Targeted Communications publication workflows

  • Release version: Zurich
  • Updated July 31, 2025
  • 3 minutes to read
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    Summary of Targeted Communications Publication Workflows

    The Targeted Communications application (com.snpublications) includes workflows for publishing articles, specifically Instant Publish for immediate publication and Publish With Approval for requiring prior consent. The Zurich release introduces low-code flows in Workflow Studio, which replace legacy workflows, ensuring the same functionality with a modernized approach.

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    Key Features

    • Migration to Workflow Studio: Legacy workflows are replaced with new low-code flows unless customizations are detected.
    • Upgrade Logic: The system checks for customizations during upgrades, reverting to legacy workflows if any are found to preserve user modifications.
    • UI Policies and Business Rules Management: Legacy UI policies and business rules are activated, while new ones are deactivated during the upgrade process.

    Key Outcomes

    After upgrading, customers can expect:

    • Activation of the appropriate workflows, flows, UI policies, and business rules based on the presence of customizations.
    • Enhanced publishing capabilities with the option to adopt new flows by removing customizations.
    • A seamless transition to the Zurich release with preserved settings if custom workflows were in use.

    Next Steps

    Before upgrading, review any customizations to publication workflows. Post-upgrade, verify the correct activation of workflows and related configurations. To utilize new flows, consider removing any existing customizations to enable their activation.

    The Targeted Communications application (com.sn_publications) includes default workflows that are used for publishing articles.

    The application includes two publishing workflows:
    • Instant Publish: Publishes an article instantly.
    • Publish With Approval: Requires approval before publishing.

    Migrating workflows to Workflow Studio flows

    Starting with the Zurich release, legacy workflows for the Targeted Communications application have been migrated to low-code flows in Workflow Studio. The functionality of the new flows remains the same.

    During an upgrade, the logic checks if a publication workflow or its configuration has been customized.
    • If customizations are detected in the workflows or the configuration, the system reverts to the legacy workflows and disables the new flows and related configurations.
    • If no customizations are detected, the system replaces the legacy workflows with the new flows.
    This upgrade logic ensures that customizations are preserved and are not overwritten.

    Summary of upgrade actions

    The following table provides a summary of the actions that take place during upgrade depending on publication workflow and configuration customization.
    Table 1. Summary of upgrade actions
    Setting Customization detected No customization detected
    Legacy workflows Activated Deactivated
    New flows Deactivated Activated
    Legacy UI policies Activated Deactivated
    New UI policies Deactivated Activated
    Legacy business rules Activated Deactivated
    New business rules Deactivated Activated
    Workflow config value Set to legacy workflows Set to new flows

    Key steps during upgrade to Zurich

    The following table describes the key steps that the system takes during upgrade to the Zurich release.
    Table 2. Key steps during upgrade to Zurich
    Step Description
    1. Customization detection The logic checks if the legacy workflows or the sn_publications_workflow_config table record 6c9b0e65c30112004bd67bfaa2d3ae56 have been customized. If customizations are found, the system reverts to the legacy workflows.
    2. Legacy workflow activation
    • The legacy versions of the workflows are activated:
      • Instant Publish
      • Publish With Approval
    • The script chooses the correct workflow version based on the installed plugins.
    • If the Customer Service Base plugin is active, the script activates the following workflow versions:
      • Instant Publish (Base): e7de79b7c3401300e7c7d44d81d3aece
      • Publish With Approval (Base): 33987078c3d01300e7c7d44d81d3ae2f
    • If the plugin is not active, the script activates the following workflow versions:
      • Instant Publish: f6d5c49a93201300ac40f5be867ffb3f
      • Publish With Approval: 5be6c89a93201300ac40f5be867ffba1
    3. New flow deactivation
    • New Flow Designer flows for publications are deactivated:
      • Publish With Approval Flow
      • Instant Publish Flow
    • All snapshots for these flows are also deactivated.
    4. UI policy management
    • Legacy UI policies are activated:
      • Approver field required (legacy)
      • Hide approver field (legacy)
      • Show legacy workflow
    • New UI Policies are deactivated:
      • Hide approver field
      • Show process flow
      • Approver field required
    5. Business rule management
    • Legacy business rules for starting the old publication workflow are activated.
    • New business rules related to new flows are deactivated.
    6. Workflow configuration update The workflow configuration record (sn_publication_workflow_config) is updated to point out to the correct process workflow:
    • If legacy workflows are present, the config is set to use the corresponding legacy flow.
    • If not, it defaults to the Instant Publish Flow.

    What to do before and after upgrading

    Follow these steps before and after upgrading to the Zurich release:
    • Before upgrading, review your publication workflow customizations.
    • After upgrading, verify that the correct workflows, flows, UI policies, and business rules are active as expected.
    • If you want to use the new flows, remove customizations and reactivate the new flows and related configurations.
    Table 3. If customizations are detected during upgrade
    Setting If customization detected (sys_id)
    Legacy workflows Activated:
    • Instant Publish: a9587563d76302004f1e82285e6103ae
    • Publish With Approval: 51a2f923d76302004f1e82285e610355
    New flows Deactivated:
    • Publish With Approval: e91f81a9a3e352107ee9d8b8651e6137
    • Instant Publish: ec48616da36752107ee9d8b8651e611f
    Legacy UI policies Activated:
    • Mandatory Approver: df2ea83bc34112004bd67bfaa2d3aef5
    • Hide Approver: 3afeac3bc34112004bd67bfaa2d3ae29
    • Show Legacy Workflow: 567136f84f0c62107ee9a701b1ce0b31
    New UI policies Deactivated:
    • Mandatory Approver (Flow): 5a0f230ea3a312107ee9d8b8651e6110
    • Hide Approver (Flow): 26d92306a3a312107ee9d8b8651e6107
    • Show Process Flow: 57f5c434a39b52107ee9d8b8651e61e4
    Legacy business rules Activated:
    • Start New Publication: 11eb8390c3a012004bd67bfaa2d3aeb8
    • Approver List Required: 6a88a328c39112004bd67bfaa2d3ae04
    New business rules Deactivated:

    Approver List Required (New Flows): 47b133b2a36b12107ee9d8b8651e61d1
    Workflow config value Set to legacy flow:
    • Config Record: 6c9b0e65c30112004bd67bfaa2d3ae56
    • Legacy Workflow sys_ids: a9587563d76302004f1e82285e6103ae, 51a2f923d76302004f1e82285e610355

    Workflow Config table update

    The upgrade to Zurich adds the following columns to the Workflow Config [sn_publications_workflow_config] table:
    • Process Workflow (Workflow Studio flow field)
    • Workflow (legacy workflow field)
    • Approvers