MCMS does not ship with an e-mail notification system. Typically, authors, editors, and moderators inform one another of postings pending approval by sending e-mail to each other. The problem arises when one person forgets to send out an e-mail. The approver or author does not get notified until someone pops into the site and checks the queue in the Production Manager or Approval Assistant. The result is a pile of "forgotten" postings that languish in a Waiting
for
Approval
or Declined
state for an indefinite period of time.
Automating the e-mail notification process not only lightens the workload of authors, editors, and moderators but also ensures that the correct people are notified of postings they need to work on.
The publishing process can be modified to include an e-mail notification system as shown the diagram overleaf. In this example, after submitting a posting, the system sends an e-mail on behalf of the author to the next level of approvers. Similarly, when...