Workflow dependencies

Workflow dependencies are the relationships between content objects and the CCMS actions that occur as a result of the relationships.

In the CCMS, most objects have a dependency with one or more objects. These dependencies take several forms.

The dependency type that is important to understand for CCMS workflows is the parent-child dependency. It is probably the most common type of dependency in the CCMS. It is the relationship between an object and any other objects that refer to it. Some common parent-child dependencies are:

• map (parent) > topic (child)
• topic (parent) > image (child)
• root map (parent) > submap (child)
• topic (parent) > conref/conkeyref (child)
• topic (parent) > cross-referenced topic (child)
• Collaborative Review (parent) > map (child)
• Approval (parent) > map (child)
• Build Manifest (parent) > map (child)
• Snapshot (parent) > map (child)
• DRM container (parent) > map, topic, image, resource, ditaval, Build Manifest (child)

A content object with no parent dependencies is called an orphan. If you are using DRM, there are no orphans because each content object has at least one parent—a DRM container.

The parent-child dependency plays a large part in status changes and deleting content.

Status changes

As explained in Understanding the *_status configuration files, each workflow state has a level value associated with it. The value of the level doesn't matter; what is important is its value relative to other level values.