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InfoSphere Business Glossary updates to workflow feature, in patch
JR45260

Product Documentation


Abstract

The workflow feature of InfoSphere Business Glossary, Version 9.1, has been enhanced with patch patch_JR45260_bg_all_9100-1. New features include Reviewer and Approver workflow roles and a development log.

Content

Summary

The following new major features have been added to workflow:

  • New roles of Reviewer and Approver
  • Development log

In addtion, the following changes have been made to the workflow feature:
  • Change in security roles required to be a participant in the workflow process: Business Glossary Users can now be assigned to the Reviewer or Approver workflow roles.
  • Ability for all workflow team members to add comments at any time.

Detailed instructions

Table of contents


Workflow management introduction


Defining business glossary workflow roles

Configuring workflow

Deploying business glossary content when workflow is enabled


    Approving business glossary content

    Publishing business glossary content

    Workflow management introduction

    IBM InfoSphere Business Glossary supports a phased process of developing and deploying glossary content with an optional workflow feature.

    When the workflow feature is enabled, InfoSphere Business Glossary displays two versions of the business glossary to users with appropriate permissions:

    Development glossary


    The version of the business glossary for use by designated users when they develop or change business glossary content. The development glossary contains business glossary assets that are being created or revised but that have not been published. The development glossary also contains copies of business glossary assets as they exist in the published glossary if the assets have not yet been revised. Users must be assigned one or more workflow roles of Editor, Reviewer, Approver, or Publisher to view or work with content that is in the development glossary. The specific content that each user can view is determined by development glossary permissions.

    Published glossary
    The version of the business glossary that all business glossary users can view. Users do not need workflow roles to view content in the published glossary. The specific content that each user can view is determined by published glossary permissions.

    After initial publication, business glossary content can be revised and republished on an ongoing basis, based on the needs of your enterprise.

    When the workflow feature is enabled, the Business Glossary Administrator must assign workflow roles to business glossary users who are part of the governance team. Business glossary assets move through different workflow states in the development glossary until they are published. Users with workflow roles can do specific tasks with the business glossary assets that are under development, depending on their workflow role and the workflow state of the asset.

    The following figure shows a typical workflow process. The process that you implement in your enterprise might be different in some respects. Or, you might have several different processes in place, for different subsets of the business glossary.

    Figure 1. Workflow process



    Step 1
    Create and initially define. An Editor begins to define a new business glossary asset by clicking Create and selecting the type of asset to define: term, category, policy, or rule. The new asset is put into the development glossary, in draft state.

    Step 2
    Review. Governance team members can review the new draft asset by viewing the details page of the asset in the development glossary. At this stage, the asset does not appear in the published glossary. Typically team members with the Reviewer role review and submit comments, although any team member who has a workflow role can do so.

    Step 3
    Revise. The Editor revises the definition of the asset based on the received comments. To see all of the comments, the Editor can view the development log on the details page of the asset. The review and revision steps can occur iteratively, until all of the required governance team members agree that the asset is ready to be made available to the full enterprise. Once the asset definition is ready, the Editor sends it for approval. Sending the asset for approval changes its state from draft to pending approval.

    Step 4
    Approve. A governance team member with the Approver role either approves the asset for publishing or rejects it, returning it to the draft state. After the Approver has approved the asset, the asset is in approved state. An approver can also send an asset that is in the approved state back to the draft state.

    Step 5
    Publish. Once the asset is approved, a governance team member with the Publisher role can publish it. After the asset is published, it is displayed in the published glossary. An identical copy of the asset is retained in the development glossary, ready for future revision.

    Assets can be reviewed at any time during the workflow process by users with any workflow role, regardless of the workflow state of the asset (draft, pending approval, and approved). Comments about assets can be added to the development log at any time, regardless of their workflow state.

    You can assign different development glossary permissions, based on categories, to different users who have workflow roles, such that they are responsible for specific subsets of the business glossary.



    Workflow states of business glossary assets

      Business glossary assets under development can be in draft, pending approval, or approved states in the development glossary.

      When the workflow feature is enabled, business glossary assets move through different states, related to their stage of development. These states are visible in the development glossary. The following table describes the possible states.

      Table 1. Workflow states of business glossary assets

      Workflow state
      Description
      DraftWhen an asset is initially created it is in draft state. If a published asset is edited, the edited version of it is displayed draft state.
      Pending approvalAfter an asset in draft state is sent for approval, it is in pending approval state. An asset in pending approval state can be approved or it can be sent back to draft state by the Editor or Approver.
      ApprovedAfter an asset is approved, it is in approved state. From approved state, the asset can be published by the Publisher. It can also be sent back to draft state by the Approver.

      After an asset is published, it appears identically in the development glossary and the published glossary. The next time the asset is edited, the edited version is displayed in draft state in the development glossary, while the previously published version continues to be displayed in the published glossary.

      When you are viewing the development glossary, you can view assets under development by state. For example, to view a list of all draft assets, click Drafts. To view a list of all Pending Approval assets, click Pending Approval. To view a list of all Approved assets, click Approved. From each of the resulting lists you can click on a specific asset to display its details page. The details page that is displayed is the version that is under development.

      The properties of an asset that have changed in the development glossary since the asset was published are indicated on the details page by the changed properties icon:changed properties icon.

      From the details page of an asset in the development glossary, you can perform development activities with the asset according to your workflow role. For example, if you are an Approver, you can approve the asset for publication. However, if you are an Editor, you can edit the details page, but you cannot approve the asset.

      Workflow roles

        You can assign workflow roles to IBM InfoSphere Business Glossary users. These roles provide users with varying capabilities related to the stages of deploying a business glossary.

        Business Glossary Administrators can enable or disable the workflow feature. After workflow is enabled, the administrator must assign workflow roles to one or more users before the feature can be used. The following workflow roles are available:

        • Editor
        • Reviewer
        • Approver
        • Publisher

        Users with these workflow roles can interact with business glossary assets that are under development in specified ways, based on their roles. The following table shows the workflow roles and the main tasks that are associated with each of these roles. All tasks are done in the development glossary.

        Table 2. Workflow roles and tasks

        Users with this workflow role...
        ...can do these tasks with business glossary assets
        EditorCreate new assets, edit and delete existing assets
        ReviewerReview assets under development
        ApproverApprove assets for publication
        PublisherPublish approved assets

        Specific security roles are required for users to be eligible for specific workflow roles. The following table shows the required security roles and detailed capabilities for each workflow role.

        Table 3. Security roles and detailed capabilities of workflow roles

        Workflow role
        Available for users with any of these security roles*
        View development glossary content
        Submit comments
        Create, revise, and delete
        Send draft for approval
        Approve
        Send from pending back to draft
        Send from approved back to draft
        Publish content
        EditorBusiness Glossary AuthorXXXX--X----
        ReviewerBusiness Glossary Author, Business Glossary UserXX------------
        ApproverBusiness Glossary Author, Business Glossary UserXX----XXX--
        PublisherBusiness Glossary AuthorXX-------- X

        * Any workflow role is also available to users with the Business Glossary Administrator security role.

        You can assign multiple workflow roles to a single user. You can assign any of the workflow roles to multiple users.

        When workflow is enabled, at least one InfoSphere Business Glossary user must be designated for the Editor, Approver, and Publisher roles. Each of these roles can be filled by different users or a combination of users. For example, one user could be the Editor and another user could be both the Approver and the Publisher.


      Development log for business glossary assets

        If the workflow feature is enabled, you can monitor changes that are made to a business glossary asset by viewing its development log.

        The development log is displayed under the Development Log heading on the details page of the asset in the development glossary. A development log entry is created whenever a change is made to a business glossary asset or whenever a workflow participant adds a comment.

        The development log provides information about each change including the date it was made, the type of activity that occurred, the workflow state of the asset, the responsible user or user group, and comments.

        If the asset is a term, you can click View Changes in the development log entry to see the recorded changes to the term. Only some types of changes that can be made to a term are recorded. These changes are the same changes that can be displayed in term history.

      Defining business glossary workflow roles

        Glossary users can be assigned roles that allow them to participate in a controlled, phased development process for business glossary assets. This optional phased process, called workflow, is configured by the Business Glossary Administrator.

        When workflow is enabled, specific workflow roles permit InfoSphere® Business Glossary users to create and edit, review, approve, and publish business glossary assets. Typically, members of the glossary governance team are given workflow roles that permit them to create, edit, approve, and publish, and a larger set of users are given a role that permits them to review and comment.

        The ability of a user to be assigned to specific workflow roles depends on the InfoSphere Business Glossary security role of the user. Only Business Glossary Authors can be assigned to the Editor or Publisher roles. However, users with the Business Glossary User security role or higher can have the Reviewer or Approver workflow roles. See Workflow roles for more information on the requirements and capabilities of different workflow roles.


        At least one user must be assigned to the Editor, Approver, and Publisher workflow roles for the workflow feature to operate. You can assign multiple Editors, Reviewers, Approvers, and Publishers who are responsible for different subsets of business glossary term and category content by using development glossary permissions.

        For example, a business glossary contains the categories finance and personnel. The governance team members and reviewers for the finance category are different from the governance team members and reviewers for the personnel category. You can use a combination of workflow roles and category permissions so that different users are enabled to be the Editor, Reviewers, Approver, and Publisher for each category. To accomplish this, the Business Glossary Administrator follows these steps:

          1. Enables the workflow feature.

          2. Assigns workflow roles to the users or groups who are the governance team members and reviewers.
          • Assigns one or more governance team members for the finance category to the Editor, Approver, and Publisher roles. Assigns the Reviewer role to the remaining members of the finance department.
          • Assigns one or more governance team members for the personnel category to the Editor, Approver, and Publisher roles. Assigns the Reviewer role to the remaining members of the personnel department.
          3. Assigns category permissions to the users who were assigned workflow roles in the previous step.
          • Assigns permissions to the finance category to the users who are on the finance category governance team, and to the users who are the finance category reviewers.
          • Assigns permissions to the personnel category to the users who are on the personnel category governance team, and to the users who are the personnel category reviewers.
      Configuring workflow

        To use the workflow feature, the Business Glossary Administrator must turn workflow on, and then assign at least one user to the Editor role, the Reviewer role, and the Publisher role.

        Before you begin

        • You must be logged in to InfoSphere® Business Glossary as a Business Glossary Administrator.
        • Assign security roles to InfoSphere Business Glossary users and user groups. For more information see Security roles.
        • At least one user must have the Business Glossary Author security role or higher. Only users with the Business Glossary Author security role or higher can be assigned to the Editor or Publisher roles.
        Procedure
          1. Select Administration > Management > Workflow.
          2. Select the Enable workflow check box.
          3. Under Workflow Role Assignments, add users to the list of possible workflow participants.
            1. Click the Add User drop-down menu, and select Add User or Add Group.
            2. Click the Find by ... drop-down menu, and select a method of searching for user or group names. For example, if you selected Add User in the previous step, you can choose to find users by first name, last name, user name, or email address.
            3. Start typing the text that corresponds to the search method you just selected. For example, if you selected Find by Email Address and the email address of a user is [email protected], start typing "[email protected]". The search is case-sensitive.
            4. Repeat steps 3a. through 3c. for all the users and groups that you want to add as workflow participants.
            4. For each user or group in the list, click the check boxes next to the workflow roles that you want to assign to that user or
            group.

              If the security role of the user or group does not permit the user or group to be assigned to a particular workflow role, the check box for the disallowed workflow role is disabled. For example, if the user Tim has the Business Glossary User security role, then the check boxes next to the workflow roles of Reviewer and Approver are enabled, but the check boxes next to the workflow roles of Editor and Publisher are disabled.
            5. Click Save.
          Results
          The workflow feature is enabled. The Development Glossary and Published Glossary tabs are displayed to users who are assigned to workflow roles. When a user with the Editor role creates or modifies business glossary assets, the Editor works in the development glossary. Users with other workflow roles can review and add comments about the development glossary content. Comments are displayed in the development log.

          The new or changed content must be approved by an Approver and published by a Publisher before the changes are displayed in the published glossary.

          When workflow is enabled, the Business Glossary Administrator can choose to export only the development glossary, instead of the published glossary.

          What to do next


          You can configure development glossary category and term permissions to grant access to only certain categories of the development glossary for specific users and user groups. You can also configure viewing permissions to specific categories of the published glossary.
          Deploying business glossary content when workflow is enabled

            If workflow is enabled, business glossary content must go through an approval and publication process to be made available to general users.

            If the workflow feature is enabled, a user who is an Approver must approve changes to business glossary content, and a Publisher must explicitly publish the changed content before it can be seen by business glossary users who do not have a workflow role.

            The workflow process consists of the following steps:

              1. A business glossary Editor changes content in the development glossary. This change can consist of creating a business glossary asset, modifying a business glossary asset, or marking a business glossary asset for deletion. After the changes are saved, the new or changed asset is in draft state.
              2. The Editor sends the draft to an Approver for approval.
              3. The Approver sends the draft to a Publisher for publication.
              4. The Publisher publishes the draft or sends it back to the draft state for additional revision.
            After the asset is published, the new asset or changes to an existing asset are displayed in the published glossary. For more information see Workflow management introduction.

            The following exception exists to this workflow process:
            • Asset assignments to terms or to information governance rules can be seen immediately by all users, unless the assigned asset is a term or a category. If the assigned asset is a term or a category, the assignment becomes visible when you publish either the term or category.

            For example, if a new term, "Calculated" is added to the category "Risk" in the development glossary, Business Glossary Basic Users and Business Glossary Users cannot see the term "Calculated" until the Publisher publishes this new term. In addition, a user who is a Business Glossary Author but who does not have permission to access the category "Risk" in the development glossary also cannot see the new term until it is published. However, a user who is a Business Glossary Author who has been given development glossary permission to the category "Risk" can see the new term before it is published, but only in the development glossary.

            After "Calculated" has been added to the published glossary, the author of this term decides that it should have the database table "DB2_Fiscal_YTD" assigned to it. The author edits "Calculated" and assigns DB2_Fiscal_YTD" to it. When a user views "Calculated" in the published glossary, the user can see this assignment, even though the term "Calculated" has not been republished.


          Approving business glossary content

            When workflow is enabled, users who have been assigned the business glossary Approver role can approve content in the development glossary.

            Before you begin

            • You must be logged in as a Business Glossary User, Business Glossary Author or a Business Glossary Administrator.
            • You must have the Approver workflow role.
            • There must be business glossary content that is in the Pending Approval state.
            About this task
            When a user who is a business glossary Editor makes and saves a change to a business glossary asset, the change is displayed as a draft version of the asset in the development glossary. The Editor must send the draft version for approval. This changes the state of the asset to Pending Approval. When the asset is in this state, an Approver can approve the asset or send it back to draft state so that the Editor can make additional changes. The Approver can also add comments about the asset. The comments are displayed in the development log.

            Procedure
              1. Click Development Glossary.
              2. Click Pending Approval to display the list of business glossary assets that are pending approval.
              3. Select one or more assets to approve or to send back to draft state.
              4. Click Approve to approve the terms or categories, or click Return to Draft if you want the Editor to make additional changes.
              5. Optional: Add a comment.
            Results
            If approved, the selected assets move to the approved state. You can view the list of assets that are in the approved state by clicking Approved in the development glossary navigation pane. If returned to draft, the selected terms and categories move back to the draft state. You can view the list of terms and categories in draft state by clicking Drafts in the development glossary navigation pane.

          Publishing business glossary content
              If workflow is enabled, the business glossary Publisher must explicitly publish new or changed business glossary content before it can be viewed in the published glossary.

              Before you begin

              • You must be logged in as a Business Glossary Author or a Business Glossary Administrator.
              • You must have the Publisher workflow role.
              • The content to be published must already be approved.
              About this task

              After you publish new or changed business glossary content, that content can be viewed by any user in the published glossary, if the user has access permissions to the particular assets. To view specific categories and terms, the user must have published glossary permissions to a category to be able to view terms in that category or in its subcategories. To view information governance policies and information governance rules, the user must have a security role of Business Glossary User or higher. Publishing changed business glossary assets overwrites the existing versions of them in the published glossary. Also, if any business glossary assets have been marked for deletion, they are deleted from the business glossary when you publish.

              If a property of a business glossary asset to be published is a relationship with another business glossary asset that is not yet published, the property will not be displayed. For example, if you designate Term2 to be a synonym to Term1, but Term2 has not yet been published, then the details page of Term1 in the published glossary will not display Term2 as a synonym.

              Procedure

                1. Click Development Glossary.
                2. Click Approved in the navigation pane to view a list of approved items.
                3. Select the items you want to publish.
                4. Click Publish.
                5. Optional: Add a comment.
              Results
              The published glossary is updated with the changes. The development log shows a state of Synched, to indicate that an identical copy of the asset exists in the development glossary and the published glossary.

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          Document Information

          Modified date:
          17 June 2018

          UID

          swg27038325