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How can I leverage Comala to build an approval workflow for Release & Deployment plan in Wiki?

starryeyes

I am trying to streamline my team's release & deployment plans. Major issues found:

- Tracking required sign-offs to approve release and deployment plan

- Sending escalation when approval is not received by specific parties

- Restricting editing during certain approval phases

- Allowing editing for specific users at specified phases (i.e. Operations team can upload documents and change request tickets at the Ops Review phase)

- Reusing the approval template for new R&D plans without creating a new workflow

At the moment, my team currently tracks approvals via email. We would want to move away from using email as form of tracking approvals on release and deployment plan. Our release and deployment is maintained on the team's Wiki Confluence site. However, we are trying to find ways to

(1) Identify data that needs to be provided at specified time (i.e. Draft phase the following fields are required prior to submission)

(2) Identify users that must supply specific information at specified phase (i.e. If specific group has a release, the leads must enter data in specific fields)

(3) Restrict users from editing during specific phases (i..e. Prod Ops can only enter data during Prod Review which does not return the content to draft)

(4) System send escalation to specified persons when approval is not received at a specific timeframe (i.e. PM fails to provide feedback an email is sent to senior management)

Confluence has Comala workflow as an existing plug-in feature. I tried testing out this feature but I noticed there some limitations using the workflow builder. Does anyone know whether Confluence/Comala can be leverage to build a robust in-house application described above?

Accepted answers

All comments

James Conway_4h3kp2

Hi @starryeyes

Really interesting use case, I'm going to ask our support team to take a look at this and evaluate how a workflow could be created to solve it. I'll post back here next week.

Kind regards

James
Senior Product Manager

James Conway_4h3kp2

Hi @starryeyes

Really interesting use case, I'm going to ask our support team to take a look at this and evaluate how a workflow could be created to solve it. I'll post back here next week.

Kind regards

James
Senior Product Manager

starryeyes

Thank you @James Conway for the response.

Jorge Merino

Hi @starryeyes

All the document control functionalities that you describe are often configured in Comala Document Management. I have created the following workflow trying to adapt your requirements. I can explain better any specific question, however, I recommend you start with this workflow. You'll need to copy the following workflow to a test space. Then, configure the parameters at Space Tools -> Document Management -> Parameters. Finally, create a new page using the label "planned".

{workflow:name=Release and Deploy|label=planned}
{description}
The Release and Deploy has four states.
You can define the Reviewers and Prod Ops and Senior Management in the Space Admin Workflow Configuration.
{description}
{workflowparameter:Reviewers|description=Reviewers group|type=group}
confluence-users
{workflowparameter}
{workflowparameter:Prod Ops|type=group}
confluence-users
{workflowparameter}
{workflowparameter:Senior Management|description=Escalate notification|type=group|edit=true}
confluence-users
{workflowparameter}
{workflowparameter:pagefield1|description=Something related to the project|edit=true}

{workflowparameter}
{workflowparameter:pagefield2|description=More things related to the project|edit=true}

{workflowparameter}
{workflowparameter:expiry|description=Mail to Management|type=duration|edit=true}
P7D
{workflowparameter}
{state:Draft|submit=Reviewed}
{state}
{state:Reviewed|approved=Prod Review|rejected=Draft|colour=#ffab00|requiredparams=pagefield1,pagefield2}
@{approval:Team approval|assignable=true|group=@Reviewers@|exclude=@creator@}
{state}
@{state:Prod Review|approved=Released|rejected=Reviewed|taskable=true|duedate=@expiry@|changeduedate=true}
@{approval:Operations|user=@Prod Ops@}
@{approval:Management|user=@Senior Management@}
{state}
{state:Released|final=true|rejected=Prod Review|updated=Reviewed|hideselection=true}
{state}
{trigger:statechanged|state=Draft}
{set-message}
Instructions of the workflow here
{set-message}
{trigger}
{trigger:statechanged|state=Reviewed}
{set-message:style=note|duration=1m}
Please assign the approval to a team member
{set-message}
{trigger}
{trigger:statechanged|state=Prod Review}
{set-message}
Page Restricted only users with edit permissions can view this version of the page!
{set-message}
@{set-restrictions:type=Edit|group=@Prod Ops@, @Senior Management@|user=@creator@}
@{set-restrictions:type=View|group=@Prod Ops@, @Senior Management@|user=@creator@}
{trigger}
{trigger:statechanged|state=Released}
{set-message}{set-message}
{remove-restriction:type=Edit}
{remove-restriction:type=View}
{trigger}
{trigger:pageapproved|approval=Team approval}
@{send-email:user=@Prod Ops@,@Management@|subject=Page ready for final approval}
The page @page@ has been approved by [~@user@] and is waiting for your final approval.
{pageactivity}
{send-email}
{trigger}
{trigger:pagerejected|approval=Team approval}
@{send-email:user=@creator@|subject=Document rejected}
Your assigned reviewer has reviewed and rejected @page@
Comment: @approvalcomment@
{send-email}
{trigger}
{trigger:pagerejected|approval=Management|partial=true}
@{set-state:Reviewed|comment=Page rejected by @user@. Comment: @approvalcomment@}
{trigger}
{trigger:stateexpired|state=Prod Review}
{set-label:delayed}
@{set-state-expiry:duedate=@expiry@}
@{send-email:user=@Operations&gt;pendingusers@|subject=Reminder}
Operations approvers, please review and respond at your earliest convenience.
Please approve Approval X on @page@
{send-email}
@{send-email:user=@Senior Management@|subject=Approval delayed}
Management team, please review and respond at your earliest convenience.
Please approve Approval X on @page@
{send-email}
{trigger}
{workflow}

Please, find here the Workflow Authoring Guide. If you have any question or you do not understand any part of the Markup please let me know it.

Best regards,
Jorge

starryeyes

Thank you Jorge for providing the detail template to start with. The Space Configuration is that only available at the Administration level?

starryeyes

Is possible to configure the approval to detect missing information on the wiki page? For instance before submission for review, a test plan must be added or linked to the document. At production operations review phase, they must provide specific details on the document etc.

Jorge Merino

Hi @starryeyes,

By default, only the administrators of the space will be able to access the configuration menu of Comala Document Management via Space Tools -> Document Management.
You can find more info about it here.

Regarding your second question, I would recommend adding detailed information of the steps that the user should perform before submitting the page at each state using the set-message macro that you can see in the example of my previous message.
Another possibility could be using "requiredparams", this functionality forces the user to insert the value of a field before transitioning to the next state. You'll find an example in my previous message too, the parameters pagefield1 and pagefield2 are required before transitioning to the state Reviewed.

More info about the required parameters here.

Best regards,
Jorge

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