Work with Asset Versions and Publishing

The Knowledge Platform uses asset versions and publishing to create governance of core assets and to perform auditing of asset reviews.

As an Author, Business Admin or Administrator user, you can create and publish the following assets using a review workflow:

• Terms

• Policies

• Rules

• Datasets

• Business Processes

Each of these assets are created as versions and must move through the workflow before they can be published.

Note

System, Goals, and Initiatives are automatically published and do not go through the review process.

Note

If you have permission to edit the asset, you can delete it. All versions of the asset are deleted, regardless of the status of the asset version. This action cannot be undone. To delete the asset, click the . . . menu and select Delete [Asset Type].

As assets move through the workflow, status indicates where the asset is in the review process.

Asset statuses are:

• Published—Threshold met; >50% of reviewers have approved and no reviewers have contested the review.

• Unpublished— One or more versions of the asset have been created and none of the asset versions have been sent for review.

• Unpublished (In Review)— Asset is being reviewed by reviewers defined in the review workflow.

• Unpublished (New Version Created)— Asset has been updated during an active review workflow and has not been added to the review.

• Unpublished (Review Contested)— A reviewer has contested the asset review. The asset is not published.

• Unpublished (Review Canceled)— The review process for the asset has been canceled. The asset is not published.

Watch the video.

Working With Asset Versions

An asset is available for editing when it is in any status.

If you are an Administrator, Business Admin or Author user, you can create a new version of an asset.

You can only edit the latest version of an asset. Viewer users can access unpublished versions of assets, but they cannot update them. If no assets are published, Viewer users see the latest asset version.

A new version of the asset, with a status of Unpublished, contains proposed changes to an asset and is created when:

• You create the asset.

• You edit and save changes to the asset.

  Note
  Every individual save you make to an asset results in a new version of that asset.

• You create a relationship between an asset and another asset.

  Note

  Editing a relationship creates a new version of the asset without a save action being required.

• When you initially create an asset and save it, it is automatically saved as the first version, or V1 of that asset, with the last updated date visible in the header card on the asset detail page. The asset is automatically set to Unpublished status for the governed assets and set to Published for the non-governed assets (System, Goal and Initiative).

You can view additional details about the version and compare versions by accessing the Version History page from the action menu … on the asset detail page. This includes the name of the user who created the version, the date and time the version was created, plus the review status of the version.

When you search for an asset, the latest version of that asset is returned in results. This could be an unpublished or a published version of an asset.

Editing the latest version of the asset creates a new version of the asset which can be sent for review. If a previous version of the asset is still in review, the new version can be included in the previous version review by clicking Include in review.

Configure the Review Workflow and Send for Review

After modifying the details for an asset, click the Send for review button to configure the review flow for this asset. On the Send for review page, you can enter details pertaining to the asset review in the Review Description field, and set users to review the asset from the Reviewers selection box. Reviewers help get the asset business ready and can provide feedback and approve or contest an asset. A majority of users selected are required to review and approve the asset for the asset to be published. If any single reviewer contests the review, the asset review state transitions to Contested. The remaining reviewer(s) can provide feedback on an asset in a contested review state.

An asset must have at least one reviewer to move through the review flow.

To add or remove reviewers and send the asset for review:

1. Click in the Select Reviewer(s) selection box..

2. Click the user name to select a reviewer. A checkmark appears to the right of the selected user and the user is added under the Reviewers field.

   Note

   You can use the Filter field as a search field for users. To remove a selected user, click the user again to remove the checkmark on the user name.

3. Click Send for Review.

The asset’s status is then Unpublished (In Review).

You can view the settings for the review workflow while an asset is in Unpublished (In Review) status by clicking the View Review Details link. However, you cannot update the workflow while the asset is in Unpublished (In Review) status.

Reviewers receive a notification when an asset is waiting for their review. Assignees also receive a notification that the asset has moved to Unpublished (In Review) status.

Cancel a Review

You may need to cancel a review for a variety of reasons, such as an asset requiring review from a user who is no longer active in the system.

If you are an Admin or Business Admin, you can cancel a review when the asset is in Unpublished (In Review) status. The asset returns to Unpublished (Review Canceled) status.

To cancel the review:

1. Click the Cancel Review button.

2. Add a comment and click Cancel Review.

Review an Asset

As a reviewer of an asset, you can update the status of the asset by approving or contesting it.

Note

The assets that go through the approval process are terms, policies, rules, datasets, and business processes.

When the asset details are defined, and the asset is sent for review, reviewers receive notifications requesting their review.

Once the asset is sent for review, it has a status of Unpublished (In Review).

Contest an Asset

If a reviewer contests an asset that is in Unpublished (In Review) status, the asset is moved to Unpublished (Review Contested) status. The reviewer who contests the asset must complete a comment which is added to the comment field for that version of the asset. All reviewers and assignees receive notification by email and on the Notifications page, depending on their user settings. Additionally, assignees and the user who sent the asset for review also receive a notification that the asset has been contested.

The contested asset remains as an unpublished version, now in Unpublished (Review Contested) status, and must go through the review workflow again if it is to be published.

Approve an Asset

If a reviewer approves an asset, it is moved to Published status when an approval threshold is met, which is when the majority of reviewers have approved the asset.

When an asset is moved to Published status, a version of that asset is published.

View Historic Versions of an Asset

All users can view all versions of an asset on the Version History page. If more than one version of an asset has been published, the current published version is indicated in the Review State column on the Version History page with a status of Published. Previously published versions display with a status of Published. Any versions of the asset that were not published display a status of Unpublished, Unpublished (Review Contested), or Unpublished (Review Canceled) depending on the end status of the review for that version. The Version History page displays the following information:

• Version number

• Relative date / time the version was created

• The user who created the version

• The review state of the version

To view the asset versions, click the … menu and select Version History.

View the Review Workflow History

All users can view a log that displays how an asset moved through the review workflow(s). For each review of an asset the following information is displayed:

• The date and time the review was initiated

• The user who initiated the review

• The review description (if provided at the point of initiation)

• The review status

• The asset versions included in the review

• The reviewer responses under each asset version in the review

To view the review history, click the . . . menu and select Review Details.

Note

The Review details option does not display if no review has been started.