Rights and approval

Each rights agreement connects a party, allowed uses, start and end dates, and contract to a content item. Content files hold an attached version, upload date, parent content item and approving person. The approval action resolves the actor through the People record bound to a user and checks that current coverage exists for the item. A successful decision links the approving person to the file and moves the content item to Approved.

• Rights term. Agree who reviews start and end dates and what evidence is needed before an agreement is attached.
• Allowed use. Agree the intended uses for the content before the version comes forward for approval.
• Approver identity. Agree which person may decide and make sure their People record is bound to their user.

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.

A content editor uploads a revised file for a project title. The Rights Reviewer opens the content item, checks the attached agreement term and allowed uses, and confirms the version under review is the one to approve. If the term has ended or no covering agreement exists, approval is refused and the reviewer resolves the rights record before another attempt. With current coverage and an identified approver, the approved file names the person who made the decision. A repeated submission of the same approval operation replays its recorded outcome instead of producing another decision.

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.

• Rights Coverage Expiring — Agreement terms whose end date has arrived or passed.
• Content Approval Inbox — Content in review awaiting the rights and version decision.

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