what is published to a certain group or 2) rules established for Sundial's publishing workflow system which automates the distribution and publication of events.

Target Audiences

Target audiences are a defined population or intended group to which certain events are published. Target audiences can be defined in two ways:

• Closed audience

  A closed audience is one where a known set of members are defined. The known set of members are said to have a "member" role with respect to the target audience. Information published to a closed audience is only viewable to members of that audience.

  For Sundial to know whether a person is a member of an audience, the person must first authenticate via an authentication system known to Sundial. The authentication system requests information of the person (e.g. a username and password). If the person is able to provide appropriate information, the authentication system tells Sundial whether the person is who they say they are. If the person is so authenticated, and is a member of a target audience by virtue of their membership within a security group given the "member" role, they are able to view information published to the closed audience.

• Open audience

   

  An open audience is a target audience whose members are any viewer of Sundial's event information. An open audience is defined by providing the special group, Public/Everyone, a "member" role for that audience. Events approved for publication to an open audience are viewable to the world. A viewer need not authenticate to the calendar to view events published to this audience.

Publishing Workflow Roles

In order to structure how information is reviewed for appropriateness prior to its publication, Sundial's publishing workflow defines three roles:

• Event Authors

  Quite simply, event authors are those who are recognized users of Sundial with the ability to create new events or modify existing events. Recognized users are those who have accounts with the Sundial system. Through event authors can create & modify events, they do not necessarily have the ability to suggest an event for publication to a target audience.

• Event Suggestors

  On a per target audience basis, Sundial administrators can confer on a group of users the role of "suggestor" for a given target audience. Event suggestors have the ability to suggest an event for publication to one or more target audiences. When an event is suggested for publication to a target audience, it enter's Sundial's publishing workflow system. Dependent upon publishing workflow rules established for a target audience, upon suggestion 1) a request may be made for the event's review and approval for publication or 2) the publishing workflow system may make immediate publication decisions.

• Event Approvers

  On a per target audience basis, Sundial administrators can confer on a group of users the role of "approver" for a given target audience. Approvers are responsible for the appropriateness of event content published to a target audience. Dependent upon publishing workflow rules established for a given target audience, approvers will either be notified of actions taken by Sundial's publishing workflow system or asked to review an event prior to its publication. In all cases, event approvers should monitor the actions of the publishing workflow system and what is published to their audiences.

The above roles are not mutually exclusive.

It is a best practice that calendars sourcing event information from Sundial request only events that have been approved for publication to a set of target audiences. This ensures that events have been reviewed and approved for publication by members of a defined security group bearing responsibility for that which is communicated to a target audience. The approval granted should indicate that the event and its information is appropriate for the target audience and is consistent with the marketing/communications strategies as well as the style guidelines for a target audience. At the very least, the publishing workflow's information approval process is designed to minimize error by providing an opportunity for more eyes to get things right.

The Publication Approval Workflow Process

When one suggests an event for publication to a target audience, it enters Sundials' publishing workflow system. For each target audience, it is determined what role you have with respect to that audience.

• If you are an approver for a given target audience, Sundial's publishing workflow system does the following:

  • Places the event within the target audience's publishing queue and set its publication status to approved. The event is immediately available to those calendars which source events published to this target audience.

  • Notifies those who are members of security groups with the approver role for the target audience that the event has been approved for publication.

  • Notifies event authors who hold the "event owner" privilege for an event that the event has been approved for publication to the target audience.

  • Determines further implications of this publication decision upon audiences related to this audience via information pathways.

• If you are a suggestor for a given target audience, Sundial's publishing workflow system does the following:

  • Places the event within the target audience's publishing queue and sets its publication status to pending approval. The event is not available to calendars sourcing events published to this target audience.
  • Notifies those who are members of security groups with the approver role for the target audience that an event is awaiting their review and a publishing decision.

  • Notifies event authors who hold the "event owner" privilege for an event that the event is pending approval for publication to the target audience.

  • Determines further implications of this publication decision upon audiences related to this audience via information pathways.

Based upon an individual's user preferences, notifications are sent to their registered e-mail address, Sundial's internal message center, or both.

At any time, an event author can retract an event from publication to a target audience or delete an event.

 

• Retraction: When an event is retracted from publication, it is no longer available to those calendars which source events published to affected target audiences. Events should be retracted only if they are no longer appropriate for a target audience. Retracted events may be suggested for re-publication.

• Deletion: When an event is deleted is not only no longer available for publication, its is permanently removed from the calendar system. Events should be deleted only if they have not yet been published.

It is a best practice that an event be cancelled by setting its status to cancelled once approved for publication to a target audience. This is because the event is then known to event viewers who will find it confusing if the event is retracted from publication or deleted from Sundial.

If an event is pending approval within the publishing queue of a given target audience, an approver must logon to Sundial, review the event, and make a publication decision. It is a best practice for approvers to not only review events set to pending approval, but publishing decisions made by the automated actions of Sundial's publishing workflow system. At any time a user within the approver role for a target audience may make the following publication decisions for events within the target audience's publishing queue:

Publishing Decision	Effects of Publishing Decision
Approve	The event's publication status is set to "Approved" for the target audience. Regardless of whether the event is later modified, the event will remain available to calendars sourcing events published to this target audience. Event authors who hold the "event owner" privilege for an event are notified that the event has been approved for publication to the target audience. Approvers for the target audience are notified that the event has been approved for publication to the target audience. The publishing workflow system determines the implications of this publishing decision upon audiences related to this audience via information pathways.
Conditionally Approve	The event's publication status is set to "Conditionally Approved" for the target audience. So long as the event is not modified, the event will remain available to calendars sourcing events published to this target audience. If the event is modified, the following will occur: The event will be retracted from publication to the target audience. The event's publication status will be set to pending. Approvers for the audience will be directed to review the event prior to approving it again for publication. The publishing workflow system will determine the affect of such an event on audiences related to the affected audience by way of inforamtion pathways. Event authors who hold the "event owner" privilege for an event are notified that the event has been conditionally approved for publication to the target audience. Approvers for the target audience are notified that the event has been conditionally approved for publication to the target audience. The publishing workflow system determines the implications of this publishing decision upon audiences related to this audience via information pathways.
Queue	The event's publication status is set to "Queued" for the target audience. Though the event is not approved for publication and not available to calendars sourcing events published to this target audience, the approver indicates their decision to publish the event at a later date. Event authors who hold the "event owner" privilege for an event are notified that the event has been queued for later publication to the target audience. Approvers for the target audience are notified that the event has been queued for later publication to the target audience. The publishing workflow system determines the implications of this publishing decision upon audiences related to this audience via information pathways.
Decline / Retract	The event's publication status is set to "Declined" for the target audience if the event has not yet been published. The event's publication status is set to "Retracted" for the target audience if the event was approved for publication. If retracted, the event is no longer available to calendars which source from this target audience. Event authors who hold the "event owner" privilege for an event are notified that the event has been declined for publication or retracted from publication to the target audience. Approvers for the target audience are notified that the event has been declined or retraced from publication to the target audience. The publishing workflow system determines the implications of this publishing decision upon audiences related to this audience via information pathways.

A diagram of the full publication approval workflow appears below.