Elastic data model best practices: status fields

This article gives an overview of the best ways to use status fields in an elastic data model. From a technical perspective, a status field is simply another Field Type in your Data Model. Rather than containing product data, it assists in the progression of the Entity (product, item, channel, or any Entity Type) into a state where it can be published. Status fields are used in Queries, Work areas, Completeness rules and more to streamline enrichment.

About status fields

Using status fields in inriver will allow you to design a workflow for your customer.

The default status fields that we suggest are New, Under Enrichment, Ready for Approval, Approved, and Discontinued

Using status fields in the workflow

Any products that are imported into inriver from a source system would generally have a status of New. This can be set as the default value in the Data Model.

A work area for the new products can be configured for users to see when a feed has been delivered to inriver. Combined with product categorization criteria and the Notifications feature, a product manager can very easily be notified when products they are interested in have been created.

When products are completed and ready to move to channels, inriver suggests having a Ready for Approval status. A member of the customer team should be designated as the product approver and should have a work area + notifications that indicate when products are ready for approval. Using Field level permissions, it is possible to ensure only authorized persons have the ability to progress the workflow beyond this status.

Using channel filters, you can restrict products from moving to channels unless they are of the status Approved. Products should be approved and archived by the customers approver.

Good to know

• Consider how many attributes could be represented by a workflow status Field, and simplify the Completeness rules by referring to this Field. For example, create Boolean Fields for Marketing data complete and Technical data complete to consolidate and simplify the status of related items of data.
• The above statuses should be used as a baseline for any implementation. Workflows should be customized for the customer's needs, often the customer will require additional status fields.
• Common user cases that we have seen are for translation vendors, photography studios, and collaboration with larger teams in different business units. 

Further reading

Inriver's elastic data model