How can you manage CMS user roles and permissions for multilingual sites?

1 Define your multilingual workflow

Before you assign user roles and permissions, it is crucial to define your multilingual workflow. This involves recognizing the steps and responsibilities necessary for creating, translating, and publishing content in various languages. For instance, you may have a workflow that includes a content editor creating and publishing content in the default language, followed by a translator receiving a notification and translating the content into another language. After that, a reviewer checks and approves the translation before it is published by the translator. Your workflow may differ depending on your CMS features, content strategy, and quality standards; however, it is essential to have an explicit and documented workflow that everyone can comprehend.

2 Choose your user roles and permissions

Once you have your workflow, you can choose your user roles and permissions accordingly. User roles are predefined sets of permissions that determine what actions a user can perform on the CMS. Permissions are the specific abilities that a user role has, such as creating, editing, deleting, or publishing content. Depending on your CMS, you may have different user roles and permissions available, or you may be able to create your own custom ones.

The key is to choose user roles and permissions that match your workflow and your multilingual needs. For example, you may want to have different user roles for content editors, translators, and reviewers, and assign them different permissions based on the language and the content type they work with. You may also want to restrict some actions, such as publishing or deleting content, to certain user roles or languages, to avoid errors or conflicts.

3 Implement your user roles and permissions

After you choose your user roles and permissions, you need to implement them on your CMS. This means creating or selecting the user roles, assigning them to the users, and configuring the permissions for each role. You also need to test and verify that the user roles and permissions work as expected, and that they do not interfere with other CMS features or functions.

To implement your user roles and permissions, you may need to use some tools or plugins that enhance your CMS capabilities. For example, you may need to use a multilingual plugin that allows you to manage content in different languages, or a user role editor plugin that allows you to create and edit custom user roles and permissions. You may also need to use some code snippets or hooks to fine-tune your user roles and permissions for specific scenarios or requirements.

4 Monitor and update your user roles and permissions

Finally, you need to monitor and update your user roles and permissions regularly, to ensure that they are still relevant and effective for your multilingual site. You may need to make changes or adjustments based on your feedback, your analytics, your content changes, or your CMS updates. You may also need to add or remove users, user roles, or permissions, as your team or your site grows or evolves.

To monitor and update your user roles and permissions, you need to have a system or a process that allows you to track and review them periodically. You also need to communicate and collaborate with your team, to make sure that they are aware of and follow the user roles and permissions, and that they report any issues or suggestions. You may also want to use some tools or plugins that help you audit or backup your user roles and permissions, to prevent or recover from any problems or errors.

5 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?