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The Workbench module is a flexible tool for building an editorial workflow in Drupal. It offers a standard workflow and customization options for tailoring the process to your needs. Used by more than 25,000 sites to date, it is a tried and true publishing workflow solution that you can extend with moderation, access control, and media management.

Why Use Workbench?

Most organizations producing online content have an editorial process in place: content creators collect information and write content, editors review, edit, ask for changes, and publish the content once it’s considered final. Depending on the size and processes of the organization, these roles can be filled by one or more people, even groups, who might not be familiar with how Drupal works. With Workbench you can build an editorial process in Drupal that can reflect these diverse roles and processes.

Workbench offers different advantages for each group of stakeholders:

• Users who only have to work with content benefit from a simplified interface. Training content creators is easy because they are already familiar with the concepts of the editorial workflow and only have to learn how it is modeled on the interface. They don’t have to learn much about the CMS itself. The short learning curve and familiar activities help them add and update content more frequently.
• Organizations can fully replicate and digitalize their editorial workflow: access control is based on organizational structure, not website architecture. The process itself is customizable based on the roles and practices inside the organization. The workflow can be applied to media files as well. With the straightforward use, organizations can save on decreased support costs.
• Developers can implement various workflows thanks to the module’s modular and extensible structure.

Talking about online content, you also want to consider post-publication phases of the editorial workflow: content teams might need to update already-published content. Workbench offers a solution for this scenario as well.