Workflow process

Workflow is a verification process that is used when data in the catalog changes. To ensure the highest quality of your data, the changes in the catalog are verified by experts before they're available to all users.

Overview

Data governance in an enterprise is an important process. Each time data changes in the catalog, it might have a large impact on the overall quality of the data. Workflow is used to manage the process of updating data in the catalog. A workflow team consists of users that have dedicated roles, which make them experts in their areas. Users can be responsible for making the changes, for reviewing, for approving, and for publishing these changes.

Note: If you use the classic version of Information Governance Catalog, you can enable workflow only in one user interface. If you want to enable it in Information Governance Catalog New, you must first disable it in the classic version. When workflow is enabled in one user interface, updating glossary assets is disabled in the other user interface.

Workflow types

You can enable one of the following workflows.

Governance workflow: Workflow applies when you create, edit or delete an asset. An editor works on an asset, and a reviewer revises the changes and provides feedback. When this review cycle is done, the editor requests publishing of this asset, which starts the workflow process. A new task to approve the asset is created. An approver sees this task on the list of open tasks, reviews the asset and approves it. A task to publish the asset to the catalog is created automatically. This time, a publisher needs to work on the task. When the asset is published, the task is closed and the updated asset is available in the data catalog to everyone.

Governance workflow with email notification: This workflow process is the same as for governance workflow. The difference is that when an approval task is created, users with the approver role are notified about it by email.; To use workflow with notifications, you must configure email provider. For detailed steps, see the Configuring an email provider for event notifications topic.

Asset types that support workflow

When you enable workflow, the following asset types can be edited only by using the workflow process:

Terms
Categories
Information governance policies
Information governance rules

Workflow user roles

The users can have the following workflow roles:

Editor: Editors are responsible for creating, and editing assets, and for marking assets for deletion. When they're finished with the work, they must request publishing or deleting of the asset. If the request is approved, the asset is automatically sent for publishing or deletion. If the request is rejected, editors must apply the feedback and request the publishing or deletion again.
Reviewer: Reviewers are responsible for revising changes that are made by editors. They can access draft and modified versions of assets.
Approver: Approvers are responsible for approving and rejecting the changes that editors make in the catalog.
Publisher: Publishers are responsible for publishing and deleting the assets. They can also reject the requests.

After you enable workflow, you must configure users and their workflow roles. For details, see the Assigning workflow roles topic.

Asset states

In workflow, assets can have three states - draft, modified and published. This state reflects the version of the asset that you can view.

Draft - a draft asset is a newly created asset that doesn't have a published version. Only users with appropriate user roles can view draft assets.
Modified - a modified asset is an asset that was published and then edited. Only users with appropriate user roles can view modified versions of assets.
Published - a published asset is an asset that all users can view in the catalog. It might have a modified version that is visible only to users with appropriate user roles.

When you view the details page of a published asset that is being modified, you can easily switch to the modified version by clicking See modified version. And the other way around, when you view the details page of the modified asset, you can view the published version by clicking See published version.

Asset history - Activities panel

When you have a workflow role assigned, you can see the history of changes for a given asset. It's available in the asset details page, in the Activities panel. The panel contains information about what changes were made, when, and which user made them, and comments. You can add comments directly in the panel, or when working on tasks.

Enabling workflow

For details about how to enable workflow, see the Enabling and disabling workflow topic.

Required configuration

When you enable workflow, you must complete the following configuration steps.

Assign workflow roles to the members of the workflow team. For details, see the Assigning workflow roles topic.
If you enable governance workflow with email notifications, configure email server. For details, see the Configuring an email provider for event notifications topic.
If you use WebSphere® Application Server Liberty Profile, import the InfoSphere® Information Server SSL certificate into the local truststore file. For details, see the Importing SSL certificate into the local truststore file for WebSphere Application Server Liberty Profile topic.

Workflow states

Workflow states reflect where in the workflow process the asset currently is.

Workflow not started - in this state, an asset isn't ready yet, and an editor is working on it. It can be a draft of a new asset, or a modified asset.
Pending approval - in this state, the changes are ready, but not verified yet. The asset might also be marked for deletion. The asset must be approved by an approver.
Ready for publishing - in this state, the changes were successfully verified, but the new version isn't available in the catalog yet. The asset must be published by a publisher.
Ready for deleting - in this state, the asset that was marked for deletion was successfully verified, but the asset still exists in the catalog. The deletion must be approved by a publisher.