Workflows configuration
Workflow configuration is possible only through Dataedo Portal for Admin users.
For your convenience Dataedo offers a default workflow, but additional, custom workflows can be set up for all manual objects (terms, domains, and lookups) based on your organization’s needs. You can manage and edit existing Workflows from Settings>Catalog Settings by choosing the Workflows tab.
Default configuration
The default Workflow consists of seven predefined statuses with default settings determining who’s allowed to set a certain status, view objects with a given status etc.
All of these parameters are customizable and can be adjusted according to your organization’s needs.
The parameters are displayed in an order which can be changed by dragging and dropping a selected column. The parameter's order should mimic your organization's desired Workflow.
Default statuses
The seven predefined statuses and their purposes are:
- Idea --> status meant for objects which are not yet established. It is meant to be a first, conceptual stage of your workflow. Once the work on operationalizing this object starts, it can be moved to the next status.
- In definition --> status denoting "work in progress". Meant for objects which are being worked on, before the results can be presented for authorization.
- For review --> status for objects awaiting review and approval from the relevant Assignee. After review, an object should be set to either Ready to Publish, Rejected or sent back to in definition depending on the outcome.
- Ready to publish --> status for approved objects, which are yet to be released. Helpful if your workflow predicts scheduling or batch releases of objects.
- Published --> status for objects which have been published. By default this is the only status which makes objects visible to Viewers.
- Rejected --> status for objects that have not been accepted by the reviewers, and are deemed non-compliant.
- Obsolete --> status for objects which are no longer in use or relevant. Applying this status to your object will make it invisible to Viewers, but it will remain in your system for archival purposes.
Workflow configuration and managing parameters.
A workflow consists of a set of statuses. You can freely add or remove them to mirror your organization's work process. Each status, be it default or custom-defined, has seven parameters. Their roles are explored in more detail below
Name & description
These two parameters are purely descriptive and help you establish clear roles for each status within your Workflow. Name should be a unique identifier of the status and description shall contain its purpose.
Visible for non-editors
This parameter defines whether an object in a given status is visible for users without edit permission. If this parameter is set to No, objects in it won't be visible to users without Edit permissions. A practical implementation of this parameter involves drafting — objects that are still a work in progress won't be visible to the Viewers until they are finished and moved to a status with Visible for non-editors enabled.
Usually, each object's visibility is based on its own workflow status. There is, however, an exception in Domains. If a domain's status claims it is not visible to viewers, all its nested areas will be hidden as well.
Who can set this status?
This parameter lets you restrict the ability of setting a certain status to a select group of users. Restrictions can be defined by a role, user group, or a Custom Field (of type User) which can be assigned to a selected person. For example, you can allow only certain authorized persons to publish Terms.
Multiple rules can be defined. Users who match at least one of these rules will all be able to set this specific status.
Users who don’t match these rules will not be able to set a given status. They will see the status name grayed out with a tooltip mentioning lack of permissions.
Assignee
Assignee is a user (or multiple users) who is assigned to move the object's status further. The Assignee of a status does not necessarily have to be the User setting a status. Users marked as assignees will also see objects in a given status assigned to them in the Steward Hub. They will also be notified about an object they should take care of (perform action and move it to the correct status).
Note that in our default configuration some statuses have Unassigned in the Assignee column. It means that no further action is required after the object is Published or Rejected.
CTA text in Steward Hub
This parameter defines the text visible in the navigation tree of the Steward Hub. Ideally, it describes the action that should be taken with an object in a given status. For example, when an object is in status Ready to publish, our default CTA says Approve, and for objects in For Review, the action is Review and so on.
Color
This parameter affects the color of a dot which will be displayed next to a given status in the Steward Hub. We recommend that the colors follow a color legend denoting the "position" of a given status within the Workflow.
Adding and removing statuses
You can add as many statuses to your workflow as needed. To do so, use the Add status button and configure it. New statuses are added at the end of the statuses list by default.
You can also remove statuses. Deletion can be requested after clicking on the three dots icon on the right of a status and pressing the Delete button.
It can happen that there are some objects in the status that is about to be deleted from Your Workflow. To prevent any errors, you will be asked to select a new status for those objects.
Approver role
Dataedo offers the Approver role. This role’s intention is to allow bigger organizations to enable two-step approvals based on the user role. So a configuration could be made, where only users with the Approver role are allowed to publish objects so that they are visible to all the viewers in the application.
