Workflow tab of an item subject to workflow

If you open an item that is subject to workflow in Content Manager Explorer, the Workflow tab of the item dialog gives you information about the workflow properties of the item.

The following types of items have a Workflow tab:

  • Components
  • Pages
  • Component Templates
  • Page Templates
  • Template Building Blocks
  • Bundles

If the Workflow tab shows only the text Approval Status: followed by a value, one of the following is the case:

  • If the value is Undefined, the item is not subject to Workflow at all.
  • If the value is Unapproved, the item has either completed at least one Workflow Process, which did not assign any Approval Status to the item, or it has never entered a Workflow Process.
  • If the value is neither Undefined nor Unapproved, the item has completed at least one Workflow Process, which last assigned the Approval Status you see to the item.

If the Workflow tab shows a History of Activites area in the top half and an Activity Details area in the bottom half, then the item is subject to workflow and currently in a Workflow Process.

You see the following:

History of Activities

A list of the Activities of this Process. If the item has already gone through and finished a Workflow Process in the past, you see a dropdown from which you can select previous finished Workflow Processes.

The History of Activities area shows the following properties per Activity:

<Icon>
If the icon shows a green checkmark, the Activity has finished; if not, it has not finished yet.
Name
The name of the Activity, preceded by a number of indicate which step in the Process this is. (The number is useful to distinguish, say, a first review Activity from a second review Activity.)
Owner
The User currently performing the Activity. If this is empty, the item has been assigned, but not picked up yet.
Assigned To
The Group or User to whom this Activity is or was assigned.
Approval Status
The Approval Status of the item after this Activity has finished.
Activity <number> <name of Activity>

This area shows the properties of the currently selected Activity. The area label is the word 'Activity', followed by a number to indicate which step in the Process this is, followed by the Activity name. (The number is useful to distinguish, say, a first review Activity from a second review Activity.)

You see the following Activity Details:

Name
The name of this Activity.
Description
A description of what this Activity entails.
Task Name
If this Activity is applied to a type of item, the name of that item; if this Activity is a Task, the name of the Task.
Process Definition
The name of the Workflow Process Definition that this Activity belongs to.
Approval Status
The Approval Status determines whether or not the item(s) associated with this item can be published to a specific Target Type.
Assigned to
The Group or User to which this Activity was assigned.
Performer
If the Activity has a Started or Finished state, the name of the User who is currently performing (if Started) or has most recently performed (if Finished) the Activity.
Assigned on
A timestamp representing the moment at which the Activity was assigned, immediately after the previous Activity finished.
Started on
If the Activity has a Started or Finished state, a timestamp representing the moment at which a User picked up the Activity.
Finished on
If the Activity has a Finished state, a timestamp representing the moment at which a User finished the Activity.
Previous Activity Message
A message provided by the User who finished the previous Activity in this Workflow Process, typically intended as instructions to the current Owner.
Time Spent
If the Activity has a Finished state, the amount of time that has passed from the moment the Activity was first assigned, to the moment a User finished the Activity.
Publication
The Publication that contains the item(s) involved in this Activity.
State
The state that the Activity is in: Assigned, Started, Failed, Suspended or Waiting for Workflow Agent.

The Related Items area shows the list of items associated with the current Activity.

If you select an item, you can do the following:

Preview
Preview the item in a new dialog.
Open
Open the item for editing in a new dialog.
Compare
If you also select two Activities from the History of Activities list, Compare shows you how the selected item changed between those two Activities. This button is disabled if Content Manager is not configured to save snapshots of the item you selected.