Hello,
Our client is looking into the Workflow Process Management (WPM) module, which adds the Projects feature to the CMS application. But we got a few questions beforehand:
#1:
We were wondering if it was possible to disable specific document types from being used with the WPM module. For example we have a custom 4-eyes workflow (and only scheduled publications) for a document type, we don’t want editors to be able to add these documents to a project. So is there any way to exclude document types from the WPM?
#2:
We noticed on cms.demo.onehippo.com that you can’t add image sets and assets to a project. How would the workflow for an editor look like when for example an asset needs to change within a project / campaign? Do they need to create a new asset, and refer to that one instead (manually change all the links…) - Same counts for images. Is there any chance image sets and assets will be added to the WPM lateron?
#3:
Is it possible to automatically publish (merge) a project on a specific time?
Kind regards,
Dennis Nijssen
Hi Dennis,
#1:
Excluding certain document types from WPM is currently not supported.
#2:
Images and assets do not have workflow. That is even the case without the projects feature. The (technical) reason is that, unlike documents, images and assets are usually cached (in reverse proxies and CDNs). Due to this caching it is not possible to take them offline anymore after publishing. This also means that you cannot replace an asset or image with a project specific one. Instead, you need to create a new asset/image for the project. Long story short supporting images/assets workflow is technically challenging.
#2:
Scheduled merging is not supported. Just like in e.g. git the application might encounter a merge conflict. Merge conflicts can only be resolved by a human. If the merge would be scheduled then the project might fail to merge. That’s probably not what you want to happen. For running you project as a campaign however you don’t need any merges. Scheduled start/stop of campaigns is planned for version 13.1.
Kind regards,
Michiel Eggermont
michiel_eggermont
January 16
Hi Dennis,
#1:
Excluding certain document types from WPM is currently not supported.
#2:
Images and assets do not have workflow. That is even the case without the projects feature. The (technical) reason is that, unlike documents, images and assets are usually cached (in reverse proxies and CDNs). Due to this caching it is not possible to take them offline anymore after publishing. This also means that you cannot replace an asset or image with a project specific one. Instead, you need to create a new asset/image for the project. Long story short supporting images/assets workflow is technically challenging.
I think on images and assets it is not so much workflow that is most
important as already indicated above by Michiel as well : taking an
image offline doesn’t mean much with browser caching and CDN support.
What however is quite easy to support is including an image/asset to a
project, and only serve the image/asset once the project (campaign)
goes live or when it is merged back. That in general would result I
think in the behavior most customers would want. Would that also be
working for you Dennis?
#2:
Scheduled merging is not supported. Just like in e.g. git the application might encounter a merge conflict. Merge conflicts can only be resolved by a human. If the merge would be scheduled then the project might fail to merge. That’s probably not what you want to happen. For running you project as a campaign however you don’t need any merges. Scheduled start/stop of campaigns is planned for version 13.1.
Once we have scheduled campaigns which we are working on now, you can
in the future obtain the required behavior by scheduling the project
start date, and after that, do a manual merge when a webmaster is back
in the system (cms)
HTH
Regards Ard