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Workflow Changes in Cascade Server 6.4
Thursday, April 8th, 2010 at 2:15pm -- Bradley WagnerBookmark and Share
We've made some changes to the Workflow functionality in the past few versions of the Cascade Server 6.4 series that we felt were worth an explanation.
Workflow inheritance and requirement
Before 6.4, the folder setting to inherit Workflows from parent folders was the same as the one that required Workflow. The options were "None Required", "Inherit from parent folder", and "Do not inherit". It was impossible to inherit Workflows but not require them in a particular folder.
As of Cascade 6.4, the settings are separate:
Workflow
This lets you define your Workflow inheritance and requirement separately. So if you want to use the same set of Workflows for a whole Site, define them once for the base folder, and set the other folders to inherit. If specific sections of the Site do not need Workflow, simply go to that folder and set Require Workflow to "No".
Workflow UI enhancements in the Edit screen
To help end-users use Workflow, we've made the Edit screen more intelligent. When the Folder and user's role requires workflow, but there are none available, the Edit screen lets you know by disabling the submit button and Workflow checkbox and giving you a helpful message.
Workflow
Workflow
Simplification through preference removal
Preferences are great for flexibility but can over-complicate the user experience. Cascade Server used to have a user preference that controlled whether or not the Workflow checkbox was checked by default if the user was capable of bypassing Workflow (Wow, that's a mouthful!). It was hard to explain what it did and hard to explain why it didn't appear for users with certain roles.
We removed this preference in 6.4.1 in favor of something more deterministic and, hopefully, simpler. The basic underlying rule is: if Workflow is applicable to the user in a Folder, they should probably use it, so let's encourage that by checking the Workflow checkbox by default.
The system follows a few rules in order:
1. If there are applicable Workflows for the user in the context Folder, the Workflow checkbox in the Edit screen is checked for assets in that Folder.
2. If there are no applicable Workflows, the checkbox is disabled completely (grayed out).
3. If the Folder or the user's role do not require Workflow, the user is allowed to uncheck the checkbox (if checked) and submit without Workflow.
4. If the Folder and the user's role require Workflow and there are no applicable Workflows, the submit button is disabled and the user is warned.
5. If the Folder and the user's role require Workflow and there are applicable Workflows, they are forced to use it so the checkbox is checked and disabled.
Remember, you can always go back to your edit if you inadvertently start a Workflow, and you can save your draft if you aren't able submit your edit. We hope these changes make Workflow more flexible and easy to use.
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