Tracking statuses for client-side productions

Flow Production Tracking gives you a lot of flexibility for managing the statuses of different things, from the review status of a version, to the delivery status of a submission package. With all of this freedom, it can be easy to become lost in a lot of different things to track, leading to confusion between people trying to find relevant information. Below are our recommendations for tracking the statuses of different things in Flow Production Tracking for client-side productions.

Version statuses

Versions essentially track whether each one needs to be reviewed (and by whom), and if it has been final approved. This should be sufficient to track most productions, though if needed they can be augmented with additional list or checkbox fields for specific requirements.

Version — Status

The purpose of this field is to be able to easily track whether or not a particular Version has been reviewed, and, where applicable, that it has been reviewed by the director. In most cases, it will also track if that Version has been approved.

This is a “Status List” type field, with the following options as a starting point:

  1. N/A: Used to indicate no review is required
  2. Pending Review: The Version has not yet been reviewed by anyone (this will be the default for any newly created Versions)
  3. Pending Director Review: The Version has been reviewed, but needs to be reviewed by the director
  4. Viewed: The Version has been reviewed by everyone who needs to have reviewed it, but is not considered final approved
  5. Final Approved: The Version has been reviewed and approved by the director

As you go through the review process, these statuses will likely change on each Version. The order of the statuses in the list should be in line with your review process, such that the options further down the list indicate progression. For example, “Pending Review” will happen before “Pending Director Review”, which is before “Final Approved”, and so on. Depending on your review process, some of these may not be needed, or you might wish to add additional steps.

Tip:

Use filters to quickly identify versions needing review based on their status.

Note:

Some of the statuses in this field are used as part of the Final Version Automation detailed below. In particular, configuring the field to change or remove the “Final Approved” or “Viewed” statuses will cause the automation not to work (although renaming them is fine). In addition, the various tabs on the “Review” page will be affected by changes.

Tip:

Use conditional formatting to highlight approved versions based on their status.

Shot statuses

For Shots, the primary concern for the editorial team is monitoring whether or not each Shot is in the Cut, and for the visual effects team, it’s knowing how far along the Shot is to be considered complete.

Shot — Cut status

The purpose of this field is to track whether the Shot is in or out of the current Cut.

This is a “Status List” type field, with the following statuses:

  1. Active: Indicates the Shot is in the Cut (this will be the default for any newly-created Shots)
  2. Inactive: Indicates the Shot is out of the Cut

Note:

These statuses are used by several editorial apps, including the Import Cut app, so changing them (except for renaming them) is not recommended. They are also used by the widgets on the VFX Dashboard page.

Shot — VFX Shot status

The purpose of this field is to track the overall completion of the Shot, as far as visual effects are concerned.

This is a “List” type field, with the following statuses as a starting point:

  1. Bid In Progress: The Shot is at bidding stage and no work has been done by vendors
  2. Turned Over: Materials for the Shot have been turned over to vendors and work can commence
  3. In Progress: Submissions for the Shot are underway
  4. CBB: The Shot is almost complete but could be better
  5. Omit: The Shot has been omitted
  6. On Hold: Work on the Shot has been suspended
  7. Final Approved: The Shot is complete
Note:

These statuses are used by the VFX Dashboard, so any changes made to the statuses would require updating the widgets on that page too. In addition, the default permissions are configured so that vendors will not have access to Shots marked as “Bid In Progress”.

Delivery statuses

For deliveries, it’s important to know whether the Delivery has completed successfully, or otherwise what stage the Delivery is at, or if there were any issues.

Delivery — Delivery status

The purpose of this field is to track whether a Delivery has completed (and been ingested) successfully or not.

This is a “Status List” type field, with the following statuses:

  1. Open: The delivery has not started yet (this will be the default for any newly-created Deliveries)
  2. In Progress: The Delivery is underway (or is being ingested)
  3. Delivered: The Delivery has completed, and is ready to be ingested
  4. Received: The Delivery has been ingested
  5. Errored: There was an error while attempting to deliver or ingest the Delivery
  6. N/A: The Delivery can be ignored

Delivery — Delivery progress

The purpose of this field is to track the progress of vendor submission Deliveries.

This is a “List” type field, with the following statuses:

  1. In transit: Files for the Delivery are being transferred
  2. Delivery cancelled: The Delivery has been cancelled by the sender
  3. Delivery failed: The Delivery failed due to an issue on the sender’s side
  4. Delivered: The Delivery completed and is available to be ingested
  5. Ingesting: Files for the Delivery are being ingested
  6. Ingest cancelled: The ingest of the Delivery has been cancelled by the recipient
  7. Ingest failed: The ingest of the Delivery failed due to an issue on the recipient’s side
  8. Ingest suspended: The ingest of the Delivery has stopped and requires user interaction
  9. Received: The ingest of the Delivery has completed with no errors
  10. Received with warnings: The ingest of the Delivery has completed but some issues were encountered

Reel statuses

In general, it’s not required to track statuses for Reels, however sometimes it can be useful to denote Reels as placeholders for planning purposes.

Reel — Status

The purpose of this field is to track whether a Reel is to be used or not.

This is a “Status List” type field, with the following statuses:

  1. Active: The Reel is in use (this will be the default for any newly-created Reels)
  2. N/A: The Reel is not currently in use

Sequence statuses

For Sequences, it can be useful to track the progress of each one, as well as whether any have been omitted or placed on hold.

Sequence — Status

The purpose of this field is to track the development of a Sequence.

This is a “Status List” type field, with the following statuses:

  1. In Progress: The Sequence is being worked on (this will be the default for any newly-created Sequences)
  2. Final: The Sequence is complete
  3. On Hold: The Sequence has been placed on hold
  4. Omit: The Sequence has been omitted

Note statuses

For Notes, the primary purpose is to track whether the contents have been actioned or acknowledged.

Note — Status

The purpose of this field is to track the actionable content of a Note.

This is a “Status List” type field, with the following statuses:

  1. Open: The Note is still valid and relevant
  2. In Progress: The contents of the Note are being actioned
  3. Closed: Any actionable work has been completed, or the Note is no longer relevant

Note:

Only “Open” Notes are displayed in certain places.

Unused statuses

By default, the following entities do not come preconfigured with status settings, though you can configure them if you prefer to track statuses for any of them:

Automation of statuses

Several of the statuses covered can be changed automatically by (or can otherwise affect) other processes in Flow Production Tracking.

Final Version automation

The “Final Version” trigger allows for a Shot’s VFX Shot status to be updated if a linked Version’s status is set to “Final Approved”. If this happens, the VFX Shot status is also set to “Final Approved”.

Import Cut app

The Import Cut app will update the “Cut Status” for each Shot if that option is enabled in the app’s settings window. The settings window allows you to choose which status to use for omitting and reinstating Shots.

More information on how Import Cut works with statuses.