Author Phase

In the author phase, authors and approvers work with doclets to add content to a report package. Authors provide content, and approvers review and edit the content.

Benefits of the author phase include:

Content Management

Content management allows users to check doclets in and out of a central repository, ensuring that only one user at a time is updating a doclet. It also provides for version control. When a user checks in an updated version of a doclet, the previous version is automatically stored. Previous versions can be easily accessed for comparison. Users can store versions that they're still working on and can check versions in when they're ready for others to access them.

Note:

Doclet versioning has been optimized to minimize the impact of multiple automated check-ins. When multiple automated check-ins are performed on the doclet due to variable or embedded content changes, the system will update the doclet contents but will not generate a new version.

Flexible Workflow

Workflow enables doclet content to be developed collaboratively. An author can update the doclet, and an approver can review and edit the content. You can set up multiple levels of approvals, and the number of approval levels can vary per doclet. For example, a doclet containing an introductory statement may not require an approval, and a doclet containing revenue information may require multiple approval levels.

Using workflow, users scheduled for later in the review process can take control of a doclet sooner. For example, if a doclet is assigned to an author, an approver or the owner of the report package can take action on the doclet without waiting for the doclet author. This flexibility eliminates bottlenecks and speeds up content development.

Process Reporting

Process reporting enables you to view the author phase status on two levels:

Summary level—Provides statuses for the entire author phase, such as the overall completion percentage of the author phase, a summary of the status of all the doclets, and the due date and time remaining for the author phase.
Doclet level—Provides the status for each individual doclet, the current responsibility, and whether the doclet is checked in or out. You can also tell at a glance the workflow level of the doclets, including the user assignments and the due dates by user.