Publishing an Event

The Publish Event tab of Sundial's Event Manager provides the tools necessary to manage the publication of an event to target audiences. It is composed of the following three screens:

• The Publish screen assists 1) event authors in determining the publication status of their event, 2) event suggestors in suggesting an event to target audiences, and 3) event approvers in managing the publication of an event to their target audiences.
• The Workflow screen presents the publishing workflow relationships between the audience(s) to which an event has been suggested and downstream audiences with which these audiences have publishing workflow relationships. The workflow screen additionally presents the current publication status of an event with respect to these audiences.
• The Log screen details 1) all publishing workflow actions initiated by suggestors and approvers, 2) publishing workflow actions made by Sundial's publishing workflow system, and 3) the implications of these actions.

The Publish Screen

The publish screen is an action list presenting target audiences, the publication status of an event to those target audiences, and the publication dates of an event. Three views of the action list assist in managing the publication of events to target audiences:

1. The Status view provides an overview of all target audiences to which an event has been suggested for publication and the present publication status of that event. As such, the Status view is a read-only view of publication status.
2. The Suggestible view lists all target audiences for which you have the ability to suggest an event's publication. Within this modifiable view, you can suggest an event's publication to audiences and retract an event from publication to target audiences. In suggesting an event's publication, you can additionally suggest a non-default set of publication dates.
3. The Decidable view lists all target audiences for which you have the ability to approve and manage an event's publication. Within this modifiable view, you can set and modify the publication status of an event, set the event's publication dates for a specific audience, and freeze or unfreeze a publication status.  Many of these actions can also be performed through the Publication Manager. LINK

Complementing the three views provided by the publish screen's action list are additional "Publication Status" filters which permit you to filter a view to target audiences for which an event has a certain publication status.

The Workflow Screen

The workflow screen graphically presents the workflow relationships between the audience(s) to which an event has been suggested and and downstream audiences with which these audiences have publishing workflow relationships. Additionally, the workflow screen presents the current publication status of an event with respect to those audiences.

At the top of the publishing workflow relationships graph is the event itself. Target audiences to which the event is directly connected are audiences to which the event has been suggested by individuals with the role of suggestor. Target audiences connected by information pathways downstream of these directly suggested audiences participate in publishing workflow relationships. Publishing workflow relationships are depicted by directional arrows demonstrating the flow of information between a source audience and a destination audience.

The color of a target audience depicts the publication status of an event with respect to that audience.

By clicking on the name of a target audience, you are taken to the publishing workflow log for an event. Within the publishing workflow log, all instances of the selected target audience's name are highlighted so you may more easily determine how an event's publication status was established.

You may view the publishing workflow rules relating two audiences by clicking the view rules link on the directional arrow connecting the audiences. When clicked, the publishing workflow rules that form the basis of the relationship between two target audiences are displayed in summary form.

The publishing workflow screen presents the publication status
and publication workflow for an event.

The Log Screen

The log screen presents a tabular record of all publishing workflow activities for a given event. As such it details the following:

• The initiating action which prompted the publishing workflow system's execution.
• The date and time of the publishing workflow system's initiation.
• The actions considered by the publishing workflow system, the action selected, and the reasoning behind why the action was selected.
• The publication status changes made by the publishing workflow system with respect to target audiences.
• The information pathways evaluated by the publishing workflow system.

Publishing workflow log records are grouped by timestamp of the initiating actions that prompted execution of Sundial's publishing workflow system. A grouping is referred to as a publishing workflow transaction. By default, the log is ordered from least to most recent. However, the log can be sorted to view actions from most to least recent by clicking the column sort feature of the "Initiating Decision" column.

The table is read top to bottom and left to right. The first column of a logged publishing workflow transaction presents the initiating action by a suggestor or an approver for a target audience that prompted the publishing workflow system's execution. Thereafter, line-by-line, the second column presents the publishing workflow system's actions and the third column presents these actions implications upon other target audiences.

The publishing workflow log screen of an event.