Workflows

Business rules and process

AEM Workflow provides a way to collaborate, manage, and process content in AEM. Workflows allow for automation of AEM actions such as Publish, delete, locking, and so on.

Workflow tools manage active workflows, archive history for auditing, and include a WYSIWYG workflow editor tool. You can see a visualization of the "Require reviews/approvals" workflow in the following image.

Business Rules and Process

Workflows typically include steps that require a person to perform an activity on a page or asset.

The workflow selects a user or group to perform the activity and assigns a work item to that person or group. The user receives notification and can then take the appropriate action.

Types of steps

Automated steps

  • AEM performs the step
  • Triggers the next step

Manual steps

User/Group is notified of the assigned step.

Requires a user to take an action:

  1. Complete
  2. Delegate
  3. Step Back

Workflow with and, or options

Workflow with and option

An AND Split workflow allows for execution of all branches of the workflow that are configured in parallel. The workflow proceeds to the next step only if the execution of all branches is completed. For example, you can allow certain review steps to occur in parallel, which helps save time during the review by allowing two reviewers to work at the same time.

Workflow with or option

The OR Split allows you to introduce a conditional path processing in your workflow. The decision is based on the result of the Routing expression.

Workflow actions

Notifications

  • Quickly access a newly assigned step/task or view all assignments in the inbox
  • Only steps/tasks assigned to the current user or a group they are a part of are displayed

Inbox actions

AEM’s Inbox facilitates greater collaboration and visibility into tasks and workflow. The Inbox’s Calendar view tracks projects and tasks in a time-based view for easier project management and scheduling.

With Calendar view, the user has overall visibility over projects and tasks that are in progress, planned, due soon, and past due.

Workflow actions in page editor

When editing a page you can select Page Information from the toolbar. The dropdown menu has the option Start in Workflow. This option opens a dialog where you can specify the required workflow, together with a title if required.

In the next lesson, you'll learn how to duplicate a page to save time.

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