Understand Brief and Editorial Statuses
Track two separate pipelines—brief validation on the calendar and content workflow in the editor—so you always know what “approved” means at each stage.
Overview
CntX uses two independent status systems on every calendar item:
- Brief status — Planning validation on the calendar. Answers: “Is this topic, audience, and date signed off for production?”
- Editorial status — Production workflow on the content item. Answers: “Is the written draft ready for publish?”
A third field, CMS status, tracks sync with WordPress or Webflow. It never replaces editorial status—publishing to a CMS does not automatically mark content editorially approved, and editorial approval does not push to a CMS by itself.
Keeping the tracks separate prevents teams from publishing unreviewed copy just because a brief looked good in planning.
When to use
- You are unsure why Generate draft is disabled or skipped.
- Someone asks whether an item is “approved” for publication.
- You filter the briefs table or content library and need consistent labels.
- You troubleshoot batch generation skip reasons such as Ineligible status.
Before you start
- Open an item that has both a brief and a content record—the Contents list and calendar briefs table show both status columns when content exists.
- Remember: new calendar items start with a brief only; editorial status appears after the first draft exists.
Brief statuses (planning)
| Status | Meaning | Typical next action |
|---|---|---|
| Draft | AI or user created the brief; not ready for review. | Edit brief fields or schedule review. |
| Needs review | Ready for an approver to validate topic and date. | Quick review → Approve or Edit. |
| Ready for writer | Optional intermediate state when a human writer picks up the brief before AI generation. | Assign or generate draft. |
| Approved | Topic and planning metadata signed off. | Generate draft or Approve and generate. |
Brief approval does not mean the article body is ready to publish.
Editorial statuses (content item)
| Status | Meaning | Typical next action |
|---|---|---|
| Draft | Draft exists but writing not started in earnest. | Open editor, generate or write. |
| In progress | Active editing underway. | Continue in editor. |
| In review | Writer submitted for approval. | Reviewer approves or rejects. |
| Approved | Editorial sign-off inside CntX. | Publish to CMS when integration is connected. |
| Rejected | Reviewer sent back for rework. | Edit and resubmit for review. |
| Published in CntX | Marked published in the editorial workflow (may differ from CMS live state). | Republish or archive. |
| Archived | Retired from active workflow. | Restore only if you reuse the asset. |
CMS statuses (publishing integration)
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Not synced | Never pushed to a connected CMS. |
| CMS draft | Saved as draft on WordPress or Webflow. |
| CMS scheduled | Scheduled publish on the CMS. |
| CMS published | Live (or updated) on the CMS. |
| CMS failed | Last push failed—check integration and retry. |
CntX warns you if you publish to a CMS while editorial status is not Approved or Published in CntX.
How statuses interact
“`text Brief Draft / Needs review ↓ approve brief Brief Approved ↓ generate draft Editorial Draft / In progress ↓ submit for review Editorial In review ↓ approve content Editorial Approved ↓ publish to CMS CMS draft / CMS published (editorial may stay Approved or move to Published in CntX) “`
Campaign and opportunity items follow the same brief and editorial tracks once a content item exists. Layer badges (Strategy, Campaign, Opportunity, Manual) describe origin, not status.
Expected result
- You can read any calendar or library row and know whether the blocker is planning (brief) or production (editorial/CMS).
- Filters and To do now counts map to the correct workflow stage.
- Your team aligns on “approve the brief” vs “approve the content” in reviews.
Tips
- Calendar next action column — Combines brief state, content presence, and editorial/CMS state into one suggested click (for example Approve and generate, Open editor, Publish).
- Batch generation skips — NOT_ELIGIBLE_STATUS usually means brief not approved or content already protected; check both status columns.
- Legacy status field — Some views still mirror editorial status under an older `status` label; trust Editorial status as source of truth.
- Published twice — CMS published + editorial Draft is possible if someone pushed early; fix editorial status before the next publish cycle.
Next step
Optimize and Approve Content to move drafts through editorial approval before CMS publish.
Ready to try this in CntX?
Open the product and apply this guide to your workspace.