Understanding project workflow types

The project workflow types in Meridian are used to perform the revision of related documents as a group. Project workflow controls the overall revision process of the entire group of documents that the project includes. Project workflow ensures that the steps of a project are executed in the correct order by the correct people. The documents within a project are revised individually using one of the types of document workflow. For example, a simple project workflow might require that all document revisions be reviewed as a completed set before they can be released for use. Meridian features two types of project workflow, work areas and project folders.

A work area is a dedicated workspace where revisions can be made to documents while leaving the currently released revision of documents unchanged in the Main area for viewing by other users. All of the documents in a work area have something in common, such as a project or an engineering change order. Work areas are created from work area templates that define the workflow of the work area. A work area’s workflow is fully configurable and can be as simple or as complex as the system administrator decides. The workflow affects all of the documents contained within it. The commands for using the workflow are named for the transitions between states that the commands run and as such have whatever names the system administrator specifies.

Project folders that can have a workflow are a feature of the optional Advanced Project Workflow Module. The commands for using the workflow of a project folder are named for the transitions between states that the commands run and as such have whatever names the system administrator specifies. Project folders without workflow are part of the Managed Change feature set of BlueCielo Meridian Enterprise.