What is it?
Version History provides content creators greater control over when content is available to Learners during the editing process, as well as a paper trail of who published/edited each version of a Guide.
Draft & Publish States
The addition of Draft & Publish States to the Guide editor provides Admins with a draft environment to make changes over time without impacting already existing assignments.
This includes workflow adjustments to the creation of new Guides and editing of existing Guides.
Creating a Guide
When creating a Guide it will begin as a Draft. Full editing capabilities remain intact, but Admins and Editors are not able to do the following until a first version is published:
Assign Guide to Learners
Add Guide to Paths, Automations, Libraries, or Academies
Guide Editor with new Publish button:
Here is what a content creator will see if a Guide doesn't have a first version (no ability to Assign).
Note: Once a first version is Published there is no way to unpublish. Future enhancements may include the ability to archive a Guide.
Editing a Guide
Once a Guide has a published version all future edits will occur in a new Draft state that is hidden from Learners until the next publish. This provides content creators with greater ability to collaborate and edit already assigned Guides without fear of Learners seeing incomplete content.
Unpublished Changes
When edits have been made to a Guide but the Guide was not published since those changes were made the Guide Editor and Content Overview will contain a 'Unpublished Changes' icon to alert users of the situation.
Publishing Logic
Publishing a new version of a Guide that has already been assigned to Learners will be visible to all Learners if they revisit the Guide. There will be no impact on completion status for existing assignments.
Ex. If a Learner already completed a Guide that has a new version published, the Learner will remain Completed for the Guide assignment and will have access to the new version only moving forward.
Version History
Content creators & Admins have the ability to see who published and impacted change on a particular version through the Version History page. This page also provides the ability to view all versions in order to see what each version consisted of when live.
How to Access Version History
Users can access the Version History page by either:
Clicking on the 'Last edited' link under the Guide name
Selecting the blue "Edit Draft" button
The Version History page showcases all versions that have been published, as well as the active and current draft version.
You can see who impacted a change on a version through the 'Changed By' column. To see specifics on who impacted change, click on the icon/n total and a modal with full details will appear.
FAQ
Does this cover other content types beyond Guides?
This initial release is specifically for Guides across for both aspects of Version History. Long term we plan to make versioning our standard across all editors.
Is it possible to identify the specific change a user made within a version?
This release is will highlight who was involved in changes, including any update to a draft that results in an auto-save & the publishing itself. In the future we would like to provide further detail such as which content block a user impacted and eventually which specific change they had.
Is there a way to see the version a Learner completed anywhere in Reporting?
This release will not include the version throughout reporting. This can be figured out by utilizing the change log & the Learners completion date.
Are there any other areas impacted outside of the Guide editor?
The update to Draft & Publish removes the ability to edit a Guide from other areas of the app. Examples of this include:
the Content Panel no longer has the ability to edit the name, as this must be done inside the Guide Editor itself
Guide cover images can no longer be edited in the Library Editor
Deleted Tasks & Sections will no longer appear in the Trash, as they are accessible via the Version History