Introduction

The Project States feature empowers you to effectively control the lifecycle of your projects, collaborate seamlessly with reviewers, and manage access based on the project's status. This guide will walk you through the different project states, roles, permissions, and how to utilize these features to enhance your project management process.

The Project States feature enhances your ability to manage projects effectively, ensuring clear workflows and proper access control throughout the project lifecycle. By utilizing these states and understanding the associated permissions, you can collaborate more efficiently and maintain high standards for your content.

 

How to enable Project States on your projects and scenarios

Using Project States is part of the Advanced Enterprise Package.

For cloud customers

Please contact your customer success manager to enable this feature.

For on-prem customers

A super admin can toggle on the "REVISION MANAGEMENT" setting under "Edit Company" settings with in the CMS.

Overview of Project States

Project states define the stages a project goes through from creation to release and archiving. The five project states are:

1. In Progress
2. In Review
3. Changes Requested
   1. Major Changes Requested
   2. Minor Changes Requested
4. Approved
5. Archive

Each state determines the level of access and permissions for authors, reviewers, and viewers, ensuring that the right people have the right access at the right time.

 

Project States Explained

Project State	Description	Access Permissions	Possible Transitions
In Progress	Default state for new projects where authors create and edit content.	Authors: Full read/write access Reviewers: Read-only access Viewers: No access.	Move to In Review Move to Approved Move to Archive
In Review	Projects ready for reviewer feedback.	Authors: Read-only access Reviewers: Read-only access Viewers: No access	Move to Changes Requested Move to Approved Move to Archive
Major Changes Requested	Projects requiring major modifications based on reviewer feedback.	Authors: Full read/write access Reviewers: Read-only access Viewers: No access	Move to In Review Move to Approved Move to Archive
Minor Changes Requested	Projects requiring minor modifications based on reviewer feedback, while viewer will not lose access.	Authors: Full read/write access Reviewers: Read-only access Viewers: Access to scenario in the app.	Move to In Review Move to Approved Move to Archive
Approved	Projects reviewed and approved for release.	Authors: Read-only access Reviewers: Read-only access Viewers: Access to approved scenarios in the app.	Move to Changes Requested Move to Archive
Archive	Projects that are no longer active or have been retired.	Authors: Read-only access Reviewers: No access Viewers: No access.	Move back to In Progress

 

Roles and Permissions

Understanding the available roles is crucial for effective collaboration.

Roles can be assigned in the CMS under "Edit User"

Authors

• Role: Create and edit project content.
• Permissions:
  • Full access to change project states.
  • Read/write access in In Progress and Changes Requested states.
  • Read-only access in In Review, Approved, and Archive states.

Reviewers

This is a newly added role when the company setting for "REVISION MANAGMENT" is turned on in the CMS

• Role: Review project content.
• Permissions:
  • Read-only access in all states except Archive.
  • Ability to change project states.
  • Collaborate with authors to finalize projects.

Viewers

• Role: Access released project scenarios.
• Permissions:
  • Can only access scenarios in the Approved state.
  • No access to projects in other states.

 

Changing Project States

Managing the state of your project is straightforward:

In Create:

1. Access Your Project: Open the project you wish to update.
2. Navigate to Project State Settings next to your Project's name
   
3. Select New State: Choose the desired state from the dropdown menu.

Note: Changing to certain states may save the project and require publishing the scenario to ensure consistency between the project's state and its available content.

Share on State Change

When transitioning a project to In Review or Changes Requested, the system will prompt you to share the project. This ensures that you don't forget to share the project with other authors or reviewers, providing them with the correct content access.

Force Publish on State Change

When transitioning a project to In Review or Approved, the system will prompt you to publish the scenario. This ensures that there is a corresponding published version that matches the new state, providing reviewers and viewers with the correct content access.

 

Status History

Track all changes to your project's state with the Status History feature:

• Accessing Revision History:
  • On the Create Welcome Screen
    • Right click a project and select "Status History"
      
    • Review the results
      
  • In a Create project 
    • Open your project.
    • Navigate to File > Status History.
      
  • In the CMS
    • Go to Content > Projects, select your project, Status History tab
      
• Information Available:
  • User Details: Identify who made each change.
  • Status: See all transitions between project states and their Status.
  • Date Changed: View when each change occurred.

This transparency helps you monitor progress and maintain accountability throughout the project's lifecycle.

 

Frequently Asked Questions

Q1: Can I edit a project while it's in the In Review state?

A: No, projects in the In Review state are read-only for both authors and reviewers. To make edits, change the project state back to In Progress or Changes Requested.

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Q2: What happens to viewer access when a project moves from Approved to In Progress?

A: By default, viewers will no longer have access to the scenario. However, you can enable the option to allow viewers to continue accessing the project with Create view-only mode.

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Q3: Can reviewers make changes to project content?

A: No, reviewers have read-only access to project content. They can change project states and provide feedback but cannot edit the content directly.

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Q4: How do I archive a project, and can it be restored?

A: To archive a project, change its state to Archived in the project settings. Archived projects can be restored by changing the state back to In Progress.

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Q5: Is it possible to track who changed the project state and when?

A: Yes, the Status History feature logs all state changes, including who made the change and the timestamp.