Workflow best practices

Content management workflows are essential for maintaining quality, consistency, and efficiency in your editorial process. They ensure that every piece of content, from web pages to emails, undergoes the right reviews and approvals before reaching your audience.

This guide covers how to design, implement, and manage effective workflows in Xperience by Kentico, including real-world scenarios, notification best practices, and optimization strategies.

Why workflows matter

Effective workflows are the backbone of content governance. They transform your content strategy into daily practice by ensuring that every item follows a consistent path from creation to publication.

Key benefits of editorial workflows

Content quality and consistency
Workflows guarantee that content meets your standards before going live. Each review step catches errors, verifies accuracy, and ensures brand compliance.

Clear responsibilities
Every workflow step has designated owners. Team members know exactly what’s expected of them, and approvals don’t get lost in email threads.

Audit trails and accountability
Track who created, reviewed, and approved content. This is especially important for regulated industries where you need to prove compliance.

Efficient collaboration
Multiple teams can work together smoothly. Notifications keep everyone informed, and clear handoffs prevent bottlenecks.

Timely publishing
Scheduled publishing and defined SLAs help you meet deadlines consistently, whether it’s a daily blog post or a coordinated multi-channel campaign.

Understand the content lifecycle

Before designing workflows, understand the typical content lifecycle:

1. Draft – Content creation and initial development.
2. Review – Editorial review for quality, accuracy, and tone.
3. Approval – Final sign-off from authorized stakeholders.
4. Publishing – Content goes live to your audience.
5. Updates – Ongoing maintenance and revisions.
6. Archive – End-of-life for outdated content.

Your workflow should map to these stages, with custom steps tailored to your organization’s specific requirements.

Core components of effective workflows

Successful workflows combine several key elements. Understanding these components helps you design workflows that work for your team.

Workflow steps

Every workflow in Xperience includes:

• Draft (system default) – Where content creation begins.
• Custom steps – Your tailored review and approval stages.
• Published (system default) – Content is live and publicly accessible.
• Additional states – Unpublished, Scheduled (when applicable).

You can add as many custom steps as needed between Draft and Published. Choose step names and icons that make the workflow easy to understand at a glance.

Roles and responsibilities

Clear role assignments are crucial. Common workflow roles include:

• Content Creators/Editors – Create and draft content.
• Reviewers/Senior Editors – Verify quality, accuracy, tone, and brand compliance.
• Approvers/Content Managers – Provide final sign-off before publishing.
• Subject Matter Experts – Validate domain-specific information.
• Compliance Officers – Ensure legal, regulatory, and accessibility requirements.
• Administrators – Configure and maintain workflows.

Each custom step should specify which roles can work with content at that stage. Additionally, you can designate “Roles with full control” who have authority across all steps.

Notifications and communication

Workflow notifications keep your team informed and moving. When enabled, notifications are automatically sent when content moves to a new step.

Who receives notifications:

• Users with roles assigned to work with the step.
• Users who have Update permission for the affected item.
• NOT users with “full control” (unless specifically assigned to the step).

Notification comments:

Users can add comments when moving items between steps. These comments are included in the notification email, providing context for the next reviewer.

Permissions and access control

Workflows work hand-in-hand with Xperience’s permission system:

• Application-level permissions – Control who can access the Workflows, Pages, Content hub, or Emails applications.
• Page permissions – Limit which users can edit specific sections of your website.
• Workspace permissions – Control access to content within specific workspaces.
• Workflow roles – Define who can work with content at each workflow step.

All these layers combine to determine a user’s actual access to content.

Automation

Enhance workflows with automated checks and validations.

Built-in capabilities:

• Validation rules – Enforce required fields, format constraints, and content standards.
• Scheduled publishing – Plan content to go live at specific times.

Developer-implemented automation:

• Automated accessibility checks (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines compliance validation).
• SEO scoring and recommendations.
• Content readability analysis.
• Integration with external review systems.
• Time-based escalation for overdue approvals.

Workflow design principles

Follow these principles when designing your workflows to balance thoroughness with efficiency.

Keep it simple

Avoid overcomplicating workflows. A three-step review process is often more efficient than a complex twelve-step approval chain. Each additional step adds time and potential bottlenecks.

• Use: Draft → Review → Approval → Published

• Do not use: Draft → Initial Review → Copy Edit → Fact Check → SEO Review → Brand Review → Manager Review → Director Review → VP Review → Final Review → Approval → Published

Make it visible

Use clear, descriptive names for each step. Choose intuitive icons that help editors recognize where content is in the workflow at a glance.

Suitable step names:

• “Editorial Review”
• “Legal Approval”
• “Ready for Publishing”

Unclear step names:

• “Step 2”
• “Review”
• “Check”

Define clear ownership

Every workflow step must have a clearly assigned owner or role. Ambiguity leads to delays and confusion about who should act next.

Enable feedback loops

Use notification comments to provide context when moving items. Explain what was checked, what was changed, or what still needs attention.

Example comments:

• “Fixed typos, verified all links, approved for publish”
• “Updated product pricing per Marketing’s request, ready for legal review”
• “Missing alt text on hero image, returning to draft for updates”

Plan for exceptions

Define how to handle urgent content or emergency updates. Options include:

• Assigning “Roles with full control” to trusted users who can publish from any step.
• Creating a separate “urgent content” workflow with fewer steps.
• Defining a process for emergency situations.

Measure and iterate

Track workflow performance over time:

• How long does content spend in each step?
• Where do bottlenecks occur?
• What’s the rejection rate at each review stage?
• Are notifications effective, or are people ignoring them?

Use these insights to continuously improve your workflows.

Common workflow patterns

Different types of content require different approval processes. Here are patterns you can adapt to your needs.

Example patterns:

• Linear workflow
  • Simple approval processes with sequential reviews.
  • The flow is Draft → Review → Approval → Published.
  • Benefits include easy setup, quick implementation, and clear progression. Challenges include limited flexibility for complex requirements and a single path for all content.
• Multi-stage workflow
  • Content requiring multiple specialized reviews.
  • The flow is Draft → Editorial Review → Subject Matter Expert Review → Compliance Review → Final Approval → Published.
  • Benefits include thorough review by appropriate experts, clear separation of concerns, and high quality. Challenges include longer time to publish and potential bottlenecks.
• Campaign coordination workflow
  • Multi-channel campaigns requiring coordinated publishing.
  • The flow is Draft → Creative Review → Copy Review → Cross-Channel Coordination → Scheduled → Published.
  • Benefits include consistency across channels and support for simultaneous scheduling. Challenges include more involved project management and more dependencies.

When to use custom workflows

Not all content needs complex workflows. Use this guidance to decide:

Default workflow (Draft → Published) is suitable for:

• Internal documentation.
• Low-risk content.
• Single-person content teams.
• Content that doesn’t face customers.
• Draft notes or working documents.

Custom workflows are essential for:

• Customer-facing content (web pages, emails, marketing materials).
• Regulated industries (financial services, healthcare, legal).
• Multi-team organizations.
• Content requiring compliance checks.
• High-value content (product pages, campaign landing pages).
• Content published across multiple channels.

Designing your workflow scope

Decide whether to create one workflow for all content types or multiple specialized workflows.

Workflow scope options:

• Single unified workflow – Best for small teams with consistent approval requirements, similar risk levels, and simple organizational structure. Benefits include easier management, less training, and a consistent process across all content.

• Multiple specialized workflows – Best for different content types with different requirements, varying risk levels, and multiple departments. Examples include marketing workflow (blog posts, landing pages, campaigns), product workflow (product pages, features, benefits), compliance workflow (legal policies, terms, privacy notices), and transactional workflow (system emails, confirmations).

Remember: Each content type can only have one workflow assigned at a time.

Three real-world workflow scenarios

The following scenarios demonstrate how to apply these principles in practice.

Scenario 1: Simple editorial approval workflow

Business context

A medium-sized company publishes regular blog content and news articles. Content must be reviewed for quality and brand consistency before going live. The team includes content editors who create articles and senior editors who review before publishing.

Content types

• Article pages
• Blog posts
• News items

Workflow steps

Notification flow

1. Editor → Ready for Review – Senior Editor receives notification: “New article ‘Guide to Digital Marketing’ is ready for your review.”
2. Senior Editor → Approved for Publishing – Content Manager receives notification: “Article ‘Guide to Digital Marketing’ has been approved and is ready to publish.”
3. Content Manager publishes – (Optional) Editor receives confirmation that their article is now live.

Recommended enhancements

• SEO validation – Use validation rules to enforce meta title (50-60 characters), meta description (150-160 characters), alt text on all images, and at least one internal link.
• Broken link checking – Implement custom validation (requires developer) to scan for broken links before the approval step.
• Scheduled publishing – Content Manager can schedule articles to publish at optimal times rather than immediately.
• Version tracking – Use versioning to track changes through review cycles and revert if needed.

Workflow variations

• Fast-track for trusted editors – Assign “Roles with full control” to experienced editors who can publish time-sensitive updates without approval.
• Peer review step – Add a “Peer Review” step before Senior Editor review for junior writers to get feedback from more experienced colleagues.

Best practices for this scenario

• Clear SLAs – Reviews completed within 24 business hours.
• Meaningful comments – Explain what was checked and any changes made.
• Templates – Provide article templates with pre-filled SEO fields.
• Preview sharing – Use shareable preview URLs for stakeholder feedback.

Scenario 2: Multi-step workflow with legal/compliance review

Business context

A financial services company publishes product information that must be technically accurate, comply with regulations, and meet legal requirements. Multiple departments review content before it goes live to ensure it meets industry standards and regulatory compliance.

Content types

• Product pages
• Product features
• Benefits descriptions
• Regulatory disclosures
• Terms and conditions

Workflow steps

Notification flow

1. Editor → Editorial Review → Senior Editor notified.
2. Senior Editor → Product Accuracy Check → Product Manager notified.
3. Product Manager → Legal Review → Legal/Compliance Officer notified.
4. Legal Officer → Final Approval → Content Governance Lead notified.
5. Governance Lead publishes → Editor receives confirmation (requires custom notification).

Required enhancements

• Automated compliance checks – Work with developers to implement checks that validate required disclaimers, flag prohibited language or claims, verify regulatory links, and detect missing accessibility features (alt text, heading structure).
• Time-based escalation – Set up custom notifications when items remain in Legal Review for more than 72 hours or when a scheduled publish date is within 48 hours without approval.
• Version comparison – Legal review requires seeing what changed since the last review. Use versioning to maintain an audit trail.
• Accessibility validation – Run automated WCAG checks before Final Approval, including alt text on all images, proper heading hierarchy, color contrast compliance, and keyboard navigation support.

Rejection handling

Content can be returned to Draft from any step with a required comment explaining issues:

• “Product pricing outdated, needs update from Product team before legal review.”
• “Missing required disclaimer for investment products, see compliance guidelines.”
• “Accessibility issues: missing alt text on 3 images, heading structure needs H2 before H3.”

Notifications are sent to the original editor and the last modifier when content is returned to Draft.

Best practices for this scenario

• Clear escalation paths – Document who to contact if reviewers are unavailable, such as escalating to the Product Director when the Product Manager is out or notifying the Compliance Manager if legal review is delayed.
• Detailed notification comments – Each reviewer explains what they verified. Examples include “Editorial Review: Fixed 5 typos, verified brand voice compliance, approved,” “Product Accuracy: Confirmed pricing matches system, validated feature list, approved,” and “Legal Review: Verified regulatory disclaimers, confirmed compliance with SEC requirements, approved.”
• Regular workflow audits – Run a weekly review of items stuck in workflow for more than 5 business days, steps with the highest rejection rates, and average time per workflow step.
• Template library – Provide pre-approved templates with legal/compliance requirements built in to reduce rejections.
• Training programs – Ensure that content editors understand regulatory requirements to create compliant first drafts.
• SLA tracking – Monitor time in each step and report to stakeholders monthly.

Scenario 3: Collaborative workflow for marketing campaigns

Business context

A retail company launches seasonal campaigns across multiple channels–website landing pages, email campaigns, and social media. Content is created by various teams, must be coordinated for consistent messaging, and published simultaneously on a specific launch date.

Content types

• Campaign landing pages
• Email campaigns
• Social media posts
• Banner content items
• Product promotion content

Workflow steps

Notification flow

1. Content created → Creative Review → Creative Lead notified.
2. Creative approved → Copy Review → Senior Copywriter notified.
3. Copy approved → Cross-Channel Sync → Campaign Manager notified.
4. Campaign Manager schedules all items → All contributors notified of launch schedule.
5. Scheduled publish occurs → Campaign Manager and Marketing Director receive launch confirmation.

Campaign coordination features

• Smart folder integration – Group all campaign content using smart folders with taxonomy tags. Tag all items with the “Holiday2026” campaign tag, give the Campaign Manager a single view of all content and workflow status, and make it easy to spot items that are ready or still in progress.
• Coordinated scheduled publishing – Use Xperience’s scheduled publishing so all campaign items publish at 9:00 AM EST on launch day, the email send aligns with the web page publish, and social posts are queued for optimal times.
• Pre-launch checklist validation – Run automated checks before launch to verify all campaign items are in “Scheduled” status, alert on items stuck in earlier steps, and confirm scheduled times are correct.
• Collaboration through comments – Example notification comments include “Approved visuals, updated hero image to match brand guidelines,” “Shortened CTA text for better mobile display, verified messaging consistency across all channels,” and “All channels aligned and messaging consistent, scheduled for December 1, 9 AM EST.”

Workflow enhancements

• Shareable preview for external review – Share preview links with external agencies for final approval and executive stakeholders for sign-off, without requiring admin access.
• Version history tracking – Track changes across multiple reviewers so you can see who changed what and when, revert to earlier versions if needed, and maintain an audit trail for the campaign post-mortem.
• Rollback plan – Document emergency procedures to quickly unpublish if issues are discovered post-launch, clarify who has authority to make urgent fixes, and define the communication plan for stakeholders.

Best practices for this scenario

• Campaign kickoff meeting – Before workflow starts, align all teams on campaign objectives and key messages, timeline and dependencies, each role’s responsibilities, and escalation procedures.
• Centralized campaign calendar – Maintain a master calendar that shows all campaign publish dates, content creation deadlines, review milestones, and integration with workflow scheduling.
• Daily status checks – The Campaign Manager reviews the workflow dashboard to identify blockers early, address delays proactively, and communicate status to stakeholders.
• Post-campaign retrospective – After launch, review what worked well in the workflow, where bottlenecks occurred, lessons learned for the next campaign, and updates needed to the workflow process.
• Template reuse – Save approved campaign structures as templates for future campaigns, reducing setup time and ensuring consistency.

Notification best practices

Effective notifications keep work moving without overwhelming your team.

Who to notify

Do notify:

• Users who need to take action at the next step.
• Content creators when their work is rejected (with explanation).
• Stakeholders when critical content is published (via custom notification).

Don’t notify:

• Administrators at every single step (unless they’re the designated reviewer).
• People who are tracking but not acting.
• Users who don’t have permissions to edit the content anyway.

Notification configuration

Enable notifications for steps that require action:

• “Ready for Review” – Yes, notify reviewers.
• “In Review” – No, reviewer is already working on it.
• “Legal Approval Required” – Yes, notify legal team.
• “Approved for Publishing” – Yes, notify person with publish authority.

Remove roles with full control from step notifications unless they specifically need to be involved. They retain full authority but avoid notification fatigue.

Customizing notification content

Edit the default workflow notification to make it more actionable:

Subject line best practices:

• Be specific: “Article ‘Your Guide to SEO’ ready for your review.”
• Include urgency if applicable: “URGENT: Legal review needed for product launch tomorrow.”

Email body should include:

• What item moved (use {{ItemName}} placeholder).
• What step it’s in now (use {{CurrentStepDisplayName}}).
• Who moved it (use {{StepChangedByUserName}}).
• Any comments explaining context (use {{Comment}}).
• Link to preview (use {{InternalPreviewURL}}).

Managing notification fatigue

If people start ignoring notifications, your team has notification fatigue. Solutions:

Reduce notification volume:

• Disable notifications for informational-only steps.
• Combine steps where possible.
• Remove unnecessary recipients.

Improve notification quality:

• Make subject lines more specific.
• Include actionable preview links.
• Require meaningful comments, not just “approved.”

Set expectations:

• Define SLA: respond to workflow notifications within 24 hours.
• Document escalation: if no response in 48 hours, escalate to manager.

Advanced notification scenarios

Notifications on publish event
Built-in notifications don’t cover the Published step. Ask your developers to implement custom notifications to:

• Notify content creators when their work goes live.
• Alert stakeholders when critical content publishes.
• Trigger external integrations (announcements in Slack, Teams, etc.).

Time-based escalation
Set up custom notifications for SLA enforcement:

• Item in “Legal Review” for more than 3 days? Notify Legal Manager.
• Scheduled publish date approaching but content not approved? Alert Campaign Manager.

External stakeholder notifications
Send notifications to people outside your Xperience system:

• Client approval required before publishing.
• Partner organizations need to review co-branded content.
• External agencies managing content creation.

Setting up your first workflow

Ready to create a workflow? Follow these steps to set up your first editorial workflow in Xperience.

Step 1: Create the workflow

1. Open the Workflows application in the Configuration section.
2. Select New workflow.
3. Enter a descriptive Workflow name (e.g., “Blog Content Approval Workflow”).
4. Select Roles with full control – these roles can publish from any step.
   • Typically: Content Manager, Administrator.
   • Be selective: these roles bypass all review steps.
5. Save the workflow.

Step 2: Define workflow scope

1. Switch to the Scope tab.
2. Select Select content types.
3. Select the content types this workflow should govern:
   • Example: Article, Blog post, News item.
4. Save your selections.

Step 3: Configure workflow steps

For each custom step you need:

1. Go to the Steps tab.
2. Select New step.
3. Configure the step:
   • Step name – Clear, descriptive (e.g., “Editorial Review”).
   • Identifiers → Code name – Use the auto-generated value.
   • Icon – Select an icon for visual identification in the UI.
   • Roles that can work with this step – Who can edit and advance content at this stage.
   • Send email notifications – Enable to notify users when content reaches this step.
4. Save the step.
5. Repeat for all necessary steps.
6. Drag steps in the list to reorder them.

Step 4: Test your workflow

1. Create a new item using a content type with the workflow applied.
2. Verify that the custom workflow steps appear in the item’s status dropdown.
3. Test moving the item through each step:
   • Can the right users access content at each step?
   • Are notifications sent to the correct people?
   • Do notification comments appear in emails?
4. Verify that only authorized roles can publish.
5. Test returning content to Draft to simulate rejection.

Step 5: Configure notifications (optional)

Customize the notification email content:

1. Open the Notifications application.
2. Select the Workflow step change notification.
3. Edit the email content:
   • Customize subject line and body text.
   • Use placeholders for dynamic content.
   • Ensure that {{InternalPreviewURL}} is included for easy access.
   • Keep {{Comment}} so notification comments appear.
4. Save notification changes.

Step 6: Train your team

Before rolling out the workflow:

1. Document the process for your team.
2. Explain what’s expected at each step.
3. Show users how to add meaningful notification comments.
4. Define SLAs (e.g., reviews completed within 24 hours).
5. Establish escalation procedures for urgent content or delays.

Common setup issues

Issue: Users not receiving notifications - Verify that the service domain for notifications is configured. - Check that users have email addresses in their profiles. - Confirm roles are correctly assigned to workflow steps. - Verify that “Send email notifications” is enabled for the step.

Issue: Wrong users can edit content - Remember: workflow roles AND application permissions AND page permissions all apply. - Review all three permission layers for the user. - Verify that the user’s role is assigned to the current step.

Issue: Workflow not applied to existing content - Expected behavior: workflows only apply to new editing cycles. - Solution: Create a new version of published items, or create completely new items.

Issue: Can’t select desired content type in scope - Content type is already assigned to another workflow. - Remove it from the other workflow first, then assign to your new workflow.

Maintaining and optimizing workflows

Workflows require regular maintenance to stay effective. Without it, small issues compound over time – a reviewer who changed roles six months ago still receives notifications, an approval step no longer matches your team structure, or outdated role assignments let content bypass reviews entirely. Before long, editors start working around the workflow instead of through it, and the quality controls you built lose their purpose.

Regular workflow audits

Schedule quarterly reviews:

1. Check workflow performance
   • Are items getting stuck at certain steps?
   • What’s the average time from Draft to Published?
   • Which steps have the highest rejection rates?
2. Interview users
   • Where do they experience frustration?
   • Are any steps unnecessary or redundant?
   • Do they understand what’s expected at each step?
3. Review metrics
   • Content velocity (time to publish) – shows whether your workflow keeps pace with editorial demands or slows down content delivery.
   • Bottleneck analysis – reveals which steps consistently hold up content, so you can redistribute workload or simplify reviews.
   • Rejection patterns – highlights recurring quality issues that could be addressed earlier through better templates or training.
   • Notification response times – indicates whether reviewers act on notifications promptly or ignore them, signaling potential fatigue.

Updating existing workflows

Adding new steps:

• New steps apply immediately to all items in the workflow.
• Remember to configure notifications for new steps.
• Communicate changes to your team ahead of time.

Removing steps:

• You cannot remove a step if items are currently in it.
• First move or publish those items, then remove the step.
• Consider the impact on users’ muscle memory.

Changing role assignments:

• Update both step-specific roles and “Roles with full control.”
• Inform affected users of permission changes.
• Verify that the changes worked as expected with test content.

Removing workflows:

• You cannot delete workflows with active items in their cycle.
• Items retain their workflow until published.
• New items created after scope removal use the default workflow.

Scaling workflows

As your organization grows:

When to split workflows

• Different content types have very different requirements.
• One workflow has become too complex (8+ steps).
• Different teams need different approval chains.
• Risk levels vary significantly across content.

Managing multiple workflows

• Document which workflow applies to which content types.
• Provide clear guidance so editors know which to use.
• Consider naming conventions (e.g., “Marketing Content Workflow”, “Legal Content Workflow”).

Multi-language considerations

• Apply the same workflow across all language versions.
• Consider whether translators need specific workflow steps.
• Plan for translation review and approval.

Content sync environments

• Set up workflows only on the source instance where content is edited.
• Target Content sync instances receive content in Published or Unpublished status.
• Workflows on target instances are ignored.

Documentation and training

1. Create internal documentation

• Workflow diagrams showing all steps and roles.
• Written procedures for each workflow step.
• Escalation paths for urgent content.
• Exception handling guidelines.

2. Onboard new team members

• Include workflow training in orientation.
• Provide hands-on practice with test content.
• Assign a workflow mentor for questions.

3. Maintain a decision log

• Document why you designed the workflow this way.
• Record what you tried and what didn’t work.
• Note feedback from users over time.
• Capture lessons learned for future workflows.

Continuous improvement

Collect metrics:

• Time spent in each workflow step.
• Number of rejections per step.
• Publishing velocity.
• SLA compliance rates.

Survey users regularly:

• What’s working well?
• What’s causing frustration?
• Where do delays occur?
• What would make the workflow better?

Benchmark against standards:

• Industry averages for content velocity.
• Best practices from similar organizations.
• Your own historical performance.

Celebrate successes:

• Share improvements in publishing time.
• Recognize teams that excel at workflow efficiency.
• Highlight quality improvements from successful review processes.

Troubleshooting common workflow issues

Bottlenecks and stuck content

Symptom: Content sits in one step for extended periods

Solutions:

• Implement time-based escalation notifications (custom development).
• Assign additional users to that role to distribute the workload.
• Simplify the workflow step if it’s trying to do too much.
• Provide better training or guidance for that review stage.
• Define and enforce SLAs for each step.

Notification overload

Symptom: Users ignore or archive workflow notifications without reading them

Solutions:

• Disable notifications for non-critical steps.
• Remove administrators and managers from routine step notifications.
• Improve notification subject lines to be more specific and actionable.
• Require meaningful comments so notifications provide value.
• Consider batching notifications (requires custom development).

Permission confusion

Symptom: Users can’t edit when they expect to, or can edit when they shouldn’t

Solutions:

• Remember that workflow roles, application permissions, and page permissions all apply.
• Audit all three permission layers for the affected user.
• Simplify your permission structure if it’s too complex.
• Document the permission logic clearly for administrators.

Workflow not appearing for new content

Symptom: New items don’t show custom workflow steps

Solutions:

• Verify that the content type is in the workflow’s Scope tab.
• Ensure that the workflow is saved (not still in draft configuration).
• Create a completely new item rather than editing an existing draft.
• Check that the user has the necessary permissions to see workflow options.

Urgent content blocked by workflow

Symptom: Time-sensitive content can’t wait for full approval process

Solutions:

• Assign “Roles with full control” to trusted users who can publish from any step.
• Create a separate “urgent content” workflow with fewer steps.
• Document your exception process and when it’s appropriate to use.
• Consider whether your standard workflow has unnecessary steps.

Summary

Effective content management workflows are essential for maintaining quality, ensuring compliance, and enabling efficient collaboration. By following the principles and practices in this guide, you can design workflows that support your editorial process without becoming bottlenecks.

Key takeaways

Start simple
A basic three-step workflow is better than no workflow at all. You can always add complexity later as your needs evolve.

Focus on clarity
Clear step names, defined roles, and good notification practices prevent confusion and keep content moving.

Balance control and efficiency
Every additional approval step adds time. Make sure each step provides real value.

Leverage automation
Use validation rules and automated checks to catch issues early, before human review.

Iterate and improve
Monitor your workflow performance, gather feedback, and continuously optimize based on what you learn.

Enable your team
Well-designed workflows make people’s jobs easier, not harder. If your workflow feels like an obstacle, it needs improvement.

Next steps

1. Assess your current state – Do you have workflows today? Are they effective?
2. Design your workflow – Use one of the three scenarios as a template and customize for your needs.
3. Implement and test – Follow the setup steps and thoroughly test with sample content.
4. Train your team – Ensure that everyone understands their role and responsibilities.
5. Monitor and optimize – Track metrics and gather feedback to continuously improve.

Get help

• Consult the Workflows documentation for detailed technical reference.
• Review Content Governance in Xperience by Kentico for broader governance strategies.
• Work with your development team for custom workflow notifications and automation.
• Join the Kentico community portal for peer advice and shared experiences.
• Contact Kentico support for technical assistance.