Table of Contents

Workflow and Pipeline

Use a Pipeline when an item must move through a controlled sequence of responsibilities before it is ready for the next business step. A pipeline makes the handoff between departments clear. For example, a product can move from Product Management, through Content Management and Marketing, to Sales and E-commerce.

A pipeline makes responsibilities and progress visible. It helps each person or team understand when they need to act, what has already been completed, and whether an item is ready for handover. You can also include automatic checks and integrations at the relevant handoff. Use a pipeline when the process is repeatable, several people or teams are involved, and the order of the steps matters. For a one-time change or a simple data correction, you usually do not need a pipeline.

When to use a pipeline

Use a pipeline when you want to:

  • Coordinate work between responsible people or teams.
  • Make each handoff part of the normal flow before publication or another business decision.
  • Apply a consistent preparation and quality process to many items.
  • Combine human review with activities such as checklists, certification, channel certification, and integrations.
  • See which stage an item has reached and whether an action is still waiting or has failed.

The pipeline does not replace good product-data ownership. Before you create one, agree which person or team is responsible for each stage, which checks are relevant, who resolves errors, and what result is required before the next handoff. The pipeline then gives everyone a shared view of the agreed process.

Examples

The following examples show when a pipeline can support your business process:

  • Launching a new product range: a product manager prepares the item, a data-quality team checks it, and a publication team approves it for release. A checklist or certification can support the handoffs.
  • Preparing items for a webshop: a content team completes descriptions and translations, a quality team checks prices and classifications, and the webshop team publishes the approved items. A webhook can notify or trigger the next system after the checks are complete.
  • Managing supplier data: a purchasing or supplier team reviews newly imported items, a product-data team completes missing information, and a quality team checks the result before publication.
  • Updating an existing assortment: the responsible teams repeat the same review and approval path for changed items so that an update does not bypass the process used for new items.

If your process only involves correcting one field on one item, open the item and make the correction directly instead of creating or running a pipeline.

Create a pipeline

Create a pipeline when you need to guide items through a repeatable sequence of quality or publication steps. The stages determine the order in which the work is performed.

  1. Select Search (Alt+Q), enter Pipelines, and choose the related link.
  2. Select New.
  3. Enter a unique Code, a Name, and a Description.
  4. In the Stages section, add the stages that the item must pass through.
  5. Use Move Up and Move Down to arrange the stages in their execution order.
  6. Select Open Stage to configure the selected stage.

Configure actions for a stage

Configure stage actions when a stage must perform a check, certification, or integration step automatically. You can run actions before or after the stage, and you can control their order.

  1. Open a pipeline and select Open Stage for the stage that you want to configure.
  2. Add an action under Pre-Stage Actions or Post-Stage Actions.
  3. Select an Action Type.
  4. Select Parameters and enter the values required by the action.
  5. Use Move Up and Move Down to arrange the actions.

The available action types are:

  • Empty
  • Certify
  • Certify Channel
  • Run Checklist
  • Webhook

Certify a pipeline

Certify a pipeline when its stages and actions are ready for use. Certification sets the pipeline System Status to Certified and stores a version that can be used while processing items.

  1. Select Search (Alt+Q), enter Pipelines, and choose the related link.
  2. Open the pipeline that you want to certify.
  3. Select Certify.
  4. Confirm the action.

If you change a certified pipeline, Pimics responds according to the Modification on Certified Pipeline setting in Catalog Setup. If your administrator allows non-certified pipelines, you can process items with the current pipeline definition after confirming the assignment.

Use a pipeline for an item

After a pipeline has been prepared, use it to control the item's journey through the agreed business process. You can start the process, complete each stage when its result has been reviewed, and return to an earlier step when an item needs correction.

Start pipeline processing

Use this process when you want to start processing an item or create its pipeline state for the first time.

Note

If you assign a non-certified pipeline, Pimics checks the Allow Non-certified Pipeline setting. If non-certified pipelines are allowed, Pimics asks you to confirm the assignment. Otherwise, Pimics prevents the assignment.

  1. Select Search (Alt+Q), enter PIM Items, and choose the related link.
  2. Open the item that you want to process.
  3. On the item card, select a pipeline in the Pipeline field. If the field is empty, Pimics uses Default Pipeline from Catalog Setup when applicable.
  4. Under "Action -> Process -> Pipeline", select Run Pipeline to create the processing state entries.
  5. Review the Pipeline State FactBox. Pimics creates state entries for the pipeline, its stages, and its actions.

Continue processing an item

Use Next Stage to execute the next pending action or stage. Review the result before continuing.

  1. Select Search (Alt+Q), enter PIM Items, and choose the related link.
  2. Open the item that is already assigned to a pipeline.
  3. In the Pipeline State FactBox, review the current State, Stage, Action, and Message.
  4. Select Next Stage.
  5. Repeat the previous two steps until the pipeline is complete.

Move an item back or restart processing

If an item must be reviewed again, you can move it back one step or remove its current pipeline state.

Move back one step

  1. Select Search (Alt+Q), enter PIM Items, and choose the related link.
  2. Open the item.
  3. Under "Action -> Process -> Pipeline", select Previous Stage.
  4. Review the state and select Next Stage when you are ready to process the step again.

Reset the pipeline

  1. Select Search (Alt+Q), enter PIM Items, and choose the related link.
  2. Open the item.
  3. Under "Action -> Process -> Pipeline", select Reset Pipeline.
  4. Confirm the action.
  5. Select Run Pipeline to create a new processing state.

Resetting deletes all pipeline state entries for the item. It does not delete the pipeline or change the item data.

The processing state can have the following values:

  • New — not started.
  • Processing — currently being processed.
  • Done — completed.
  • Error — processing failed; review Message for details.
Note

The pipeline processor stores the pipeline version and checksum when it creates the pipeline state. If the definition of a non-certified pipeline changes while an item is being processed, processing stops until the pipeline state is reset or the pipeline is updated and certified.