Publishing Process

Publish to Cisco.com

This table summarizes which actions are available in each publishing workflow. More information about each action is in the next sections. While Assisted Publishers can use the available publishing actions to add or edit article metadata, they are not required to do so. When assistance is requested, it remains the Technical Writer’s responsibility to review all the metadata and edit it as needed.

Action	Assisted Publish	Self-Publish
Initiate Self-Publish	No	Yes
Initiate Assisted Publish	Yes	No
Assign MDF Tags	Yes(optional)	Yes(required)
Select Doc Type	Yes(optional)	Yes(required)
Edit Article Description	Yes(optional)	Yes(required)
Edit Contributor List	Yes(optional)	Yes(required)
Publish to Preview	Yes(optional)	Yes(required)
Request Assistance	Yes	No
Accept Assistance Request	No	Yes
Publish to Cisco.com	No	Yes
Remove from Cisco.com	No	Yes

Step 1. Initiate Self-Publish or Assisted Publish

The publishing workflows available to you depends on the user roles assigned to your Tech Zone account, as described previously.

This image is an example of the actions that might appear.

In order to initiate a publishing process, clickInitiate Self-PublishorInitiate Assisted Publish, then clickOKon the confirmation message that appears.

AfterInitiate Self-Publish, the Actions list appears as shown in this image. AfterInitiate Assisted Publish, the action "Cancel Self-Publish" is replaced with "Cancel Assisted Publish" and the action "Request Assistance" is added.

Notes:

• The Doc Type drop-down list is disabled until MDF tags are assigned.
• The Publish to Preview link is disabled until MDF tags, Doc Type, and the article description are all assigned.
• Once a publishing workflow has been initiated, it remains in effect until it is completed or canceled.

Step 2. Assign MDF Tags

MDF (Meta Data Framework) tags, also known as concepts, help determine where the article appears on the Cisco.com Support site. Assignment of MDF tags is an optional step in the Assisted Publish workflow, but is helpful.

Complete these steps in order to assign MDF tags:

1. ClickAssign MDF Tags.
   

   Note: Click the Assign MDF Tags link only once. If you click the link several times, the dialog window will not display correctly.
   

   The Assign MDF Tags dialog window displays the top suggested concepts.
   
2. Check one or more check boxes in order to choose concepts that indicate all products or technologies associated with the article. Click a radio button in order to designate one of the selected concepts as primary, based on the product or technology that is most closely associated with the article.

   Note: If the appropriate tags do not appear in the suggested list, you can click the MDF Tree button to open the complete hierarchical tag tree, then choose additional tags from the tree. For more information about using the MDF tree, see.

3. ClickSubmit, then clickOKon the confirmation message that appears.
   
   The Assign MDF Tags action changes to View/Edit MDF Tags, and the Doc Type drop-down list is enabled.

Step 3. Choose Doc Type

The Doc Type also helps determine where the article appears on the Cisco.com Support site. A primary MDF tag must be assigned before a Doc Type can be selected. This is an optional step in the Assisted Publish workflow.

In order to choose a Doc Type, choose one of the options from the associated drop-down list, then clickOKon the confirmation message that appears.

The Doc Types on the list depend on whether the selected primary MDF tag is from the Products or Technologies tree. Choose the Doc Type based on the type of content in the article, as described here.

• Tech Note - Describes general troubleshooting information; use with the Troubleshooting TechNote and Problem/Solution templates.
• Configuration Example - Describes how to configure a product or technology; use with the Configuration Example template.
• Q and A Item - Includes one or more question and answer pairs; use with the Question and Answer template.
• Password Recovery - Describes a password recovery procedure.

Step 4. Edit Article Description

The article description appears in the results returned by search engines such as Google. A default description is automatically generated from the first 150 characters in the article body. However, editing the description to clarify the essence of the article might make it easier to find via search, therefore is important to consider. This is an optional step in the Assisted Publish workflow.

Complete these steps in order to edit the article description:

1. ClickView/Edit Article Description.
   
   An editor window pops up which contains the current description.

   

2. Review the current description and edit it as needed. The maximum description length is 150 characters. Empty descriptions are not allowed.
   
   
3. ClickSubmit.

Note:Before a description is submitted with this process, the default description continues to automatically update as the article is edited. After a description is submitted for the first time, the submitted description is retained regardless of future article edits, unless the publishing process is canceled.

Step 5. Edit Contributor List

Contributors to an article can be credited in the right-side margin on Cisco.com. An example is shown in this section. The publisher controls the contributor information presented. This is an optional step in the Assisted Publish workflow.

In order to show the header, "Contributed by Cisco Engineers," check the Show "Contributed by Cisco Engineers"check box. This is appropriate for content authored by TAC engineers, and it is the default setting. In order to hide this header, uncheck the check box.

The names and Cisco organizations of up to three contributors to the article can be shown. Complete these steps in order to edit the contributor list:

1. ClickShow "Contributed by Cisco Engineers"(the hyperlink, not the check box).
   
   A window pops up which contains the current contributor list.
2. Review the listed contributors and organizations and edit them as needed.
   Notes:

   • Authors can be entered without organizations, but if an Organization field is not empty, the respective Author field must also not be empty.
   • If an Author field is not empty, all Author fields with lower numbers must also not be empty (that is, if there is an Author 3 there must be an Author 2 and 1).
3. ClickSubmit.

Step 6. Publish to Preview

Prior to publication of an article to Cisco.com, publishers must generate a preview, which presents the content exactly as it will appear on Cisco.com. Publish to Cisco.com is not available in the Assisted Publish workflow, therefore Publish to Preview is an optional step in this workflow.

Caution: Ensure the subject of your article and the primary concept are correct before you Publish to Preview. After this step, the Cisco.com URL (and file name) will not change.

Complete these steps in order to generate a preview.

1. ClickPublish to Previewthen clickOKon the confirmation message that appears.
   
   Note: The Publish to Preview link is only activated when all of the requirements have been met:
   

   • A primary MDF tag has been selected.
   • A Doc Type has been selected.
   • An article description has been submitted by clicking the Submit button in the description editor window.
   • A contributor list has been submitted by clicking the Submit button in the contributor list editor window, or the box next to this action has been unchecked.

   You will receive an email notification when the preview is available.

2. When the preview is available, refresh the article page in your browser.
   
   The text "Step 2: External Preview (Click here)" in the Publishing Life Cycle widget is highlighted and hyperlinked.
   
3. Click Step 2: External Preview (Click here).
   
   The article preview opens in an iFrame.
   
   
   
   
4. Verify the content as described in.

Step 7. Request Assistance

The final step in the Assisted Publish workflow is requesting assistance from a Self-Publisher (usually a Technical Writer). Assistance can be requested at any time after the Assisted Publish process was initiated. This is not possible from the Self-Publish workflow.

In order to request assistance, clickRequest Assistance, as shown in the image below.

What happens after assistance has been requested is outlined in .

In order to cancel an assistance request and return to the Assisted Publish workflow, clickCancel Assistance Request. This action replaces Request Assistance after it is selected.

Step 8. Accept Assistance Request

If someone requested assistance with an article, a Self-Publisher can accept the request. Only Self-Publishers see the action "Accept Assistance Request," as shown in this image.

In order to accept an assistance request, clickAccept Assistance Request.

Report Assistance Requests, Accepts, and Publishing to Cisco.com

Technical Writers responsible for publication of Tech Zone articles can determine which articles are waiting for assistance by using theTech Zone Visualizertool to generate an "Assistance Requests" report. These reports update daily. In addition, a daily email is sent to the tz-writers alias to alert these Technical Writers about assistance requests. When a request is accepted, an email notification is sent to the requester and the accepter. The accepter (Technical Writer) should review/edit the article and complete the publishing process. When the article is published to Cisco.com, another email notification is sent to the requester and the accepter.

Step 9. Publish to Cisco.com

Only the Self-Publish workflow allows the final action of publishing to Cisco.com. If you are satisfied with the preview, complete these steps in order to publish it to Cisco.com. If you instead need to edit the article or its metadata, click theClosebutton inside the preview window.

Tip: Publish to Cisco.com and Publish to Preview will fail during WEM outages! Before you publish documents, subscribe to thewem-prod-usersmailer alias to be notified of WEM outages and planned downtimes. For more information, see

  

1. ClickPublish to Cisco.cominside the preview window, then clickOKon the confirmation message that appears.
   
   You will receive an email notification when the external document has been activated on Cisco.com.
   
   
2. Once you receive the confirmation email, refresh the article page in your browser.
   
   The text "Step 3: External (Click here)" in the Publishing Life Cycle widget is highlighted and hyperlinked.
   
   
   
   
3. ClickStep 3: External (Click here).
   
   The document on Cisco.com opens in a new browser window. It should appear similar to this image.
   
   
   
4. Verify the content as described in.

Step 10. Verify the Content on Cisco.com

When the article appears on Cisco.com, verify these items:

• Document appears similar to the image in the section "Publish to Cisco.com".
• The breadcrumb appears and corresponds to the primary concept and Doc Type selected.
• The title is correct.
• The Table of Contents displays correctly.
• The content appears as expected.
• The right rail appears similar to the image in the section "Publish to Cisco.com".
• The "Contributed by Cisco TAC Engineers" statement appears in the right rail (if the respective check box was checked)
• The PDF opens when clicked
• Cisco bug IDs link to the Bug Search Tool and the bug is customer visible.

If you experience issues with any of these items, refer to thearticle and thefor possible solutions. If the issue is not listed, start a discussion there.