I need some information on how to achieve a solution which will allow a group of users to create content but the content remains unpublished until multiple managers have somehow signed off on the content of the node page.
I'll be happy if the suggestion comes in the form of a module and/or a recipe on configuration steps.
There are different modules out there for achieving this kind of results. Some of the ones I know are:
Workbench provides overall improvements for managing content that Drupal does not provide out of the box. Workbench gives us three important solutions:
The workflow module allows the creation and assignment of arbitrary workflows to Drupal node types. Workflows are made up of workflow states. For example, a workflow with the states Draft, Review, and Published could be assigned to the Story node type.
Revisioning is a module for the configuration of workflows to create, moderate and publish content revisions.
modr8 provides an administrative interface for managing content in moderation.
Allows you to preview content, as well as approve or deny, and send messages to the author informing them of your choice.
This module adds back that capability and also prevents posts that are in moderation from showing up in lists, on the /node page, etc., unless the user is the node's author or unless the user has the "administer nodes" or "moderate content" permission. This is NOT an access control module, however, so posts that are in moderation can still be viewed if a user knows the path (URL) corresponding to that post.
or
It allows moderators to review all posted content while already published. Included Ajax based functionality allows the moderators to preview the content and to change status like published, moderated, promoted, sticky without having to leave the page. A separate page provides a log, listing all status changes with who and when it was changed.
and also take a look at this Maestro module
The Workbench module provides you a customizable editorial workflow. Here is a quote about it (from the module's project page):
... provides overall improvements for managing content that Drupal does not provide out of the box. Workbench gives us three important solutions:
- a unified and simplified user interface for users who ONLY have to work with content. This decreases training and support time.
- the ability to control who has access to edit any content based on an organization's structure not the web site structure
- a customizable editorial workflow that integrates with the access control feature described above or works independently on its own
These features benefit the end users as well as Drupal Site Administrators and Technical Support.
