Issue / Approve Change Requests
Learn how to collaborate on content revisions
Depending on a user's particular role within the organization, they may have the opportunity to participate in document revisions and / or approval procedures. The Yonder Online Reader differentiates between the following use cases:
- Issue Change Request: Allows users with the right set of permissions to issue change requests for specific documents.
- Workflow: Change requests that are issued by a given user are typically discussed and potentially approved via dedicated, customer-specific approval procedures. The details of the underlying workflows are highly dependant on your internal revision- and approval processes.
- Editing Change Requests: During a given workflow, selected users within the organization may have the permission to edit a change request and / or implement a draft version for a given change request.
Permissions
Users can only participate in revisions and / or approval procedures if they have the right set of permissions to do so. These restrictions are set by the organization and therefore can not be alluded to in detail here.
However: The Yonder Online Reader Dashboard provides an indication on whether a given user is granted permission to participate in workflows: If the My Workflow column is not visible on the users dashboard, it is a clear indication that the users do not have the permission to directly participate in revision and / or approval procedures at this time.
Issue Change Requests
To issue a change request, start by accessing the relevant document and access the information module that contains the relevant content. In the detail view of the information module, click on the CHANGE REQUESTS tab and hit the plus sign depicted on the bottom right.
Remark: If the plus sign is not visible, it means that the user does not have the permission to issue change requests for the particular document.
After clicking on the plus sign, the user is presented with several options on the change request scope:
- Edit Content: Propose changes for the existing content.
- Edit Title: Propose changes for the title of the information module.
- Add Module: Propose adding a new information module altogether.
- Delete Module: Propose deleting the information module altogether.
For the sake of illustration, let's have a look on how to proceed after selecting the “Edit Content” option.
Once selected, an editor window pops up.
Users may now edit the text according to their needs while formatting it via the toolbox provided (1). To start from scratch, simply click on the RESET button (2).
Once done with the proposed changes, click on the NEXT button (3).
The user is then asked to propose a title for the respective changes, as depicted in the image below.
Once a user clicks on the SUBMIT button, the change request automatically enters the document-specific workflow approval process. The relevant stakeholders are notified accordingly by an email that is triggered once a day.
As visible in the image below, the change request is now also visible under the information module's CHANGE REQUEST tab (1). Included in this view is also the current status of the change request (2), thereby reflecting the progress of the related approval procedure. To access the details of the change request once again, users can simply click on the change request (1).
Users can also track and access the details of change requests they have issued themselves via the the MY CR tab located on the Yonder Reader Dashboard, as depicted in the image below (1).
Based on the approval workflow configuration, a user is informed about the proceedings of the issued change request via the NOTIFICATIONS section (2) and potentially via email.
Workflow
Workflow-based approval processes allow selected users - depending on their role - to either join in on discussions and / or approve workflow steps.
Stakeholders that are required for a particular workflow step are automatically notified via the NOTIFICATIONS tab located on the Yonder Reader Dashboard (see image below) and potentially via email as well.
To access the workflow, click on the respective item listed under the aforementioned NOTIFICATIONS section. Doing so automatically displays the detail view for the workflow, as visible in the image below.
1
Status Overview
Displays the number, title, and current status of the change request.
2
Approval Action
Allows selected users for a given workflows step to move the procedure along to the next step within the respective approval workflow. Remark: Buttons per workflow step are only visible to user(s) that have the authority to take action for a specific workflow step.
3
History
Displays the history of the change request, by means of showing each of the workflow steps that the respective change request went through.
4
Current Version
Shows the currently valid version for the information module.
5
Proposal Text
Shows the proposed change, as specified via change request.
6
Toggle View
Allows users to toggle to the draft version of the proposed change. The draft version shows how the implemented change request would look like, once it's being published. Remark: Selected users are able to edit the initial change request and / or implement a draft version.
7
Display Document
Allows users to view current version of the information module in the context of the entire document.
8
Full Screen Mode
Allows users to view current vs. proposal vs. draft version in full screen mode.
9
Overview
Displays the change instructions (if available) for the current workflow step.
10
Attachments
Allows selected users to attach additional files to a given workflow step or access attached files.
11
Discussion
Allows selected users to join in on discussions related to a given workflow step. The discussion is only available at certain workflow steps or might not be available at all depending on your organization's setup. Comments are part of the compliance trail and cannot be deleted.
12
Change
At pre-defined stages of a workflow, selected users can add a summary and notification text to this change. In addition, it allows to specify the roles that have to be explicitly informed about that change. Once the document revision as a whole is being published, the respective roles are notified via their My Tasks list that is located on the Yonder Reader Dashboard.
13
Technical Info
Allows users to access technical information about the specific workflow and change request.
Editing in Frontend
Edit Change Request
Selected users may have the permission to edit a given change request in certain approval workflow steps.
To do so, click on the edit icon depicted in the “Proposal Text” window, as highlighted in the image below. Remark: If you do not see the edit icon, it either means that you don't have the permission to edit the change request, or that it isn't possible to do so at this specific workflow stage.
Rejecting a Change Request raised accidentally/or duplicated
It is possible to “REJECT” a Change Request at the “In Analyse” stage, all that is required it to Click the "REJECT" button and the Change Request will be rejected and not show in the revision process. Depending on the specific workflow created for your tenant/documents, there may be other times during the workflow where it is possible to reject a Change Request, not only when “In Analyse” as shown in the example above,
Please be aware that a Change Request which has been moved through the workflow to be “In Edit”, it is currently not possible to reject or delete a Change Request. In the rare instance where a Change Request may need to be deleted in the edit status, for operational reason, please contact your Account Manager to discuss this on a case by case basis to find the right solution.
Implement Draft Version
To ensure that an approved change request is actually implemented and published with the next document revision, it must be implemented as a draft version.
The draft version of a given change request must be implemented during the respective stage of a given workflow, often called the “In Edit” stage.
To do so, begin by clicking on the Toggle switch, as depicted in the image below.
Doing so toggles the view to show the draft version on the right hand side, as depicted in the image below.
Start editing by clicking on the edit icon depicted in the “Draft Version” window (1). Remark: If you do not see the edit icon, it either means that you don't have the permission to edit the change request, or that the the workflow is currently not in the required workflow stage to edit.
Once the edit icon is clicked, an editor window appears. The user can now implement the change request as a draft version.
Remark: The draft version reflects the final formatting for the change request at hand.
Finalize the editing process by clicking on SAVE.
Then click REQUEST APPROVAL (may be named differently in your organization's setup) to advance the change to the next workflow step.