Edition Planning

The Editor starts an edition, supplement or special section as a project. The record carries the project name, owner, start date, due date, budget and status. A planned edition can move to approved work before production starts. This gives the desk a shared project to use when it creates content items and production tasks. It also gives the Finance Manager a budget to compare with costs entered later.

Use a real edition in setup. For example, create a Saturday supplement with an Editor as owner and a due date that matches the intended handoff. Agree whether special sections each get a separate project. The decision matters because stories, production tasks and costs link to a project; a broad catch-all project makes those records harder to review together.

• Project ownership. An Editor owns the project record and decides when it is approved for work.
• Schedule. The start and due dates frame the edition work; individual stories and tasks carry their own deadlines.
• Budget. Project costs stay linked to the edition project, so the Finance Manager can inspect categories and amounts alongside the budget.

A project can move through planned, approved, in production, review and delivered states. Record cancellation deliberately when a project stops. A status change should reflect the editorial or production decision, not simply that a date has arrived. The linked stories and tasks give the team the detail behind that decision.

Choose the scope of a project before importing active work. One project per edition may be enough for a newspaper with a single daily run. A supplement may need its own project if it has a separate owner, budget or due date. Name projects so desk staff can select the right one when creating content items. Decide who is allowed to authorize a planned project and who can mark it delivered.

Review people records before assigning project owners. Each person links to a user identity. That link matters when a later content approval checks the acting reviewer. It is also useful when the Editor reviews the work owned by a particular staff member.

Create a sample supplement project and assign the Editor. Add a story to that project, then add a production task and a draft cost. Open the project register and verify that its dates, budget, owner and status are readable beside the linked work. Move the project to approved and confirm the desk knows it can begin assigning work. Later, move it into production and review only when the corresponding editorial and production records support that step.

If a project is cancelled, use its cancelled state and inspect the linked work before carrying anything into another edition. An old story should not silently become part of a new supplement merely because its title is similar.

• Project Register — Find each edition project by owner, dates, budget and current state.
• Content Pipeline — Inspect stories linked to the project as they move through editorial review.
• Cost Ledger — Review the project’s dated expenses by category and payment state.

Continue with desk assignments and production handoff. Review the data model before importing existing projects.