Content production

Content items represent the units a project produces. Each item has an owner, content type, due date and status. The Content Items page places these records on a horizontal state board, alongside a chronological list and an inspector for the selected record. The Managing Editor can see what is still in draft, being edited, waiting in review or approved. Production tasks carry the separate assignments needed to make that content ready.

• Item ownership. Agree who owns a content item when several people contribute to the same title.
• Task handoff. Agree when an assigned task moves into review and who records completion.
• Due date practice. Agree whether a changed project date also requires individual content and task dates to be revised.

Start with one real title and name the person who is responsible for the record. Decide who can revise dates or statuses, and when a change needs another person’s review. Check each actual project, manuscript, content or person reference before using that record in a handoff. The agreed practice should be visible in the record, not held only in an email thread.

For each handoff, identify the person expected to act next. Check that their user and People record are connected before relying on an approval decision. Keep the source attachment or agreement with the relevant record when the decision depends on it. This makes the working lists useful during a busy production week.

For a title with cover copy and a chapter extract, create separate content items under the same project and assign each owner. Add the production tasks for editing and preparation with their own due dates. As one task finishes, its status can move through review to completed while the content item remains under editorial review. Check the file version and rights term before the content version is approved. The team should see the next owner and due date in the working lists without treating task completion as publication.

Before expanding to other titles, ask the people named above to walk through this case in the app. They should be able to point to the current record, explain the next decision and find the owner without reconstructing the history from messages.

• Content Items Board — Content work by status, with the selected item’s owner, project and due date in the inspector.
• Open Production Tasks — Assigned tasks still open, in progress or under review.

See the related process and the data model for the records behind this handoff.