Lifecycles

Document lifecycles allow administrators to define a sequential set of states that a document goes through over its lifetime, as well as the actions that are triggered when it transitions from one state to another. A user or application can promote or demote an object to move it forward and backward in its lifecycle.
The following table illustrates a simple document lifecycle.
Table 1. Document lifecycle
Stage Event actions Lifecycle action Lifecycle state Transactions
An author creates a document. A lifecycle is automatically assigned when the document is added to an object store. Create, Check In, Promote Lifecycle Promote Draft A review workflow is launched. Email is sent to reviewers.
The document is reviewed and edited. Check Out, Check In, Promote, or Demote Lifecycle. Optional: Update. Promote Review An approval workflow is launched. Email is sent to the authorized user.
The authorized user either rejects or accepts changes to the document. Check Out, Check In, Promote Lifecycle Demote or Promote Review The document is either demoted to the review process (email is sent to the author and reviewers) or, if the document is promoted, a publish workflow is launched (email is sent to authorized user).
The document is published. Promote Lifecycle Promote Publish Email is sent to all users that are associated with this document.
The document is closed. Update, Reset Lifecycle Set exception mode Close The document is closed to further lifecycle changes.

In addition to the typical actions that are triggered when a document transitions from one state to another, you can apply a security template to change the security when the state changes. When a document enters a specified state, the security permissions associated with a configured security template are automatically applied to the document.