Can an Author choose a custom workflow like Managers can?

Ben Breakstone

I was discussing the standard publication process and workflows with a client the other day and this question came up. When a folder Author publishes a content item, is there a way for them to choose to which workflow the item is routed?

Authors don't have the same choices about who should review their work that Managers do. Managers can choose to publish an item immediately or route it through a workflow of their choice, whereas Authors can only submit an item for publication and let the site's configuration determine where it should be routed.

When an Author publishes a content item, notification is sent to everyone who has the Manager role in the item's folder. You can narrow it down by assigning one or more Folder Reviewer. If a folder has at least one Reviewer, notifications for new items will be sent only to Reviewers.

The other way you can change which Managers are notified is to assign a default workflow for a content type. When a new content item of that type is submitted by an Author, it will be routed to the assigned workflow. Notifications will be sent based on the steps in the workflow.

Neither of these mechanisms gives the Author a choice about which Managers will be notified. In the first case, the notifications are sent based on which folder the item is in, and in the second they're sent based on its content type. The implication is that your roles and content types should be configured to delegate authority based on where an item is being published and what kind it is.

If it is appropriate for a person in your organization to choose who reviews their work, perhaps it would be appropriate to grant them the Manager role.

Message was edited by: Ben Breakstone (last sentence changed for accuracy)

jmcgough

True, and this is by design. The idea is that Authors do not need to worry about (or have much say in) what happens to their content once it's submitted. They only need to care about the fact that someone (a Manager) has configured the folder (or the content type) to submit the item to an appropriate publication approval process, and the Manager has made sure the right admins are notified (as folder reviewers or custom approval workflow task assignees). The system will tell the Author the names of those individuals getting assigned the approval task, but not allow them to change that process.

By contrast, if an organization wants the submitter to have some control over who gets to review and approve the content, then the right configuration would be to make the submitter a Manager, and allow the submitter to choose from a set of custom approval workflows in the submit/publish step.

It would be possible to change product behavior so that Authors can see and choose from custom approval workflows... but our position is that this would add needless complexity and also introduce the risk of non-Managers approving content (since you don't have to be a Manager in the relevant folder to complete an approval task in a custom approval workflow).