Workflow Implications of Connected Postings

So far we've learned what connected postings are and how they operate inside CMS. In addition, we've explored how to create postings using the Web Author and the PAPI. Now we should cover some of the workflow implications of connected postings.

Throughout this chapter, we referred to or hinted at some of the unique workflow characteristics of connected postings. However, we felt it was important to provide you with a consolidated list of workflow implications.

  • Connected postings share content, so changes in one posting affect the other connected postings.

  • When a content state change in one posting occurs, all connected postings reflect the same status.

  • Connected postings will follow the workflow path of the channel where the authoring takes place. For example, in our BOTS site, we created a new press release in our press section. Since we have an editor defined in that channel, when the author submits the content for approval, the state of the posting changes from Saved to WaitingforEditorApproval. Now, suppose we created a connected posting in the Careers channel, which doesn't happen to have editors defined. If, when we created the connected posting, we changed the content and subsequently submitted the change for approval, the posting would immediately go to Waitingfor ModeratorApproval instead of to editor approval. Why? Well, as we mentioned, the Careers channel does not have an editor defined, so the default behavior for content submissions in that channel would be to go to the moderator if page properties need to be defined (as they would with a new posting) or straight to Approved if no moderator approval is necessary. If, however, we didn't make any content changes while we were in the Careers channel and, instead, went to the Press channel to make our changes and then submitted those changes for approval, our posting would go to WaitingforEditorApproval as expected. So, based on the channel and the defined groups for that channel, connected postings may follow different workflow paths.

  • Connected postings share certain page properties. In Figure 15-10 we show the page properties interface for two connected postings. The "connected page" icon is shown next to each property that the postings will share. The properties that aren't shared can be changed independently and follow different workflow paths. Shared properties will affect all postings and subsequently affect the page status of each connected posting.

    Figure 15-10. The page properties interface for connected postings

    graphics/15fig10.jpg

  • If a content contributor edits a posting that has connected postings, all connected postings will be locked by that contributor.



Microsoft Content Management Server 2002. A Complete Guide
Microsoft Content Management Server 2002: A Complete Guide
ISBN: 0321194446
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 298

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