How to Cancel a Payment in a Workflow Step

Modified on Thu, 27 Jul 2023 at 11:57 AM

In this article, we will guide you through canceling a payment on an active workflow step. This feature can effectively return the funds to the publication's content bank and free up the corresponding workflow step to be revised.


By canceling a payment, you initiate a request to the assignee who is assigned to the step.  The assignee must confirm your cancellation in order for the step to be editable.  For faster resolution, we recommend you agree to the cancellation with the assignee before initiating the cancellation


Please note - only owner or manager permissions can initiate a cancelation of a payment.


Requesting a Payment Cancellation:

  1. As an owner or manager of the story, log in to your account and navigate to the relevant story.

  2. Locate the workflow step with the associated payment you wish to cancel.

  3. If the payment is active, look for the "Cancel Payment" option and click on it to initiate the cancellation process.


  1. Once the payment cancellation is initiated, a confirmation prompt or dialogue box will appear on your screen.

  2. Read the information in the confirmation prompt carefully and explain the cancellation in the text box.

    1. This explanation will be sent to the assignee of the workflow step


  1. If you still wish to proceed with the cancellation, click on "Confirm" to finalize the process.

  2. Once the cancellation request has been sent, the cancellation button will be disabled.  There will be a timestamp showing when you requested the cancellation


Please note - you can “undo” the cancellation request if you did this in error.  This will revert the workflow step to its original status.



Communicating with the assignee:

  1. Upon initiating the cancellation, the assignee assigned to the canceled workflow step will receive an email and an in-platform notification.

  2. The notification will inform the assignee about the payment cancellation and include the reason you shared in the cancellation dialogue.

  3. The assignee will not be able to make any further changes to the story or the assigned step once the cancellation is confirmed.

  4. The assignee must confirm the cancellation to cancel the payment step.


Return of Funds and Workflow Step Reassignment:

  1. After the assignee confirms the cancellation, the funds from the canceled payment will be returned to the publication's content bank.

  2. The corresponding workflow step associated with the payment will now become available for reassignment or editing.



Additional Considerations:

  • Maintain open communication with the assignee and explain the reasons behind the payment cancellation to ensure transparency and understanding.

  • Only cancel if the assignee has stated they can no longer complete the project as requested.

  • Escalate any disagreements about payment cancellation with Talent@contently.com.

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