Production projects

A project carries a name, owner, start date, due date, budget and lifecycle state. Content items and production tasks link back to it. This lets the Content Manager view the release work in context: which items are due, who owns them and which tasks still require action. The project is delivered when the completion workflow advances it after a linked task reaches completed.

Tasks name the work, an assignee, due date, completion date and status. An item has its own owner and due date. Those are different responsibilities: the item owner is accountable for the content record, while a task assignee completes a particular production action. Clear assignments prevent a project from looking finished merely because a file was uploaded.

• Project plan. The Content Manager records the schedule, budget and accountable owner.
• Work assignment. The Producer and Content Manager use tasks to track concrete actions and assignees.
• Delivery. Completion dates and the project state show when production reached its delivered point.

Decide what a project represents for your team: a campaign, a client deliverable or a production batch. Keep the boundary narrow enough that one owner and due date are meaningful. Agree when a project moves from planned to approved and when production can begin. The schedule should be set before items and tasks are assigned so later delays can be seen against the original plan.

Choose a task naming convention that identifies the expected output. “Export final square cut” is easier to verify than “video work.” The task should point to the project and an active person. Agree who marks work completed and who checks that the linked item has reached the correct review or publication state.

The Content Manager opens a launch project with a target date and budget. A Producer owns the main image item. A Producer is assigned a retouching task, while another assigned person receives the final export task. The task list shows which actions remain open as the image item moves through editing and review.

When the final export task is completed, the workflow stamps the completion date and advances the linked project to delivered. The Content Manager should inspect the project, the completed task and the content item together. This catches a mismatch between a delivered project and an item still waiting for release, so the team can decide whether the item belongs in a later publication cycle.

A later correction may require another task and media version. The existing project relationship preserves the production context. The Content Manager can compare the original due date, the completion dates and the item state before assigning the correction. Project costs can be reviewed alongside this work without turning cost approval into a content release decision.

• Projects List — Review project dates, budget, owner and delivery state.
• Production Tasks List — Follow assigned work and completion dates.
• My content items — See the items owned by the person doing the work.

See project production and publication.