No matter what type of content you are producing, or what type of campaign you are executing, everything has to go through some sort of workflow process to get it done. And getting it "done" may not even be the last step in "the process".

DivvyHQ includes a variety of workflow tools to allow teams to either keep things simple, or get very granular with every step in a process defined and mapped out. In this article, we cover all these scenarios to help you get a handle on everything Divvy has to offer in the workflow department. Let's go!

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• DivvyHQ Workflow Basics
  • Task Management
  • Custom Workflows
  • Types of Workflows
  • Workflow Buildout Preparation
  • How to Build a Workflow
    • Start Building Out Your Process
  • Additional Actions

DivvyHQ Workflow Basics

For starters, DivvyHQ has a basic workflow baked into the application. Content items have a "Status" field that includes the states shown above.

Each content item can be moved through this basic workflow by updating the status field within each content item.

Task Management

DivvyHQ also includes a task management layer that sits underneath each content item. So individual content items can have tasks, much like a project management system has projects and tasks.

Individual tasks can be created when working with content items within the sandbox interface.

Custom Workflows

Enterprise and Pro accounts have the ability to create custom workflows, which can be used to establish process templates for different types of content and campaigns. Leveraging custom workflows automate much of the project management process by auto-creating workflows for specific content types and campaigns, as well as assigning users and keeping them on track via automated notifications.

Custom workflows are built using Divvy's Workflow Builder shown below.

For example, producing a blog post might consistently require the following steps: research, write first draft, source a photo, initial review/editing, SEO revisions, final review, and then posting to your CMS.

Building this workflow template automates the process of creating individual tasks for each content item (a big time saver). Additionally, assigning team members and specifying "average duration" automates assignment and deadline scheduling for each task, so everyone is on the same page and accountable for hitting their deadlines.

Types of Workflows

Before we get too deep into building individual workflows (we'll get to that below), note that there are a few different types of workflows that you can create. It's important to understand the differences as you'll be asked to specify the "workflow type" during the creation process.

• Content Workflows - These are designed to manage your production and review process ahead of a content asset being published. The built-in automation and scheduling features lead up to your final production deadline or target publishing date. 
• Campaign Workflows - These are designed to manage any/all tasks and logistics that coincide with the planning, execution, launch, and reporting of a larger campaign. Since these tasks may fall anywhere within a campaign timeline (before, during, and/or after a campaign), we do not incorporate scheduling automation like we do with content workflows. 

There is technically a third type of workflow that we call Global Workflows, but global workflows can be either a content or campaign workflow. The key distinction here is that global workflows are not specifically associated to content types, calendars, or campaign types. They're essentially orphan workflows that can be created and tied to projects anytime, manually.

Workflow Buildout Preparation

Before you start building out workflows, here are some best practices that we would recommend you complete prior to buildout. 

1. Configure your content types and campaign types - We'd advise you complete any configuration exercises (as likely discussed during onboarding) so that you can associate workflows to any desired content type or campaign type that you have configured in your account. 
2. Discuss and define workflow steps/tasks with your team - The workflow buildout process will require you to create specific workflow tasks, assign them to individual users (optional), and specify durations (time allotment for each task). So if you haven't sat down with your team to map out your process for specific types of content or campaigns, you probably want to do that first. 

How to Build a Workflow

To start building out a workflow, you can either select an existing workflow to edit, or you can create a new workflow from scratch.

Click the Add New button (shown below) to start the process from scratch.

Next, start filling in the details. Here's an explanation of the individual fields.

1. Workflow Name - This can be either very descriptive (ex: Brand XYZ Blog List Post) or general (ex: Blog Workflow). It really depends on how specific you envision your workflows will be. 
2. Workflow Type - Are you building a content workflow or a campaign workflow? Select the appropriate option.
3. Workflow Defaults- This is where some of our workflow automation comes in. The key question here... Do you want this workflow to automatically get generated when you create a new item of a certain type within Divvy? You can have this workflow automatically load based on specific content types, calendars, or campaign types.
   1. Reminder that this is optional. If you don't specify defaults (leave the fields blank), this workflow will become a Global workflow and be available for any type of content item or campaign.
      
      
      
      
   2. If a content item or campaign has 2 or more qualifying workflows for it, you would have to choose the specific workflow for that content item or campaign.
      
      
      

Start Building Out Your Process

You can now start adding and editing as many tasks as you wish. To add a new task just click the blue Add Task button. This will be bring up the Add/Edit Task overlay.

Within this overlay you can give the task a name, an average duration (how long it typically takes to complete this step), and assign it a default team member(s) if you wish. Once you have everything in place for the Task, click Save, and it will be added to that calendar's workflow.

To edit an existing production step, simply click its corresponding edit button (screen below) to bring up its Add/Edit Task overlay. You can also grab and drag steps to reorder if needed.

Once you've added and edited your production tasks for your workflow, click SAVE in the upper right. The new workflow will be added to the list of available workflows.

Additional Actions

• Duplicate a Workflow - In the event that you want to build a new workflow that is very similar to an existing workflow, just click the DUPLICATE icon next to the workflow that you'd like to duplicate. This will load a copy and you can make any necessary adjustments. This should save you a bunch of time!
• Disable a Workflow - Should you decide that you want to pause the use of an existing workflow, toggle the Disable icon and it will no longer be available for users. 
• Delete a Workflow - While we do not currently have a delete function, we'd advise you either just disable a workflow that you no longer want, or overwrite it with another workflow that you do want.