1. Fusion Service Questions and Answers
  2. Why can't I start a workflow to review a knowledge article?

Why can't I start a workflow to review a knowledge article?

To be able to submit a knowledge article for review, your administrator must create and enable workflows for Knowledge:

For more information, see the Workflow video on Oracle Video Hub.

Enable Workflow Task Approval

To enable workflow task approval:

  1. Log in as an administrator.
  2. Select Setup and Maintenance.
  3. Click the Tasks tab, and then click Search.
  4. Search for and click Manage Activity Standard Lookups.
  5. Click ZMM_ACTIVITY_OUTCOME.
  6. In the text box above the Lookup Code column, type ORA_KM and press the Enter key.

  7. Select the Enabled check box for:

    • ORA_KM_APPROVED
    • ORA_KM_REJECTED
  8. Click Save and Close.
  9. Click Done.

Create a Workflow

Before you create a workflow, you must plan your workflow in advance by considering all the possible steps in the publishing lifecycle. You may also want to review any existing workflows to determine if there are any workflows that already meet your requirements.

Use the following procedure to create a workflow:

  1. In the Setup and Maintenance work area, go to the Manage Knowledge Workflows task:
    • Offering: Service or Help Desk
    • Functional Area: Knowledge Management
    • Task: Manage Knowledge Workflows
  2. In the Workflows page, click Create.
  3. Specify the following information:
    1. Workflow Name: The name of the workflow process.
    2. Publish articles automatically when complete?: Disable this option if you want articles to be published manually when the workflow completes. By default, this option is enabled, and articles are published automatically after the workflow completes.
  4. Complete the following procedure to add steps to the workflow:
    1. Click +Step.

    2. In the Add Step page, specify the following details:

      • Step Name: The name of the workflow step. This name appears as a task to the users in the Knowledge Tasks page.
      • Reference Key: A text string used as internal identifier for this step. Make a note of the reference key which will be used to create a data security policy for this step.
      • Duration: The number of days for the user to complete this step. If used, this causes the workflow task to have a due date.

        If the due date has elapsed then the task is considered overdue. Even though the task is overdue, the user can still complete the task. The task is not automatically approved.

      • Allow editing in step?: Disable this option if you don’t want any user to edit the article during this step in the workflow.
      • Only assigned users can approve?: Indicates whether a user must be assigned to approve this step.

        By default, this option isn't enabled, which means any user (with privileges to view the article in authoring and approve the workflow step) can approve the step.

    3. Click Create.
  5. Repeat step 4, if you want to add more steps to the workflow.
  6. Click +Content Type, and select the content types to which you want to associate this workflow, and then click Add.
    Note: Only articles of this content type will go through this workflow.
  7. Click Save.

Set up User Privileges for Workflows

Workflows typically involve users of two types:

  • Users who perform the steps in a workflow
  • Users who assign tasks to other users in addition to performing tasks

Users such as Knowledge Managers, who assign tasks to other users, require special privileges to assign tasks.

Here are some key points you should know about privileges for workflows:

  • You must determine the workflow steps for which you need users with special privileges.
  • You must make a note of the reference keys for the workflow steps.
  • To assign the special privileges to a user, you must add a data security policy to the user's existing knowledge authoring role. Note that this is in addition to the existing knowledge authoring privileges. Just having approval privileges does not give the user access to the authoring UI or access to view the articles that need approval.

You must create a data security policy for each workflow step. For example, if your workflow has a step named "SME Review", you must perform the following steps:

  1. Make a note of the reference key for the step.
  2. Go to Tools, and click Security Console.
  3. On the Roles page, search and select the role to which you want to assign workflow privileges.
  4. From the actions menu, click Edit Role.
  5. Click Data Security Policies.
  6. In the Data Security Policies page, click + Create Data Security Policy.

  7. Enter the following information:

    • Policy Name: Name of the data security policy. For example, SME Review Step.
    • Data Resource: Knowledge Workflow Steps
    • Data Set: Select by key
    • REFERENCE_KEY: Reference key of the workflow step that you made note of. For example: SME_REVIEW.
    • Actions: Select Approve or reject a Knowledge Workflow Step
  8. Click OK.

  9. If the user who is doing the SME Review should be able to assign the task to other users, complete the following configuration. Else, skip this step.

    1. Click Function Security Policies.
    2. In the Function Security Policies page, click +Add Function Security Policy.
    3. Search and select Manage Knowledge Tasks, which has CSO_MANAGE_TASKS_PRIV as its code.
    4. Click Add Privilege to Role.
    5. Search and select Knowledge User Management, which has CSO_KNOWLEDGE_USER_MANAGEMENT_PRIV as its code. This privilege allows the assigner to view and select the users to whom they will assign the task.
    6. Click Add Privilege to Role.
  10. Click Summary.
  11. Click Save and Close.