Workflow for releasing documentation

[Gerben Wierda]

I have the following use case.

1. There is a documentation that is the current valid version
2. People need to work on an update, as long as the update is being worked on, the old one is the valid one
3. At some point, the new one is accepted and should replace the old one
4. The creation and acceptance process require that a large number of people have access to the draft and can comment on it

I have looked at collaborative editing, but only editors can see the proposed changes and there is a maximum of 12 editors for a page if I understand the documentation correctly, which is not enough by far.

I have been looking at cloning the documentation to a new version and working one that, publishing the clone for review purposes, but links to the old one should survive when the new version is accepted (we do not want broken links).

Is there a way to do this?

[James Conway]

Hello @Gerben Wierda 

Welcome to the community. Confluence is a great platform and collaborative editing is really powerful, however it can be difficult to control the change management process. The good news is that there are many apps on the Atlassian Marketplace (https://marketplace.atlassian.com/search?category=Document%20management&product=confluence) that may help you manage your document changes.

One of your options could be Comala Document Management, the app allows you to create workflows to manage your document lifecycle. This could include reviews, different document stages, publishing or automated change record tables. If you want to learn more about Comala Document Management, please check out our webinars.  

All the best

James
Senior Product Manager

[Dominic Lagger]

Hi @Gerben Wierda 

Do I understand it correct: On the new version, only the editors should have access, not everyone? 

In your case, I think the best way would be to copy the old version and edit the copy. When it's released, delete or move the old version to an archiv page tree.

Perhaps an app could be a solution. We use scroll versions. There, you can edit a page in multiple versions. But you can't restrict the versions itself (I think, I'm not sure)

I hope I could help or give a little hint. 

Regards, Dominic

[Gerben Wierda]

Hi Dominic,

the draft of the version that is being updated should be editable by more than one, and a larger group should be able to comment.

My worry is that if other pages refer to the original version, a ‘copy’ workflow will not update all references on other pages, which means that after the new copy becomes the ‘official’ page, many pages still refer to the outdated one.

[Dominic Lagger]

Hi @Gerben Wierda 

I see the problem now, I think.

In your first question you said, that collaborative editing would be an option, but you said that 12 editors are not enough. 

Did you know, that these 12 people are simultaneously users? Means: a lot more can edit the document, but not more than 12 person at the same time. Perhaps this was a misunderstanding. Does really more than 12 people have to edit the page at the same time? 

Otherwise, I really do not know any good solution... 

Did you have a look at the plugin scroll versions? 

Regards, Dominic