Kentico 12 Training
- Brian Arthmire
- Guess, Brandi N.
Kentico is the primary Content Management System (CMS) used by Franklin County to update content on public websites. Full documentation may be found on the Kentico documentation website, but what follows is a summary of how to edit and approve content through the Kentico workflow, including some special one-off use cases.
Introduction
Content updates are performed by two primary Roles: Editors and Approvers. Editors kick off the Kentico Workflow by checking out content, updating, checking in content, and submitting updates for approval. Approvers complete the Kentico Workflow by reviewing content and either rejecting or publishing the changes; approvers may also archive old content.
Before we go into the workflow steps in detail, let’s briefly discuss how to access and configure the Kentico Administration console.
Kentico Administration console
Sign In to access the Kentico Administration console.
Verify that you are on the county network, either by being in the office or by being on VPN remotely.
Go to your agency’s public website home page and add “/admin“ to the end of the URL web address, such as https://franklincountyohio.gov/admin/.
You should see a dark background with centered white box asking for your username and password.
If you forgot your password, please use the Forgotten Password link. If you forgot your username, please contact the Data Center Help Desk. Your username is not your email address.
Kentico Dashboard
Once you have successfully logged in, you will be taken to the Kentico Dashboard. This is much like a landing or home page. The primary purpose is to display to you your most commonly-used applications in Kentico.
To add or remove quick links to or from your Dashboard,
Click on the gear icon in the lower right corner of the page to enter “edit” mode.
To add links to your Dashboard, click on the large plus icon and then select or pin applications from the list on the left.
To remove links from your Dashboard, click on the close icon in the upper right corner of the application link.
When you are finished modifying your Dashboard, click on the gear icon again to exit “edit” mode.
Kentico Content
Content Types
Kentico content comes in three flavors, and each is managed in its own way:
Static Content
Dynamic Content
Static Content is managed through the Page tab in the Pages application. In the Kentico website tree on the left side of the Pages application, select any Page with a Paper icon. Any content on these pages outlined in a dashed border is directly editable by Editors using a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editor.
Dynamic Content is managed through either the Content tab or the Form tab in the Pages application. Everything outside a dashed border is managed via subfolders or subpages that can be found by expanding the Kentico website tree. Select any item with an icon other than a Paper icon and update the Form.
 Static Content |  Dynamic Content |
Editors: Creating New Pages
Creating pages differs between Static Content (i.e., Pages) and Dynamic Content (i.e., everything else). To create a new Static Content page,
select the parent folder that will contain the new Page,
click on the New icon above the website tree,
select Page (menu item) as the Page Type,
give your new page a Page Name, and finally
select your desired Page Template from the provided options; it does help to filter the choices by your specific website.
To create a new Dynamic Content page, the process above is the same except for step 3 you will not be selecting Page (menu item) as your Page Type. To find the Page Type you will need, either
select the type whose icon matches the other pages in the same folder, or
you may also select an existing Dynamic Page and check the Page Type under the General tab.
 Creating New Static Content |  Creating New Dynamic Content |
Editors: Check Out and Check In
To edit any Page, you must first Check Out the page for Editing. You may have as many Pages checked out as you like, but each Page may only be checked out by one Editor at a time. While a Page is Checked Out, you may Save your current progress as often as you like.
When you are finished making your changes, it is advised to Check In the Page as soon as possible in case other Editors would like to make their own edits. It never hurts to check a Page in because you may immediately check the same Page back out to pick up where you left off. Checking a Page in does not submit the Page for approval; only Editors will see the changes that Editors make until an Editor decides to push the Page to the next step of the Kentico workflow.
Editors: Undo Checkout
There are a couple of scenarios in which an Editor may wish to Undo Checkout:
If you begin making edits to a Page and decide you would like to start over, Undo Checkout will revert the Page back to its original/current published version.
If a Page is checked out by another Editor and that person is not available to check the page back in, a different Editor does have the ability to Undo another Editor’s Checkout so that they may begin immediately editing the page.
Please Note: All of the changes made by the first Editor will be lost. If you are Undoing another Editor’s changes, there is no way to recover their edits. This should only be used in an emergency situation.
Editors: Submit for Approval
When an Editor is finished with all edits to a Page, they may Submit for Approval. After the Page is submitted, Editors are not able to edit until any Approver has either Rejected or Published the Page. Please note that Submitting a Page for Approval does not make your changes available to the public; this is done only after an Approver Publishes your changes.
Pro Tip: If you click on the ellipsis (…) to the right of the button, you are given the option to send an optional comment.
Approvers: Reject or Publish
When you receive an email stating that a Page is awaiting your Approval, log into Kentico and
select the Pending Pages application to view an entire list of all Pages ready for Approval,
find the Page that you would like to review and click on the Page’s Pencil icon,
change the Properties tab to Workflow,
review changes by clicking on the most recent history Eye icon and compare to the most recent version.
If you approve of the changes, then click on the Publish button; otherwise, click on the Reject button to send the Page back to the Editors.
Please Note: Once an Approver clicks on the Publish button, all changes made by all Editors to the Page become available to the general public. A new version has been created.
Approvers: Archiving Old Pages
To remove content from your public website, Approvers may Archive any Page in Kentico. Archiving removes the Page from public view but keeps the Page in the Kentico Admin for later use.
This option is helpful for Pages that are periodic in nature, such as slides that are displayed for only the month of February. As an Approver, you can Archive the slide beginning in March and then an Editor can check the slide out at the end of January to kick off the Kentico workflow for publication the following February.
Editors: Deleting Old Pages
To remove content from your public website, Editors may Delete any Page in Kentico. Deleting removes the Page from both public view and from the Kentico Admin.
This option is helpful for Pages that are no longer needed and you do not want them cluttering up your website tree. Deleted Pages are sent to the Kentico Recycle Bin, so a deleted page may be restored at a future date if needed, but there are some cases (ad-hoc’ed pages that do not have a template assigned) where you may lose all of the content on the Page, so only Delete a Page if you are sure you no longer need its content; Archiving is the safer option.
Media
Media, such as images (e.g., .jpg and .png) and documents (e.g., .docx and .pdf) are controlled in Kentico through Media Libraries. From the Kentico Dashboard or from the list of applications, select the Media Libraries application. On the following screen, you will see several different libraries; each agency is slightly different - some will have more, some will have less - but in general, you may see the following libraries:
Assets: used by the Data Center for items that pertain to the overall structure of the website, such as background images and logos. You will normally never need to touch this folder.
Documents: best location to upload your documents (e.g., .docx and .pdf).
Images: best location to upload your images (e.g., .jpg and .png).
To open a specific library, click on the Pencil icon next to its name. On the following screen, you will find a directory listing to the left and a list of files to the right.
Special Use Cases
Changing the Order of Dynamic Content Pages
If a Dynamic Content Page is showing out-of-order on your Static Content Page, it is usually because it is positioned incorrectly in the Kentico Admin website tree. Use the Up or Down arrows to change the order/position of a Dynamic Content Page.
Updating a Document or an Image
Adding new documents and images to your website can be a common occurrence, but sometimes you want to keep the document link but change the document the link points to, or keep the image placeholder on the page but change the image that is displayed. To do so, click on the Update button in your Media Library.
Page Contents
FCDC Help Desk | helpdesk@franklincountyohio.gov | 614-525-3282