Automatically Creating Tasks Associated with Content

Enabling Automatic Task Creation

The Settings > Configuration > Setup screen > Workarea tab's Enable PreApproval Group box controls the Automatic Task feature. Check this box to enable Automatic Tasks.

Next, you create user groups and assign them to folders whose content must complete the preapproval process before it enters the regular approval process.

Assigning a Preapproval Group to a Folder

The ability to select or update a folder’s preapproval group is determined by the advanced permission Modify Preapproval. Only users with this permission see Modify Preapproval () when viewing the Folder Properties screen.

If you have permission to modify a folder’s preapproval group, go to the Folder Properties screen and click Modify Preapproval () to access the PreApproval Group field. (The field only appears if you have enabled the Preapproval Feature. )

If you assign a user group, an automatic task can be assigned to that group whenever content in that folder is created or updated.

If you enable the Inherit parent configuration checkbox, this folder gets its preapproval group from the parent folder. If you select None, you disable the preapproval feature for the folder.

The Preapproval Groups Report lists all preapproval groups assigned to folders within Ektron. To access it, go to Workarea > Reports > Contents > Preapproval Groups.

How Automatic Task Creation Works

When a user submits a content item for approval, Ektron checks to see if an open task exists for it. (An open task is one whose state is Not Started, Active, Awaiting Data, On Hold, or Pending.) If none exists and a preapproval group is assigned to its folder, a task is created and associated with the content.

The new task has the following default information.

• Title—A string formulated by joining the following: content title, content ID number, underscore, and Task. For example, Private Content2_Task.
• Assigned to—The preapproval group
• Assigned by—The user who submitted the content
• Content—The content being submitted for approval
• Priority—Normal
• State—Not Started
• Due date—none
• Start date—none
• Created by—User who submitted content
• Description—none

The task can then be reviewed by any member of the preapproval group, who has 2 choices.

• review the content and submit it for publishing. This action completes the preapproval process and submits the content into the regular approval chain.
• assign the task to another user, such as an editor. (The user to whom the task is being assigned must have permission to edit the content.) The editor reviews the content, updates it as needed, and submits it into the regular approval chain.

NOTE: The user submitting the content does not need permission to create tasks. Also, the user assigned to the task should not change its state using the task system. Instead, he should review and approve content using the content approval mechanism. That mechanism automatically changes the task’s state.

The tables below explain the sequence of changes to content and its associated task. All changes are logged into the task’s history. See Also: Viewing a Task’s History

Also, email is automatically generated for automatic tasks as it is for manually-created tasks.