Workflow Moderation User Guide

Table of Contents

Workflow moderation overview

The workflow process

Contribute a resource for moderation

Workflow moderation overview

An openEQUELLA workflow is a process whereby a new resource must pass through one or more stages of review or moderation before becoming fully available. The process automatically notifies users when they must moderate the resource. A workflow is associated with a collection and can be a simple one-step review or complex multi-step editorial and technical review comprising multiple publication paths.

An openEQUELLA workflow provides a structure for an institution’s quality assurance processes. Workflows are used to record the outcomes of each moderation task review and move resources through the review process based on these outcomes. Workflows are typically created by the Content Administrator, who designates reviewers (moderators) and determines the structure of the workflow.

The purpose of this guide is to explain the moderation and review process and demonstrate to users how to perform workflow moderation tasks.

Please note that this guide has been developed to best reflect the full capabilities of openEQUELLA, and as such may differ from your own installation. Contact the system administrator for access to extra features or to reconfigure your installation.

The workflow process

A workflow is typically created by a content administrator as an ordered process that has rules for passing a resource from one step to the next. The content administrator designates users, groups or roles to a moderation task to create workflow task moderators. Workflow task moderators can be allocated to multiple moderation tasks with moderator options determined by the workflow creator that can include: rejection, modification, acceptance by one group member or acceptance by all group members.

Once the moderators have completed their review the next workflow step is determined by the moderator responses. The workflow history displays the resource’s workflow progress and can be used to view all review events and moderators.

Resources can enter moderation when they are:

Contributed—the contributor chooses to submit the resource for moderation and the resource enters the workflow associated with the contributed collection;
Versioned—a new version enters the workflow and on completion archives all other ‘live’ versions; or
Reviewed—a resource that has been ‘live’ for a designated period is checked for currency using its associated workflow. This process can be triggered manually by the resource owner or automatically by the collection definition. The resource remains discoverable during this review.

The example ‘Documentation Workflow’ used in this guide is a simple workflow intended to be used for reviewing documents.

Contribute a resource for moderation

Resources can only be submitted for moderation using a collection that has an associated workflow.

To contribute a resource for moderation

Open a browser and enter your openEQUELLA URL (e.g. http://equella.myinstitution.edu).
Log in to openEQUELLA.
Select Contribute from the navigation menu. The Contribute page displays.
Select the required collection from the list (e.g. Documentation). The contribution wizard displays for the selected collection.
Enter the relevant metadata to complete the About page of the wizard. Add required attachments.
Click Next to display the Workflow details page. (NOTE: The Workflow details page is specific to this example, not a standard part of the moderation process. Some wizards would not have a Workflow page, and saving the resource would automatically enter it into the associated moderation workflow.)
Select Updated or new document. The Review Decisions section establishes the structure of the workflow and includes a user selector wizard control to determine who will conduct the content review. This section will be completed as the first step of the example workflow.
Click Save.
Enter a message if required, then click Submit for Moderation to enter the resource into the documentation workflow. Saving as a draft will save the resource, but will not enter it into the workflow, nor make it ‘live’.

The Resource summary page Details section shows the following links relevant to the workflow:

Status: Moderating—the resource has just entered the workflow, and is at the first moderation point.
Moderation progress— select this link to display the Moderation progress page and see a diagrammatic representation of the workflow. See Moderation progress on page 8 for more information.
Moderation history—select this link to open the Moderation history page.

Moderation progress

The Moderation progress link can be found in the Details section of the Resource summary page, and at the bottom of each result on the My tasks results page.

Select this link to display the Moderation progress page and see a diagrammatic representation of the workflow.

The current step is highlighted in yellow, completed tasks are highlighted in green and a Tasks awaiting moderation list displays at the top of the flow chart with moderator details.

Moderation history

The Moderation history link can be found in the Details section of the Resource summary page. Select this link to display the Moderation history page.

A resource’s Moderation history page provides details on any submission, status change and moderation events pertaining to this resource.

The Moderation history page has the following elements:

Event (Submitted for moderation, Went live etc.)—displays a descriptive name of the event.
User—lists the user who performed the event.
Date—shows how much time has passed since this event was performed (approximate).
Show edits checkbox—switches on and off the display of Edit events in the history.
Show all details—switches on and off Edit and Workflow reset events.

Moderation queue

The Moderation queue enables the logged-in user to view all their resources currently waiting for moderation within a workflow. The Moderation queue link is accessed from the My resources page.

To view the Moderation queue page

Select My resources from the navigation menu.

The My resources page displays. The default on first entering My resources is Published resources.

Click the Moderation queue link at the top of the page. The results display all resources belonging to the logged-in user that is currently in a moderation workflow.

The Moderation queue results page elements include:

Title—the resource title. Select the link to go to the resource summary page.
Status—the resource status on this page with always be either Moderating, Review or Rejected. If the status is Rejected, a Show comment link displays. Select this link to view the rejection comment.
Scheduled—the time in days since the resource entered moderation. Hover the mouse over this value to see the exact time and date.
Last action—the time in days since the last moderation task was performed on the resource. Hover the mouse over this value to see the exact time and date.
Page controls—click the prev, (x) or next links to move through the pages.

Tasks

After a resource has been submitted for moderation, users allocated to the first moderation task will have the task added to their My tasks page. As the resource moves through the workflow steps, the relevant users will receive their tasks.

The user is notified of pending tasks by the red number (number of waiting tasks displayed beside the My tasks navigation menu item).

Clicking on My tasks displays the My tasks page with all pending tasks displayed.

Notification of new tasks can be configured to be sent by email to the relevant users.

Tasks portlet

The Tasks portlet on the Dashboard page also shows the user the number of pending tasks.

Each item on the Tasks portlet is a link. In the tasks section of the portlet, selecting any link takes the user to the My tasks page, with the relevant tasks displayed. The Tasks portlet includes notifications.

Selecting the following task links opens the My tasks page and displays:

All tasks—all tasks waiting for moderation where the logged-in user is set as a moderator.
Tasks assigned to me—tasks waiting for moderation where the task has been assigned to the logged-in user.
Tasks assigned to others—tasks where the logged-in user is set as one of a number of possible moderators and another moderator has assigned themselves those tasks. This allows the logged-in user access to the task for review purposes, even though it has been assigned to another moderator.
Unassigned tasks—tasks waiting for moderation where the currently logged-in user is set as a moderator but the tasks haven’t yet been assigned. • Must moderate—tasks waiting for moderation where the currently logged-in user is set as the only moderator.

My tasks page

The My tasks results page displays the tasks waiting to be moderated.

The My tasks page elements are:

Resource title—click on the resource title to open the Resource summary screen with the Task moderation section displayed at the top of the page.
Status—will always be moderating.
Last updated—time since the resourced was last updated (edited).
Moderating since—time since resource entered the workflow.
Task—the name of the current workflow task.
Expires / Expired in—number of days before or since task expiry date.
Time at this task—time since resource arrived at this workflow task.
Priority—the priority of the task (can be LOW, NORMAL or HIGH).
Moderation progress—select this link to see a diagrammatic representation of the workflow.
Moderation comments—select this link to view any existing moderation comments. • Moderate—click to open the resource in the contribution wizard view, with the Task moderation section displayed at the top of the page. • Screen Options—click to view and change the number of results per page. The default is 10, but 50 or 100 can be selected. • RSS Feeds—click to display the RSS Feeds dialog, and choose to subscribe to an RSS Feed or Atom Feed to track tasks.

Sort and filter

The Sort and Filter boxes on the My tasks results page display options relevant to tasks.

The sort options are:

Priority—the priority of the resource’s current workflow task.
Expiry date—the date set as the last day that the task can be performed.
Time waiting in task—time since resource arrived at current workflow task.
Title—name of the resource.
Reverse order of results—check to reverse the order in which the results display.

From the My tasks results pages, the following filter options are available:

Filter by assignment—select a value from the drop-down list. Available options are All, Assigned to me, Assigned to others and Unassigned.
Filter by collection—select the required collection from the drop-down list to see only resources belonging to that collection. Once a collection is selected, a Filter by workflow tasks drop-down displays. A specific workflow task can then be selected.
Filter by owner—click to display the Select owner to filter by dialog and search for and select the required owner.
Filter by date modified—select a qualifier from the drop-down list (After, Before, Between or On), then click the calendar field or icon to display a calendar control.

Moderating a task

Accessing task moderation

Tasks can be moderated from the resource summary page or the contribution wizard page. Moderating from the contribution wizard page enables the moderator to access all the metadata stored during contribution, depending on workflow configuration.

To moderate from the resource summary page

From the My tasks results page, click Moderate on the relevant resource link. The resource summary page opens with the black task moderation section displayed at the top.

To change to the contribution wizard page if required, click the View Metadata button, where the task moderation section is also displayed.

To moderate from the contribution wizard page

From the My tasks results page, click Moderate. The contribution wizard page opens with the task moderation section displayed at the top. A

If required, click Edit Resources to edit the contribution wizard fields.

Click View Summary to display the resource summary screen with the task moderation section displayed at the top.

Task moderation section

The task moderation section enables the user to approve or reject the task. It also allows users to assign tasks to themselves, cancel assignments, post comments and move between tasks.

The task moderation section is made up of the following elements:

Task name and description
Submitted by—the owner of the resource.
Assigned to
(x) comments Post a comment
Reject
Approve
Prev Next—use the PREV and NEXT> links to move through tasks, or click x of y TASKS link to return to the task list.

Assigning tasks

If there is a group of moderators selected for a task, of which only one is required to complete the task, a moderator would assign themselves the task. Assigning the task informs the other moderators that someone has already taken ownership of the task.

To assign a task

Click the assign to me link in the task moderation section. The Assigned to field changes to Me, and the link changed to cancel assignment.

Select the cancel assignment link to change the status back to unassigned.

Posting comments

Comments can be added to a task, which can be read by other moderators. This is a great way to share information.

To post a comment

Select the Post a comment link in the task moderation section. The Task comments screen displays.
Type the required text in the Enter your comment text box, then click Submit.
Click the Cancel button to return to the task moderation section.

Viewing comments

Select the (x) comments link to view existing comments. The task comments page displays.

Click Close to return to the task moderation section.

Reject a task

A task is rejected when the moderator decides changes need to be made before the resource moves on to the next step of the moderation workflow.

When a task is rejected, the moderator enters a moderation comment outlining the reasons for rejection, the resource goes back to the rejection point set in the workflow and a rejection notification is sent to the appropriate users. The user would then edit and redraft the resource to re-enter it into the workflow.

To reject a task

Click Reject from the task moderation section. The Rejecting task page displays.
Type the reason for rejection in the Enter your rejection message edit box, then click Submet. (NOTE: this field is mandatory.) The My tasks page displays with a confirmation receipt at the top of the screen.

Approve a task

A task is approved once the required moderator or moderators have reviewed the resource and decide it is ready to move to the next stage of the moderation workflow.

To approve a task

Click Approve from the task moderation section. The Approving task page displays.
If relevant, type a message in the Enter an optional approval message text box, then click Submet. The My tasks page displays with a confirmation receipt at the top of the screen.

Workflow example

The following example is based on the example ‘Documentation Workflow’ created in the openEQUELLA Workflow Configuration Guide. It is intended to demonstrate how a resource moves through a simple moderation process.

Review Decisions task

In the example moderation process, the Document Administrator has been selected as the single moderator for the Review Decisions task. This task requires the moderator to select whether the resource requires a content review and an editorial review. If a content review is required, a reviewer must be assigned.

To complete the review decisions task

Log in as the Document Administrator.
Click the My task navigation menu item.
Click the openEQUELLA Workflow User Guide Moderate button. The contribution wizard page displays with the task moderation section.
Go to the Workflow details page of the wizard. (NOTE: The Workflow details page is specific to this example, not a standard part of the moderation process. Some wizards would not have a Workflow page, and saving the resource would automatically enter it into the associated moderation workflow.)
Click Edit Resources to enable the wizard fields.
Select Required in the Is a content review required? field.
Select the Select a user link to choose the user to moderate the content review. In this example, the Document Administrator will be selected.
Select Required in the Is an Editorial Review required? field.
Click Save. 10.Click Approve. The Approving task page displays. Enter a message if required, then click Submit. The My tasks page is displayed. The resource then moves on to the next task in the workflow.

Content review task

In this case, because the next task was allocated to the Document Administrator, which is the logged-in user in this example, the openEQUELLA Workflow User Guide appears on the My tasks page, with a Task name of Content Review.

Select the Moderation progress link for openEQUELLA Workflow User Guide to view the moderation progress in a diagrammatic format.

To complete the content review task

Click the openEQUELLA Workflow User Guide Moderate button. The contribution wizard page displays with the task moderation section.
In the task moderation section, select the assign to me link to assign to task to the Document Administrator (logged-in user).

NOTE: The task does not have to be assigned to a moderator to be approved or rejected, but assigning tasks shows who has taken ownership of that task.

Review the attachments and resource metadata, editing if required.
Either:
- Click Approve to move the resource to the next moderation task, in this case Editorial review. The Approving task page displays. Enter a message, if required, then click Submit.

Click Reject to display the Rejecting task page and return the resource to a previous moderation task. An explanatory comment must be entered before the rejection can be submitted. If the resource is rejected at this point, the task it returns to can be selected from a drop-down list.

If the resource returns to the original contributor, its status is ‘rejected’ and it must be redrafted and resubmitted for moderation or removed from the system to clear the rejected notification.

If the task is approved, the resource moves to the Editorial Review task, which is similar to the Content Review task in this example. If this task was not required, it moves to the Create PDF task.

Create PDF task

Select the Moderation progress link for openEQUELLA Workflow User Guide to view the moderation progress in a diagrammatic format.

To complete the Create PDF task

Follow steps 1 to 4 in the Content review task section. If the task is approved and the pdf created, the resource moves to the Check PDF task.

Check PDF task

In the example workflow, the Document Administrator and the rest of the Document Administration group are selected for the Check PDF moderation task. This task requires the moderator to ensure the PDF is viewable on all supported platforms and no conversion artifacts have been added.

To complete the Check PDF moderation task

Follow steps 1 to 4 in the Content review task section. If the task is approved, the workflow is complete and the resource becomes live.

Notifications

Notifications are messages used to notify users of an event. These messages are related to a moderation workflow, for example, when a moderation task becomes overdue, or is rejected. Notifications can also be sent when a resource becomes ‘Live’, which lets the user know that the resource is now available for use.

Rejection notifications are immediate, and can be viewed within minutes of the resource being rejected, whereas other types of notifications are processed as a timed event (for example, overnight), so will not display until after that timed event has run.

There are a number of ways that users can choose to be alerted to notifications. Emails can be sent, RSS and ATOM feeds can be set up as well as the Notifications menu item on the openEQUELLA navigation bar.

The user is alerted to existing notifications from the red number (number of notifications) displayed beside the Notifications navigation menu item.

Selecting Notifications displays the Notifications page, with all notifications displayed.

Tasks portlet

The Tasks portlet on the Dashboard page also shows the user the number of notifications, broken down by type.

Each item in the notifications portlet is a link. In the notifications section of the portlet, selecting any link takes the user to the Notifications page, with the relevant tasks displayed.

Selecting the following notification links opens the Notifications page and displays:

All notifications—all notifications.
Resources which the owner notified you of going LIVE—all resources where the owner has used the Share with others function to set a notification to alert the logged-in user when the resource becomes available (‘Live’). These resources have a ‘reason’ of ‘Watched resource became LIVE’ on the notifications results page
Resources that were rejected—resources that have been rejected during moderation. These resources have a ‘reason’ of ‘Rejected’ on the notifications results page.
Resources that contain bad URLs—resources that contain a URL that is not valid. These resources have a ‘reason’ of ‘Bad URL’ on the notifications results page.
Resources which went LIVE—resources that have recently become available (Live) that belong in a collection where notifications have been set up via the Profile function. These resources have a ‘reason’ of ‘Watched resource became LIVE’ on the notifications results page.
Resources that are overdue to be moderated—resources that have passed their completed by date. These resources have a ‘reason’ of ‘Moderation overdue’ on the notifications results page.

Notifications set up via the Profile function

Notifications can be configured via the Profile function accessible from any openEQUELLA page. Collections are selected, and a notification is sent to the user when resources belonging to those collections become available (Live).

To set up Profile notifications

Select the PROFILE link on the top right-hand side of the any openEQUELLA page. The Edit user page displays.
In the Notifications section, use the arrows to select the required collection or collections. Use:
- Double Right Arrows to select all collections
- Right Arrow to select the highlighted collection
- Left Arrow to deselect the highlighted collection
- Double Left Arrows to deselect all collections
Click Save. A notification is sent whenever a resource belonging to the selected collection or collections becomes available (Live).

Notification emails

Users can configure their profiles so emails are sent to alert the user to new notifications.

To set up email notifications

Select the PROFILE link on the top right-hand side of the any openEQUELLA page. The Edit user page displays.
Select Send notifications to email.

Selecting this option also sends an email to the user when a new moderation task is added.

Uncheck this option to switch off email notifications (except moderation overdue messages).

Notifications page

The Notifications results page displays details of notifications.

The notifications results page elements are:

Resource title—click the resource title to open the Resource summary page. See openEQUELLA My Resources User Guide for more information on the Resource summary page.
Resource description
Status—live, moderating, rejected.
Moderating since—time since resource entered the workflow. Only displays for resources with a status of moderating.
Reason—brief explanation of the reason for the notification. Reasons can be:
Moderation overdue—the date for the current task to be moderated by has been passed. These notifications are automatically cleared once the overdue task is moderated.
Watched resource became LIVE—a resource belonging to a collection selected for notifications has become available (Live). These notifications are cleared manually by clicking Clear.
Bad URL—a resource that contains a URL attachment that has an invalid web address. These notifications are automatically cleared once all bad URL attachments for a resource have been corrected.
Owner notified you—a resource that has become available (Live) where the owner of the resource selected the logged-in user to be notified using the Share with others function. These notifications are cleared manually by clicking .
Rejected—a resource that has been rejected during a moderation step. The resource is usually updated by the relevant user, then the ‘Redraft this version’ action is used to enter it back into the workflow. These notifications are automatically cleared once the associated resources have been redrafted.
(x) comments—select this link to display the Resource summary page, where existing comments and ratings can be viewed or new ones added.
Add to favourites—select this link to add resource to the Favourites list.
Clear —click to remove the notification from the Notifications results page. Typically this would be done once the user has noted the reason and viewed the resource.
RSS Feeds—click to subscribe to an RSS or Atom Feed for notifications.

Filter

The Filter box on the Notifications results page displays options relevant to notifications.

From the notifications results pages, the following filter options are available:

Filter by notification reason—select a value from the drop-down list. Available options are ALL, Moderation overdue, Contains bad URL, Was rejected, Notified of resource becoming LIVE and Watched resource became LIVE.
Filter by collection—select the required collection from the drop-down list to see only resources belonging to that collection.
Filter by owner—click Select User to display the Select owner to filter by dialog and search for and select the required owner.
Filter by date modified—select a qualifier from the drop-down list (After, Before, Between or On), then click the calendar field or icon to display a calendar control.

Redrafting

This action is intended for resources that require redrafting (editing), usually after being rejected and prior to moderation workflow completion. Selecting this operation allows the resource to be edited and re-submitted for moderation or saved as a draft.

To access the Redraft this version function

From the Actions section of Resource summary page, select Redraft this version.

The Editing page displays.

Edit the resource, then click Save. The Save dialog displays.
Enter a message if relevant, then click Submit for Moderation. The resource re-enters the workflow at the appropriate moderation task.

Manage tasks

There may be many resources at various stages of a workflow at any one time within the openEQUELLA system, and the Manage tasks function and Task statistics portlet allow administrators to view the progress of these resources through the workflow. Information, such as moderator details, length of time at a particular task and at what point in the workflow resources are getting held up, can be easily detected using these functions.

Manage tasks privilege

The privilege associated with access to the Manage task function is MANAGE_WORKFLOW. Granting this privilege to a user, group or role will display the Manage tasks menu item in the left-hand navigation bar.

Manage tasks page

The Manage tasks page displays all workflow tasks. Content and system administrators would typically be granted privileges to access this function to view moderation progress.

To open the Manage tasks page

Log in to openEQUELLA as an administrator. The openEQUELLA Dashboard page displays.
Select Manage tasks from the left-hand navigation menu. The Manage tasks page displays. The Manage tasks page has the Search box at the top, where criteria are selected, and the results list displayed below.

The search box has a search text box to enter keyword searches, and a Within drop-down list. Searching can be refined by selecting All workflows or a specific workflow (e.g. Document Review) from the Within drop-down list.

If a workflow is selected from the Within drop-down box, an extra filter displays in the Filter box.

Each task on the Manage tasks results page displays the following elements:

Title—the title of the resource in moderation. Select this link to open the Moderation progress page.
Description—the resource description.
Status—the current status of the resource, usually moderating or rejected.
Last updated—time since the resource was last updated.
Moderating since—time since the resource entered the workflow.
Workflow—the name of the associated moderation workflow.
Task—the name of the current workflow task.
Time at this task—time since resource arrived at this workflow task.
Priority—the priority of the task (can be LOW, NORMAL or HIGH).

Each task can also have the following links:

View item summary—select to display the Resource summary page.
(x) remaining moderators—select to open the Moderators dialog, which lists moderators who have not yet completed the current task. If multiple moderators are selected for a task, but only one needs to complete it, all the potential moderators display in the Moderators dialog, even if the task has been assigned to one of them.
(x) moderation comment(s) —select to open the Moderation comments dialog, which displays any existing moderation comments.

Sort and filter

The Sort and Filter boxes on the Manage tasks results page displays options relevant to managing tasks.

The sort options are:

Priority—the priority of the resource’s current workflow task (HIGH, NORMAL or LOW).
Expiry date—the date set as the last day that the task should be performed by.
Time waiting in task—time since resource arrived at current workflow task.
Title—name of the resource.

From the Manage tasks results pages, the following filter option is available:

Filter by moderator—click to display the Choose moderator to filter by and search for and select the required user. If a workflow has been selected from the Within drop-down, an additional filter, Filter by workflow tasks displays.
Filter by workflow tasks—displays the tasks belonging to the selected workflow. Select the required task from the drop-down list.

Task statistics portlet

A Tasks statistics portlet can be added to an administrator’s Dashboard to display basic information relating to the number of tasks in a workflow over a weekly or monthly time period.

To create a Task statistics portlet

From the Dashboard page, click Screen Options. The screen options display at the top of the screen.
Click the Tasks statistics link. The Create portlet page displays.
Enter a Title (defaults to Task statistics).
Select a Weekly or Monthly Default trend, then click Save. The new portlet displays on the Dashboard page.
The tasks statistics portlet lists tasks where there are current resources waiting to be moderated.

This portlet displays the top five tasks with waiting items, ordered by number of waiting items. (In the example above, there are only four tasks with waiting resources hence it only shows four rows.)

The Task statistics portlet elements include:

Task—the name of the workflow task. Select the links to open the Manage tasks page with filters set to display the results at the selected workflow task in the appropriate workflow.
Waiting—the number of resources currently awaiting moderation at that task.
Trend—the number of resources that were awaiting moderation at this task at the same time the previous week or month, which is valuable for comparisons.
Workflow drop-down—select a specific workflow from the drop-down list to limit the results. When a workflow is selected, a Total resources in workflow link displays.

Select this link to display the Manage resource page, with the relevant resources listed as results.

Weekly Monthly—select the links to change the trend between weekly and monthly.

Users will need the ‘MANAGE_WORKFLOW’ privilege granted to them to see any of the information in the Tasks Statistics portlet.