CMBRIEFING

CMb 2005–02
Is workflow the wrong metaphor?

While workflow is a key component of content In many cases, the creation or editing of content
management systems (CMS), the unspoken truth is split into two phases. There is the initial ‘col-
is that workflow often fails (or is only moderate- laborative’ phase of content editing, which is left
ly successful) in most organisations. to be managed ad-hoc via e-mail or printed cop-
ies. Only when the content has been finalised (in
This briefing explores the reality of workflow in
Word format, etc) is it submitted to the linear
organisations, identifies a number of problems
workflow for final approval.
and issues, and asks the question: is workflow
the wrong metaphor?
When workflow works best
The ideal Workflow is most effective when there are clear-
ly-defined, well-understood business processes
In many organisations, a driving factor behind already in place. The workflow rules can then be
obtaining a content management system is to en- setup to match these existing processes. An ex-
force greater control over the publishing proc- ample would be the publishing of a standard re-
ess. port every month, which would benefit from
Problems with ad-hoc existing processes have further automation and management.
caused incorrect or out-of-date information to be
published, leading to wrong decisions, embar- Task management?
rassment or even legal issues.
Instead of trying to fit the concept of formalised
The vision is therefore to introduce a CMS that linear workflow to every situation, some organi-
will enforce a formalised review and approval sations have started to explore whether a differ-
process (workflow). These workflows then en- ent metaphor would be more relevant: that of
sure that only accurate and meaningful informa- task management.
tion is published to the site.
The principle behind task management is that
there aren’t any formal rules. Instead, a user can
The reality assign a task related to a specific piece of content
Organisations are complex. In practice, the to another staff member. For example, a request
‘rules’ that determine who should review and could be sent to:
approve a piece of content depend on many fac- • review the content
tors, including: type of content, subject, author,
• update the content
area of the business, potential legal exposure,
publishing time frame, and more. • add additional details
While the goal may be to implement a few These tasks are tracked within the CMS, to en-
‘standard’ workflow rules, these generally fail to sure that they are completed within required
address the complexity that exists within organ- time frames.
isations. Depending on the situation, updated pages may
These practical issues generate a considerable then be published directly, or may have to go
gap between the vision communicated in CMS through a final linear workflow before publica-
tenders, and the reality of implementation. tion (such as a quality review by the web team).
While a range of complex and powerful work- This task management metaphor is a closer fit to
flow features may have been requested, organi- the way that many staff work, and may prove to
sations typically end up configuring simple 1–3 be a valuable alternative to the traditional work-
step linear workflows. flow models.
In some cases, workflow is simply bypassed by This is still a fairly new idea in the industry, al-
the majority of authors, in the interests of easy or though a few vendors have already started deliv-
timely publishing. In this situation, the work- ering task management features within their
flow isn’t really put into practice at all. CMS products.

This Content Management Briefing has been written by James Robertson, managing director of Step Two Designs, an
independent vendor-neutral consultancy located in Sydney, Australia. For more articles like this one, and for information on our
products and services, please visit our website: www.steptwo.com.au. © Copyright 2004, Step Two Designs Pty Ltd.