4. Setting Up Editorial Workflows and Meeting Types

Now that you have added your tasks, costs and statuses, you are ready to start configuring your Editorial module's workflows. Note that this is an optional step and is not necessary for the overall use of the module - though there are certainly benefits to implementing it into your system!

The workflow feature allows you to manage the information stored, and functions available for your projects, depending on where they sit within your Editorial pipeline. For example, a title that is very early in the process may simply have the basic information collecting tabs visible, and may have fewer users able to edit the project. As the title progresses, you may wish to start storing chapter level information, or linking the project through to a Contract in the Rights or Royalties modules. This function also allows you to limit what the next steps can be for a project; if a project is at the decision to publish stage, you may only want it to be able to then be either 'approved' or 'cancelled'. Finally, this function allows you to manage permissions throughout your Editorial project, limiting what statuses are available at each stage and who has the ability to change them. Workflows are also useful for streamlining your Editorial meetings setup within Stison, which this article will also cover. 

It is worth noting that you do not have to use the workflow function, to use the meetings function. Whilst the workflow and meetings functions interact, you can use the meetings independently.

Configuring your Workflows 

At the bottom of the Editorial Admin menu, you will find the Editorial Workflow item. Select it to be taken to the following screen, which will be empty if you have not yet started configuring your workflows: 

Select the blue Create New button, as highlighted above, and you will be shown the following: 

Give a name to your workflow in the Workflow Name field, eg. "reprint" or "new title". Then, you can start filling out the Statuses you would like to be associated with this workflow. The dropdown menu will be populated with items that you created in Editorial Statuses. 

The Visible Tabs menu can be used to select which tabs you would like to be visible in an Editorial project that has this particular workflow applied. For example, if you only choose three tabs from the dropdown, only three tabs will be accessible when a project is in that particular status, as shown below: 

The Allowed Next Status dropdown allows you to choose which statuses are available to select in an Editorial project's Title tab. In the following example, you can see that if a "New Title"  has the "Acquisitions Meeting" status applied, it will only be able to be moved to the "Cancelled" or "Contract Meeting" statuses. 

You also have the ability to configure which groups have permission to make changes to the status of titles within the workflow. More information about group permissions can be found here. 

From the Prod. Meetings dropdown menus, you can select which Editorial Meetings you would like to be associated with each status in the workflow. This means that when you create new meetings of a certain type, the list of titles to be discussed will automatically populate with those of the associated status. In the example above, when you create an 'Acquisitions Meeting', all titles in the 'New Title' workflow that are set to the status 'Acquisitions Meeting', will populate that meeting record.

Configuring Editorial Meeting Types

Meeting "types" can be created to organise your recording of meetings in Stison. They are linked to the workflow functionality in that once you select a meeting type within the Meetings menu, the system will pre-populate the list of titles to discuss based on their Editorial status and workflow. 

Navigate to the Meeting Types section within Editorial Admin and you will come to the following screen, which will be empty if you are yet to create any meeting types: 

Select the blue Create New button to be taken to the following screen: 

Fill out a name for your meeting, eg. "Acquisitions Meeting", and click on the blue Create button to save your meeting type.  

Once this meeting type is saved, you will be able to select it from the available list when creating a new meeting in the Meetings menu, as shown below: 

This will pre-populate the meeting with a list of titles that saved under the associated status in the workflow that you set up earlier. 

Now that you have finished configuring your Editorial module, you are ready to add a new project!