Workflows
Workflows are 'a depiction of a sequence of operations, declared as work of a person, a group of persons'
A repository workflow is a breakdown of the administrative tasks involved. They allow the various activities involved in the running of the repository to be assigned to the individuals or groups who are best able to deal with them. The process of defining workflows is closely aligned with a stakeholder analysis of those involved with the repository: once the benefits and issues relevant to each stakeholder group have been identified, the next step is to ask exactly how users are going to interact with the repository software, as well as the specific tasks they are going to complete.
There are several types of workflow in a typical repository. These include workflows to manage user registration and administration; workflows to manage authorisation and permissions within the repository; and various administrative workflows to allow for maintenance and software updates. However, the most significant workflow focuses on the submissions process. This workflow is crucial as it will be used regularly by a wide variety of depositors.
UK Examples
Oxford Research Archive Deposit Guides - Article, Theses
International Examples
Further Resources
Further information about workflows and process review is available via our Process Review infoKit
It is through understanding the workflows of potential contributors to the repository that you can understand the best points at which deposit of content might happen, and how to make that deposit as easy as possible. For example, the process of an individual academic producing a doctoral thesis in history involves different activities to the process by which a team of researchers collaborate on a paper in experimental physics. The copyright, ownership of data, timescales and publisher involvement will vary, and consequently the potential workflows and interaction with the repository will vary.
