Comala Workflow
- Robert Alexander Marshall
What is a Comala Document Management Workflow?
A Comala workflow codifies a business or compliance process into
Workflow application
A Comala workflow manages the document development process in a Confluence space.
A workflow template can be applied to all the pages and blog posts in a space by a space administrator as a space workflow or individually to each page as a page workflow by a page editor (if there is no active space workflow on the page)
Only one workflow can be applied to a page or blog post. However, workflow application across all the pages in a space can be filtered by content label or content type allowing multiple workflows to be active in the space but applied to different documents.
States
These define the milestones (states) of your document management process.
In our example, the states in the workflow are the Draft and the Approved state.
Documents (blogs or pages) can only have a single workflow state applied at any time.
The current workflow state is displayed in the workflow status bar on the page with an applied workflow.
The workflow byline link is used to open the workflow popup.
The workflow popup is the main way an editor interacts with the applied workflow. This may include
transitioning the workflow state
approving or rejecting the content
assigning users to an approval
Transitions
These define the routes (the transitions) from one workflow state to another state in the workflow.
In our example workflow, there are two transitions
the Draft state has an approved transition to the Approved state
the Approved state has an updated transition to the Draft state
A transition is from one state to a destination state. A state may have more than one transition available.
Some transitions from the current state can be seen in the workflow popup.
For example, a user manually transitions the workflow to the destination state using a Submit button
Other transitions are undertaken by the workflow based on a workflow event
if a state has a content review, it has an approved transition and/or a rejected transition available in the state
the transition occurs based on the user review decision using the Approve or Reject option
Tasks
Workflow tasks provide similar functionality to Confluence tasks, however, workflow tasks are stored at page level.
Workflow tasks are managed using the Tasks popup on the page.
A workflow state must be configured in the workflow to
add tasks by the workflow, for example automatically on the transition to a state
be taskable, allowing a user to manually add a task when the workflow is in that state
Reviews
Content reviews are key events in the content production lifecycle, where reviewers check the content and decide whether it can progress to the next state.
A content review (approval) is added to a state and can be configured to transition from the current state when one or more users approve or reject the content.
You can
assign specific users as reviewers for each review
require a minimum number of approval decisions before the related approval transition takes place
allow the manual assignment of reviewers using the workflow popup
Events → Triggers → Actions
As users interact with content and the workflow, events are sent which can be used to trigger workflow actions.
Triggers and trigger actions can be used to augment the content production process, for example, to automate workflow transitions, to create custom notifications, or to complete tasks.
Workflow Templates
Comala Document Management workflows are scripted using macro notation, which is stored in a workflow template. Comala workflows can also be created and edited using the visual editing tool workflow builder.
Workflow templates can then be applied
to individual pages (in Page Mode) by a user on the page or blog post
or to all the documents within a space (in Space Mode) by the space administrator
Global administrators do not apply workflows. A global administrator manages the workflows available in the instance to be added to each space.
Workflow templates are stored in and can be added to the following Comala document Management dashboards
global workflows dashboard GLOBAL ADMIN
space workflows document management dashboard for each spaceSPACE ADMIN
page workflows templates dashboard for each space SPACE ADMIN
The page workflows templates dashboard is managed by the space administrator. This dashboard lists the workflows that can be added to individual pages in the space by a page editor (if page workflows are enabled for the space, and no space workflow is enabled for the space).
See: Templates, Macros, Examples
Custom workflows
You can create your own custom Comala Document Management workflow. The easiest way is to edit and customize an existing workflow.
A workflow can be created or an existing workflow edited in the workflow builder (or the markup editor).
The workflow builder (and the markup editor) is available in
If creating your workflow on a page, you can use the page tools menu to choose the starter workflow custom states workflow as a starting point to create a workflow for your needs.