Manage a Publish Approval Process

You can integrate a Salesforce approval process with OrchestraCMS to control the publication process for your pages and content.

By enabling an approval process in OrchestraCMS:

• Content creators can have the freedom to work at their convenience, while being required to send pages and content for approval before they are published.
• Content managers or other designated approvers can manage their approval tasks, review pages and content, and approve or reject pages and content directly from the OrchestraCMS interface.
• System administrators and site administrators can determine who has permission to publish outside of the approval process.

Setting up an approval process requires configuration in Salesforce and in OrchestraCMS.

Configure an approval process in Salesforce

There are many different ways that you can structure an approval process in Salesforce. Read the Salesforce documentation to learn how to create an approval process that meets your business requirements.  

Set up an approval queue

Setting up an approval queue is only required if you want approval requests to be assigned to a group of approvers, and an approval is only required from one person in the group. Any step of your approval process can involve assigning approval requests to a queue, but it does not have to be the only step.

To set up an approval queue in Salesforce

1. In Salesforce Setup, expand Manage Users, and then click Queues.
2. On the Queues page, click New.
3. In the Label box, provide a descriptive name for the approval queue, and the Queue Name box will be automatically populated.
   
4. From the Available Objects list, select Approval (Installed Package: OrchestraCMS) and click Add to move it to the Selected Objects list.
   
5. In the Queue Members area, add members to the queue to meet your requirements. You can add users by or individual user records—OrchestraCMS does not support the addition of public groups or roles.
6. Click Save.

Create an email template

As part of setting up your approval process, you can configure email alerts to be sent each time an approval is assigned to a new user or queue. For example, a content creator submits a page for approval, and the content manager (the designated approver) receives an email with a link to the page in OrchestraCMS that requires approval.

Before you can set up approval assignment email alerts, you must have an email template that you can use for this purpose. You can add a merge field to the email template to insert a link to the content item or page that requires approval.

To create an approval assignment email template

1. In Salesforce Setup, under Administration Setup, expand Communication Templates, and then click Email Templates.
2. Click New Template.
3. Complete the required steps for your email template, and select the Available For Use check box so you can associate the email template with your approval process.
4. Optionally, insert a link to the item that requires approval by doing the following:
5. In the Available Merge Fields area, from the Select Field Type list, select Approval Fields.
6. From the Select Field list, select Detail Link.
7. Copy the value from the Copy Merge Field Value box and paste it into the location that you want the link to appear in your email template. You can use other merge field values to personalize the emails that are sent.
8. Save the email template.

Set up an approval process

The following procedure includes the basic steps required to set up an approval process that can be used with OrchestraCMS. Other settings, approval steps  and actions can be customized.

When an approval process is enabled in OrchestraCMS, we highly recommend that all actions related to the approval process are completed from the OrchestraCMS interface. From there, users can send items for approval, approve or reject items, and manage approval-related tasks.

• Keep in mind the following when creating a publishing approval process for OrchestraCMS:
• Approval requests can’t be recalled through OrchestraCMS.
• A user can’t manually select an approver through OrchestraCMS.
• Queues that are used as part of the approval process can’t have users added by public groups or roles.

To create a publishing approval process in Salesforce

1. In Salesforce Setup, expand Create, and then expand Workflow & Approvals.
2. Click Approval Processes.
3. From the Manage Approval Processes For list, select Approval.
4. Click Create New Approval Process and then click either Use Jump Start Wizard or Use Standard Setup Wizard.
   
5. Follow the remaining steps to create your approval process. Go to the detail page for your approval process. You might be directed there automatically after creating your approval process, or you can go there any time from Salesforce Setup by doing the following:
   • Expand Create, and then expand Workflow & Approvals.
   • Click Approval Processes.
   • From the Manage Approval Processes For list, select Approval.
   • Click the name of your approval process.
6. In the Final Approval Actions area, click Add New, and then click Field Update.
7. Enter a name for the field update in the Name field, and the Unique Name field will be automatically populated.
   
8. From the Field to Update list, select Status.
   
9. In the Specify New Field Value area, click to select A specific value, and then select Approved from the list.
   
10. Click Save.
11. In the Final Rejection Actions area, click Add New, and then click Field Update.
12. Enter a name for the field update in the Name field, and the Unique Name field will be automatically populated.
    
13. From the Field to Update list, select Status.
    
14. In the Specify New Field Value area, click to select A specific value, and then select Rejected from the list.
    
15. Click Save.
16. Add approval steps and other actions as required for your approval process.
17. After your approval process is completed, click Activate. You need to complete this step before “Activate” is available.
    

Consider the following tips for building an approval process:

• The initial entry criteria for the approval process should include all records; for example, the entry criteria can specify that records should enter the approval process if the Approval Status is set to New. We do not recommend that entry criteria are user-specific, for two reasons: if the approval process does not affect the user activating the approval process in Salesforce, OrchestraCMS will not recognize the approval process as valid; if other users are not affected by the approval process, they will receive an error when they attempt to submit an item for approval.
• Assign an approval step to a single user if a specific person needs to approve all content and pages.
  
• Assign an approval step to a queue if approval is required from one member of a group. Queues used as part of the approval process must have users added by individual user records and not public groups or roles.
  
• Assign an approval step to multiple users and queues if approval is required from any or all of the selected users and queues.
  
• Do not choose Let the submitter choose the approver manually—this option is not currently supported in OrchestraCMS.
• It is possible to have a user approve their own content and pages; avoid this by doing one of the following:
  • If a user should be both a submitter and an approver, but not be able to approve their own submissions, make sure that the approver is set to be relative to the submitter; for example, specify that the approver should be the manager of the submitter. For this option to be available, you must set the Next Automated Approver Determined By field for the approval process.
    
    
    
  • If a user should only be an approver but OrchestraCMS is forcing them to submit for approval based on the approval process, you can specify that the user’s OrchestraCMS profile can publish outside of the approval process. You can add tasks, email alerts, field updates, and outbound messages (to external systems) to any step of the approval process. With regards to using an approval process with OrchestraCMS, you probably don’t need to set up outbound messages or any field updates other than those specified in the setup procedure. However, tasks and email alerts can be helpful to let users know when they need to approve or edit an item submitted for approval.
    

Associate an email template with publish approval process

The following instructions assign an email template to the overall approval process, and an email will be sent every time the approval is assigned to a new user or queue.

To associate the email template with your publish approval process

1. In Salesforce Setup, expand Create, and then expand Workflow & Approvals.
2. Click Approval Processes.
3. Under the Approval Process Name column, click the name of your publish approval process.
4. Click Edit, and then click Notification Templates.
   
5. Click the lookup icon next to the Approval Assignment Email Template box, and select the email template for your publish approval process.
   
6. Click Save.
   
7. In the Process Definition Detail area, click Activate.

Other email alerts can be added to individual steps of the approval process at your own discretion. For example, you may want an email to be sent to the user who submitted the approval request when the request has been approved or rejected. These additional email alerts are configured as actions in the approval process; an action can be added to an individual approval step or as an action related to initial submission, final approval, or final rejection.

Assign delegated approvers

Usually, if an approver has accepted an approval from a queue, no one else can approve it, because it’s in the approver’s name. To avoid this, you can consider using a delegate approver who can approve any item accepted by the approver in the approver’s absence.

Delegated approvers must have publish permission. They are normally assigned to the same OrchestraCMS profile as the approver. The approver chooses a delegated approver by editing his or her Personal Information User Detail and adding the delegated user name into the Delegated Approver field.

In addition, the Orchestra permission set for the delegated approver profile must be modified to edit the Approvals object permission to Modify All.

If delegated approvers are not members of the approval queue, the approval has to first be accepted by an approver before the delegate can approve the item. However, if the delegate is within the queue, he or she can accept and approve the item.

If the approver is not in the approval queue, the item must first be accepted in the Tasks panel in OrchestraCMS by a member of the queue. At that point, the item appears in the delegate’s task list so it can be approved.

However, until the item is accepted, the delegate does not see the item to approve. This is so the approver in the queue can still control what will be approved; but he or she can delegate the actual approval step.

Enable or disable the approval process in OrchestraCMS

After the approval process has been configured in Salesforce, you can enable it in OrchestraCMS. Your approval process will not impact the publishing process in OrchestraCMS until it is enabled.

To enable an approval process in OrchestraCMS

1. In OrchestraCMS Setup, under Utilities, click Approval Process.
2. On the Activation page, click Check Now. If there is an approval process that has been configured correctly for use with OrchestraCMS, the name of the process appears on the screen.
3. Click Disabled to change the status to Enabled.

Once the approval process is enabled, the OrchestraCMS interface immediately changes to reflect the approval process.

To fully disable an approval process, you must disable the approval process in OrchestraCMS and deactivate the approval process in Salesforce. The procedure should be completed in that order so users do not attempt to send items for approval when there is no active Salesforce approval process. As soon as the approval process is disabled in OrchestraCMS, the OrchestraCMS interface changes to remove all approval-related actions.

To disable an approval process

1. In OrchestraCMS Setup, under Utilities, click Approval Process.
2. Click the toggle to switch the status to Disabled.
3. In Salesforce Setup, expand Create.
4. Expand Workflow & Approvals, and then click Approval Processes.
5. In the Active Approval Processes area, click Deactivate next to your publish approval process.

Send pages and content for approval

Users who are restricted from publishing due to an approval process can send their pages and content for approval. An approval process can restrict users from publishing content items and pages in OrchestraCMS even if their OrchestraCMS profile has publishing permissions.

When a page or content item is sent for approval, it is locked for editing except by the approver if he or she has edit and publish permissions.

Manage approval tasks

When an approval process is enabled, the Tasks section lists outstanding items to approve and any approval-related tasks that were created as part of the approval process. From here, you can open and review the items to be approved and close tasks that you have completed.

You can filter the list of items to approve and tasks by selecting the type of item from the All Types list in the upper left-hand corner.

Accept an approval request that has been given to a queue

If an approval request has been assigned to a queue, the item to be approved is listed in the Items to Approve list in the Tasks section for all members of the queue. You must accept an approval request that has been assigned to a queue before you can approve or reject the related page or content item.

To accept an approval request that has been given to a queue

There are two ways to accept an approval request.

1. Open the content item in the page editor.
2. In the Actions menu, expand the Approval Required menu and click Accept.
3. In the approval panel, in the Action area, click Accept.
4. Alternatively, in the Tasks section, in the Items to Approve area, click the name of the page or content item to open it for review.
5. In the Actions menu, expand the Approval Required menu and click Accept.
6. In the approval panel, in the Action area, click Accept.

After one person accepts an approval request, the item is marked as reassigned and is removed from the Items to Approve list for all other members of the queue. The user who accepted the approval will have the ability to approve or reject the item.

Approve or reject pages sent for approval

You can open pages that you have been assigned to review from the Tasks section in OrchestraCMS or from an email link if one has been provided. When you open a page to be reviewed, the page is displayed in preview mode with an adjacent approval panel. The approval panel is the place where you can view information about the approval request and perform approval actions, such as add a comment, approve the page, reject the page, or toggle the priority of the approval request.

The Detail area displays the number of included content items in the following categories:

• Will be published. These are content items that are currently unpublished and will be published if the page is approved.
• Already published. These are content items that are already published and will appear on the page if the page is approved.
• Expired unpublished. These are content items that are unpublished and expired. These content items will not appear on the page if the page is approved.

The Action area is where you can add comments to the approval history, approve or reject the page, and toggle the priority of the approval request. Comments are required to reject a page. Approvers can revise the priority of an item by clicking the red exclamation mark; when an approval is marked as high priority, a red exclamation mark appears beside the most recent entry in the approval history.

The History area displays all previous comments and actions associated with the approval process. A red exclamation mark indicates that the approval is currently marked as high priority.

You can approve or reject a page from this approval panel.  

To approve or reject a page

1. Open the page in the preview tab by doing one of the following:
   • In OrchestraCMS, click on Tasks in the main navigation menu. In the Items to Approve area, click on the name of the page to be approved.
   • If you received an email with a link to the page, click on the link and then log into OrchestraCMS to be directed to the page.
2. Enter comments to be stored in the approval history (required for rejections, optional for approvals).
3. Do one of the following:
   • Click Approve.
   • Click Reject.

When a page is approved, the next step of the approval process is triggered. If it is the last step of the approval process, approving the page will publish the page and any unpublished content items on the page.

When a page is rejected, the page and any unpublished content items on the page remain unpublished.

Approve or reject content items sent for approval

You can open content items that you have been assigned to review from the Tasks section in OrchestraCMS or from an email link if one has been provided. When you open a content item to be reviewed, the content item is displayed in the content editor with an adjacent approval panel.

The approval panel is the place where you can view information about the approval request and perform approval actions, such as: add a comment, approve the content, reject the content, or toggle the priority of the approval request.

If the content item is associated with more than one content template, you can switch between content templates from the Templates menu. If a content item is approved or rejected, it applies to all of the associated content templates.

The Action area is the place where you can add comments to the approval history, approve or reject the content item, and denote the step in the approval process as urgent. Comments are required to reject content. Approvers can revise the priority of an item by clicking the red exclamation mark; when an approval is marked as high priority, a red exclamation mark appears beside the most recent entry in the approval history.

The History area displays all previous comments and actions associated with the approval process. A red exclamation mark indicates that the approval is currently marked as high priority.

You can approve or reject a content item from this approval panel.  

To approve or reject a content item

1. Open the content item by doing one of the following:
2. In OrchestraCMS, select the Tasks section. In the Items to Approve area, click on the name of the content item to be approved.
3. If you received an email with a link to the content item, click on the link and then log into OrchestraCMS to be directed to the content item.
4. Enter comments to be stored in the approval history (required for rejections, optional for approvals).
5. Do one of the following:
   • Click Approve.
   • Click Reject.

When a content item is approved, the next step of the approval process is triggered. If it is the last step of the approval process, approving the content item will publish it. When a content item is rejected, the content item remains unpublished.

Mark approval tasks as complete

If you have been assigned tasks in relation to an approval process, they appear in the Tasks section under the My Tasks heading. These tasks will continue to appear in this area until they are manually marked as complete.

To mark an approval task as complete, under the Complete column, click the X in the row of the task you have completed. This will remove the task from the My Tasks list.

View the approval status and history of an item

The approval history of a content item or page is stored in the version history of the item. There is a historical record of every action performed in the approval process.

To view the approval history for a content item or page

1. Do one of the following:
   • Open the content item in the content editor.
   • Open the page in the page editor.
2. In the Actions panel, under More Actions, select View Version History.
3. In the Version History dialog, you can expand each version or revision number to view any actions related to an approval process, including the following columns of data:
   • Status. The item’s status after the action was performed.
   • Performed On. The date that the action was performed.
   • Performed By. The name of the user who performed the action.

If a content item was sent with a page for approval, the version history of that content item provides a link to the page that was sent for approval.

You can also view the current status of a content item or page from various locations.

Approval processes and private sharing    

If you are using Salesforce private sharing to control access to pages and content items in OrchestraCMS, this can have an impact on your approval process. You must make sure that approvers have access to the content items and pages that are sent to them for approval.

There are two ways to make sure that approvers have access to the content items and pages they need to approve:

• Set up a role hierarchy in Salesforce and make sure that the approvers are higher in the hierarchy than the users who submit items for approval.
• Inform users who submit items for approval that they must explicitly share the content items and pages with the designated approvers using the OrchestraCMS Collaborate feature.

Create a one-step approval process

For organizations that have a limited number of content authors that form a single workgroup, a one-step approval process is usually sufficient. The following procedure contains step-by-step instructions for creating a one-step approval process that is compatible with OrchestraCMS.

To create a single-step approval process

1. In Salesforce Setup, expand Create, and then expand Workflow & Approvals.
2. Click Approval Processes.
3. From the Manage Approval Processes For list, select Approval.
4. Click Create New Approval Process, and then click Use Standard Setup Wizard.
5. In the Step 1. Enter Name and Description area, enter a name for the approval process in the Process Name box. We recommend Publishing Approval. The Unique Name box will automatically populate.
6. Click Next.
7. In the Step 2. Specify Entry Criteria area, leave all fields blank and click Next. This means that all content items and pages enter the approval process.
8. In the Step 3. Specify Approver Field and Record Editability Properties area, leave all fields with the default values and click Next.
9. In the Step 4. Select Notification Template area, click the lookup icon next to the Approval Assignment Email Template field, and select your approval email template.
10. In the Step 5. Select Fields to Display on Approval Page Layout area, leave all fields with the default values and click Next.
11. In the Step 6. Specify Initial Submitters area, leave all fields with the default values and click Save.
12. On the What Would You Like To Do Now page, leave the selection as Yes, I’d like to create an approval step now, and then click Go.
13. In the Step 1. Enter Name and Description area, enter a name for the approval step in the Name box. We recommend Step 1. The Unique Name box automatically populates. Leave the Step Number field set to 1, and then click Next.
14. In the Step 2. Specify Step Criteria area, leave the option set to All records should enter this step, and then click Next.
15. In the Step 3. Select Assigned Approver area, select one of the following options:
    • Automatically assign to queue. If you have a queue configured, you can select it using the lookup icon; the queue must have users added by individual user records and not public groups or roles. For more information on creating a queue for an approval process, see “Set up an approval queue” on page <OV>.
    • Automatically assign to approver(s). You can designate one or more users as approvers. Individual users, queues, or related users can be designated as approvers. Click the lookup icon to locate and select users or queues. Click Add Row to add more users. If you select multiple approvers, you can choose whether only one approver needs to approve each request (Approve or reject based on the FIRST response) or all approvers must approve each request (Require UNANIMOUS approval from all selected approvers).
16. Click Save.
17. On the What Would You Like To Do Now page, click to select No, I’ll do this later. Take me to the approval process detail page to review what I’ve just created, and then click Go.  
18. In the Final Approval Actions area, click Add New, and then click Field Update.
19. Enter a name for the field update in the Name field, and the Unique Name field will be automatically populated.
20. From the Field to Update list, select Status.
21. In the Specify New Field Value area, click to select A specific value, and then select Approved from the list.
22. Click Save.
23. In the Final Rejection Actions area, click Add New, and then click Field Update.
24. Enter a name for the field update in the Name field, and the Unique Name field will be automatically populated.
25. From the Field to Update list, select Status.
26. In the Specify New Field Value area, click to select A specific value, and then select Rejected from the list.
27. Click Save.
28. Optionally, add approval steps and other actions as required for your approval process.
29. After your approval process is completed, click Activate.