Content governance (content validation)

Content governance, also referred to as auto-governance or validation, is a feature that helps keep your intranet platform from becoming a content dumping ground by sending notifications to content authors and managers informing them that content is due for review. When a new piece of content is created and marked as Knowledge, it will fall into the auto-governance cycle.

The content governance feature is enabled by Application managers in the Manage > Application > Governance menu. By checking Yes in Require knowledge content review and validation, the App manager enables automatic management/validation of existing and new content after the initial publication date. The App manager can change make this time:

• 6 months
• 12 months (recommended)
• 18 months
• 24 months

Once saved, altering the validation period should trigger a popup, allowing the user to confirm the change or cancel. This change is only truly reflected once the page is saved.

Validation notifications are generated on the following schedule:

Emails will be sent weekly to the following users:

1. Grouped email with each page link that requires validation
2. Authors (who have permission to publish content without review (eg they are also site managers/owners)
   • Who's knowledge content has expired validation in last 14 days
   • Who's knowledge content is due for validation within 28 days
3. Site managers/owners/Content manager/App managers
   • Who's knowledge content (they manage) has expired validation in last 14 days
   • Who's knowledge content (they manage) is due validation within 14 days

In-app activity notifications will be sent weekly to the following:

1. Single notifications for each page
2. Authors (Who have permission to publish content without review (eg they are also site managers/owners)
   • Who's knowledge content is due for validation within 28 days
   • Who's knowledge content has expired validation within 14 days

Site managers/Owners/Content Manager/App Managers

• Who's knowledge content (they manage) is due validation within 14 days
• Who's knowledge content (they manage) has expired validation within 14 day

Note:

When the notification is actioned, it will be removed from the actionable notification list.

After the page is validated, the review cycle extends to next 6/12 months depending on the configuration.

Content managers can also validate a knowledge page manually from the Manage content screen even when the validation time reached. If it is done that way the validation cycle is again calculated from the date it is validated.

 

On the end date, if content has not yet been validated, it will move to unpublished status. This does not mean the content is deleted. It is still viewable by those who have edit access. It will just be removed from visibility to your End users. You can view all unpublished content in the Manage > Content menu and sorting by "unpublished" Status. Here you can edit, validate and republish the content, resetting its validation period, or you can delete it permanently.

• One week after end date, those with edit access are notified content has been unpublished.
• We send in-app notifications to validate pages on days 28 and 14 prior to page expiration and email notifications on the first day of those weeks.

Note:

If a page is unpublished for any reason, then republished, this resets the page's validation period. Simply editing a page does not reset the validation period.

 

Depending on the validation period set, the App manager, Site manager and Content manager will be notified via email and in-app notification that the content needs validating. 

 

FAQ and Best Practices

What happens if my org initially has Content Governance disabled, but then decides to turn it on after a lot of content has already been published? Will all that content have the same validation date?

Not necessarily. Validation dates are based on the content's initial publication date (for the first time they're validated) or last validation date. So if you publish or validate 100 pieces of content on the same day, then all that content will have the same validation date. We highly recommend leaving content governance enabled throughout your intranet's life cycle to avoid this.

Is there a place I can go to see all content that needs validation across the intranet?

Yes, App managers can view all content that will require validation in the Analytics menu. Head to the Content tab and scroll down to Knowledge pages. Here you can see how many pages require validation. Download a CSV file to see which pages specifically will need validation.