Introduction

Collaboration workflows provide a structured process to guide business users through content editing and review before it is activated on any channel. They ensure the consistency, quality, and compliance of your product data, increase collaboration, and boost productivity.

Every workflow can be tailored to meet your organization's specific requirements.

Why adopt them?

While workflows are a powerful tool for product data enrichment, they are not a one-size-fits-all solution for your entire catalog. Instead, workflows are most effective when applied strategically to address particular needs or empower specific teams. For instance, use workflows to:

• Support a subsidiary with localization and translation of the product data,
• Onboard the legal or regulatory department, or new team members in the product enrichment or review process,
• Organize the onboarding of a new supplier or the launch of a new product range or brand,
• Plan a market-specific campaign,
• Manage specific tasks like reviewing AI-generated content or focusing on products with the lowest consumer ratings.

Collaboration Workflows reflect the required steps for your product data enrichment and review. Products move through each workflow step and are assigned to users to complete specific tasks. The same product can be part of multiple workflows. For instance, if the product values of a product are updated during the enrichment step, or any other task in the PIM, this product could then meet the product selection criteria of another workflow. In this case, it would start the new workflow from step 1.

Workflow types

One-time workflow

Best for initial enrichment. Products flow through only once to complete their first round of data. 

They can include multiple enrichment steps, such as categorization, marketing copywriting, and SEO-rich content creation, followed by one or more review steps to ensure the data is complete, accurate, and compliant. Some workflows are simpler and may rely on a single validation step.

Continuous workflow

Best for ongoing enrichment, product data updates, enhancements, (re)inspection, validations, or optimizations. Products (re)enter automatically when relevant updates occur and flow through at any point in their lifecycle. 

They can either mirror the initialization workflow, if the steps, assigned users, attributes, and scope remain identical, or follow a distinct process tailored specifically for updates and continuous refinement.

Step types

Enrichment step

An Enrichment step supports product data editing and copywriting mostly. Once the tasks are complete, users can mark them as done and advance them to the next step in the workflow.

Review step

A Review step allows for the integration of feedback loops into workflows to ensure data accuracy and consistency. Assigned reviewers can sequentially approve or reject product tasks with comments if needed, or fix minor corrections to the product data. After the review is complete, tasks can be forwarded to the next step in the workflow. 

Here are some examples of workflows that include at least one Review step:

Proven Workflows use cases

Enrichment

Product enrichment workflows guide cross-functional teams through the structured completion of product information, covering everything from technical attributes and logistics data to marketing content and SEO optimization. It typically involves teams such as purchasing, master data, category management, logistics, and technical teams, as well as marketing, SEO, and merchandising experts. Managers across onboarding, data creation, and product readiness phases also play a key role in reviewing and validating content to ensure accuracy, consistency, and completeness before activation across channels.

 

 

 

 

Activation

Activation or market readiness workflows are designed to enrich, validate and finalize the roduct data just before it goes live on specific channels, such as marketplaces like Amazon. They typically include last-mile checks to ensure content meets channel-specific requirements, covering completeness, accuracy, compliance, and readiness, before being ready for publication or export.

 

 

Translation 

Translation & localization workflows ensure product information is accurately translated and localized for specific markets. They can be part of a one-time initialization process, translating core product data before first readiness, or run continuously to update and refine localized content and translations over time. These workflows typically involve language-specific contributions, validations, and quality checks to meet regional and marketplace standards. These are a perfect solution to support Headquarters and Subsidiaries collaboration.

 

 

 

Categorization

Product categorization workflows help ensure that each product is correctly classified within your catalog structure. It guides teams through the assignment or review of categories, supporting accurate navigation, searchability, and channel-specific taxonomy compliance.

 

 

Media and brands 

Media and brand workflows manage the creation, review, and validation of visual and branded content, such as images, videos, and rich media, by teams like photographers, studios, and marketing. These workflows can be part of one-time initialization for new product launches or run continuously to update visuals and ensure brand consistency across channels and markets.

 

 

 

Gen-AI Review

Gen-AI workflows support the generation, review, and refinement of product content using generative AI solutions. It mostly focuses on marketing-related attributes, such as product descriptions, SEO keywords, or brand messaging, and involves expert review to ensure accuracy, alignment with brand guidelines, and the right tone of voice. Whether used for initial content creation or ongoing optimization, this workflow combines AI efficiency with human oversight to deliver high-quality, channel-ready product data.

This is an example of an AI workflow structure featuring a single review step:

 

Below are the step settings to help guide your setup:

 

 

Compliance 

Compliance workflows ensure that product data meets regulatory, legal, or industry standards before activation. They typically involve approvals from specialized teams such as legal, regulatory, or quality assurance and can be part of a one-time product setup or run continuously to validate updates. These workflows help guarantee that your product information stays compliant with evolving requirements across channels.

 

 

 

Here is another example of a pretty advanced workflow:

Workflows email notifications

Weekly email notification recap 

Every Monday, all assignees receive an email summarizing their assigned pending tasks for active workflows. This weekly recap includes the total number of tasks to complete or review, along with their level of priority. It's a helpful way to start the week and stay on top of all pending tasks.

Daily rejection email reminder

Each day, all assignees with rejected tasks receive an email notification highlighting the actions required for ongoing workflows. This daily reminder summarizes the total number of tasks requiring revision, helping prioritize the most critical pending items.

Customizing Notifications with the REST API and Event Platform

For teams looking for more advanced and real-time notification options, Akeneo PIM offers powerful tools to create fully tailored notification workflows. By leveraging the REST API and the Event Platform, you can design a notification system that perfectly fits your team's needs, either through a custom integration or by using an iPaaS solution.

This opens up a world of possibilities for keeping your team informed and your projects on track. For instance, you could:

• Trigger instant notifications when a new task is created in a workflow.
• Send detailed alerts to specific users or teams via Email, Slack, Microsoft Teams, or any other communication platform.
• Include key information in your notifications, such as the product tasks to be completed, the assigned users, the tasks' due date, and their specific workflow steps.

The high level of customization means you can tailor the notification's content, format, and delivery channel to match your unique enrichment processes. Whether you want to send a simple alert or a comprehensive summary of a new pending task, the power to design your ideal workflow notification system is in your hands.

Real-time insights with Dashboard overview

The Workflows Dashboard empowers efficient oversight and management of ongoing enrichment processes. It enables any PIM owner, team leader, or manager to effortlessly monitor company or team workflows from one centralized location with just a glance. 

The dashboard provides comprehensive insights on all active workflows, including details such as which workflows business users are engaged in, the number of pending product tasks, late or urgent alerts, and the individual assignees. These real-time activity indicators help quickly identify any risk of slowdown or bottleneck in the product data enrichment process.

Clicking on any of the workflows gives access to additional details that can help identify or anticipate an excessive workload, optimize the organization of your product enrichment tasks, or facilitate collaboration and communication among product data teams.

In short, you can make informed decisions to accelerate your time to market and continuously improve the efficiency of your Collaboration Workflow.

For further refinement, you have the option to filter by any assigned user, allowing you to focus on their specific scope and emphasize their corresponding assigned steps.