Working with planning and deadlines

The planning module gives the newsroom oversight and control over editorial work: which editor is tied to which deadline, and what stage a post or production is in. There are two kinds of planning items: posts — an article with its own deadline — and productions, for example when an editor heads out to a location to report, and that trip itself needs to be planned and tracked. You manage both types from the same planning list and calendar.

The planning page shows posts and productions together, as separate planning items each with their own status, deadline, and assigned editors.

The planning page at a glance

Below the weekly overview everything sits in a single card:

• Status chips at the top left: Active (the default view) and one chip per status. Click a chip to show only that status; click it again to return to Active.
• List / Calendar at the top right: switch between the planning list and the calendar (see Calendar overview).
• Planning filters: opens the additional filters. A number on the button shows how many filters are active.
• Summary bar below the buttons: the total number of items, followed by a chip per deadline segment (Overdue, Today, Upcoming, No deadline) and, on the right, a chip per editor with their item count. All chips also work as quick filters.

Who’s working when

At the top of the planning page, above the filters and the planning list, you find the Who works when weekly overview. For each day it shows who is working according to the roster (with “morning” or “afternoon” added if someone only works part of the day), and below that the planning items with a deadline on that day. Use Previous week, This week and Next week to move between weeks.

If an item’s deadline falls on a day when an assigned editor isn’t working, the item shows the warning “Note: … is not working this day”. If no roster has been set up for your broadcaster at all, the overview says so instead of showing empty days.

The roster itself (fixed working days per employee, plus exceptions such as holidays or sick leave) is set up via Manage roster. See Roster and availability.

Roles and permissions

• Without the “editorial planning” broadcaster setting: the planning page doesn’t exist for anyone at this broadcaster, regardless of role.
• With access, but without the planning management role: read-only. You see the full list, calendar, and filters, but every edit action is disabled — you can’t create, assign, edit, or delete anything.
• With the planning management role: full rights — create new planning items (post or production), edit deadline/priority/notes inline, and assign or remove editors.

Active planning as the default view

The planning list shows only items with an active status by default: New, Draft, In progress, or Ready for review. Done and blocked items remain reachable, but only once you deliberately filter for them via the status chips.

Filtering and overview

Besides the status chips and the chips in the summary bar (see The planning page at a glance), Planning filters opens the additional filters: type (post/production), assigned editor, deadline segment (overdue, today, upcoming, no deadline), a separate “overdue only” toggle, a deadline period (from/to), and the number of items per page. Reset filters clears everything.

Editing a planning item

Creating a new planning item

With the “New item” button (only visible with planning management rights), you first choose with a toggle whether you’re planning a post or a production:

• Post: title, category/categories, deadline, and at least one assigned editor are required. The deadline has quick picks: Today, Tomorrow, and In a week. The Publication period is collapsed by default: open it to adjust publication from (pre-filled with the next quarter hour). Publication to only appears if the TV feature is enabled for your broadcaster. Newsroom creates the post first and only then links the planning item — if that second step fails, the post simply remains, and you get a clear message instead of the post vanishing into thin air.
• Production: choose an existing production, or create a new one right away (title, production type, production date). Deadline and at least one assigned editor are required here too. If linking the planning item fails after the production was created, the production simply remains — the same safety net as for posts above.

For example: a post “Traffic accident A2 closed” with a deadline of today 17:00 and Jan de Boer as the assigned editor.

Deleting a planning item

The trash icon (visible with the same planning management role as editing, see Roles and permissions above) deletes a planning item, after a confirmation prompt. This only deletes the planning item itself — the underlying post or production simply remains, you only lose the link and the overview in the planning list.

Setting a deadline from the post editor

The post editor itself has a small widget that lets you set or adjust this post’s deadline directly, without going to the planning page. If no planning item exists yet for the post, Newsroom automatically creates one (status “new”) when you save.

Deadline reminder emails

Newsroom automatically sends a reminder email to every assigned editor as the deadline of a planning item approaches. A daily background job (08:00 by default) sends this email for every active item (i.e. not done or cancelled) whose deadline falls within the warning window — the upcoming day by default. The email shows the title, the deadline, the number of days left, and a direct link to the post (where applicable).

Calendar overview

The List / Calendar toggle above the planning opens the calendar: a month, week, day, or agenda view in which every item sits on its deadline, coloured by status. The calendar follows the filters you have chosen.

• Click an item for a window with its type, status, deadline, assigned editors, and notes. The Open post or Open production button takes you straight to the item.
• Drag an item to another day to move its deadline (only with the planning management role). Newsroom confirms with “Deadline updated.”; without that role, items can’t be dragged.
• Items without a deadline don’t appear in the calendar; if nothing falls in the chosen period you see “No items with a deadline to show.”