Cumulus offers status-based, asset-centric workflows, i.e. workflows that are always attached to individual assets (but not, for example, to collections).
A workflow defines a bunch of states an assets can be in, and the activities that lead from one state to the next one.
Workflow states can be freely defined, such as Pending, In progress, To be approved, Done, etc.
Any workflow state can offer a toolbox with multiple functions that can be applied to an asset immediately from within the workflow view, e.g. Add to Basket, Download, Print, Relate, Share, among others. Whether functions are available in a state, an which ones, depends on administrative settings.
Workflow activities lead from one state to another state, or, if it is a starting activity, attach an asset to a workflow. With an activity you define
• the following state (and thus, ultimately, the sequence of the states within a workflow),
• preconditions that must be met for the activity to be applicable,
• users/roles that are allowed to perform the activity (and thus to promote the workflow to the next state).
• the user/role the asset is assigned to in the following state,
• asset actions that are to be applied to the assets during the transition,
As a Cumulus Administrator, you create and edit your own workflows in the Workflow Manager module of the Cumulus Server Console or Web Server Console.
In order to be usable, a workflow created within the Workflow Manager must be applied to a catalog. Only workflows applied to a catalog can be attached to assets. Applying a workflow to a catalog via the Catalog Setting module of the Preferences dialog copies the respective settings to the catalog. For each workflow, 3 fields are added to the catalog: [workflow name] - Workflow Activities, [workflow name] - Workflow Assignments, and [workflow name] - Workflow State.
As soon as a workflow is assigned to a catalog, it is available to Cumulus users.
Assigning a workflow to a catalog is performed with the preferences dialog of the Cumulus Desktop Client. For details, see Catalog Settings / Workflows Tab.
NOTE: Workflows that are applied to a catalog reside there independent of the original definition stored in the Workflow Manager. Thus, editing a given workflow definition in the Workflow Manager does not affect the actual workflow in any catalog. To make modifications to a workflow effective, you must explitcitely update the workflow assigned to the catalog to the new definition.
Furthermore, workflows can be attached to new assets during the cataloging process via an action handling set. For details, see Asset Handling Sets / Workflows Tab