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Managing active workflow Processes

The list of Active Processes shows you all Processes currently in progress within Content Manager. You can also revert or force-finish any of these Processes, if you have sufficient rights to do so.

Before you begin

To manage workflow Processes, you must have System Administrator privileges or Workflow Management rights. With Workflow Management rights, you can perform these actions only on items that are in Publications for which you have the right.

Procedure

  1. Access the Content Manager Explorer website.
  2. Select Administration > Workflow Management > Active Processes.

    The list view displays the Processes currently active in Content Manager, along with the following properties:

    Applied to
    The item to which this Process Instance is being applied. If this item is a Bundle, the Process is being applied to all the items in the Bundle as well.
    Process Definition
    The Process Definition on which the Process is based.
    Publication
    The Publication in which the Process Definition exists.
    Started on
    The timestamp of the moment at which the Process started.
  3. For active Processes, you have the following options:
    • Revert a Process — Select (Revert Process). You will need to confirm that you want to undo all changes made since the Process began. All items that are part of this Process return to their original state, as if the Process was never initiated.
    • Force-finish a Process — Select (Force Finish Process). You will need to confirm that you want to finish the Process, even though its items are still in progress. Also, if the Process Definition allows for multiple Approval Status values, under Approval Status, select the Approval Status that you would like the items to have. All items that are part of this Process are placed in the Process's final state, skipping any intermediate states, and given the specified Approval Status.
    • View more details about a specific Process — Double-click the Process.

      A new dialog opens showing 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:

      Description
      A description of what this activity entails.
      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 is still in progress, the name of the user who is currently performing the activity. If the activity is completed, the user who most recently performed the activity.
      Assigned on
      A timestamp representing the moment at which the activity was assigned, immediately after the previous activity finished.
      Due date
      If the activity has a Started state, the moment at which the activity is (or was) expected to be finished. If the due date has already passed, the date and time are displayed in red.
      Started on
      If the activity has a Started or Finished state, a timestamp representing the moment at which a user picked up the activity.
      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.
      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 regarding the previous activity, typically intended as instructions to the current activity owner.
      Note the following:
      • If the primary item is a bundle, it will appear first in the list followed by all the items in the bundle.
      • Each related item can be opened directly from the list so that you can view the item and perform the requested task.

      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.