New Superdesk Features Simplify Belga’s Editorial Workflows

When Belga, Belgium’s national news agency, began using Superdesk in 2021,  their goal was to modernise their newsroom systems by replacing a set of legacy tools with one integrated workflow. Over time, the news agency adopted Superdesk for editorial production, but planning and external freelancer management still relied on external systems.

To complete the full transition, Belga worked with the Superdesk team on a project that focused on three key areas: multilinguality; management of freelance availability and invoicing workflows; and automation. The result is a planning environment designed around the agency’s specific needs, while still built on the standard Superdesk architecture.

A Planning Component Built Around Events

One of the first things addressed was overhauling how Belga plans its news coverage. In the standard Superdesk structure, “coverages” are attached to “planning items” in the Superdesk Planning Component. To avoid adding extra steps for Belga, the system was adapted so that planning items are created automatically in the background. When someone adds a coverage to an event, Superdesk generates the necessary planning item behind the scenes and copies the relevant data into it.

From the user’s perspective, the process remains straightforward: create the event, assign the coverages, and save. The system handles the rest.

Multilingual Coverage

Belga works in several languages – Dutch and French, and sometimes English and German.

In the original Superdesk Planning Component structure, each language requires a separate planning item. To address this, Superdesk was adapted to support multilingual events within a single item. Editors can now select the required languages for an event, after which the corresponding text fields are displayed automatically. This allows one event to generate multiple coverages in different languages without duplication. Each desk receives the correct language version, reducing manual effort and simplifying the workflow.

The feature is fully configurable, enabling administrators to define what languages are available and what fields should support multiple languages.

“Our goal with the multilingual planning feature in Superdesk is to connect every part of the news chain - from the very beginning of an event through a planning item, a coverage and an assignment, to all the content we create at Belga as a news agency in different languages. With Sourcefabric’s planning tools, we’re now about to accomplish that goal", said Hannes Jansseune, Responsible for Info Office at Belga, a bilingual team that supports the newsroom of Belga News Agency and selects and plans news coverage.

Automating Advisories

Another important part of Belga’s workflow is the creation of advisories for their clients. These are articles that list upcoming events, such as the next day’s programme or the week’s sports calendar.

Previously, these advisories had to be compiled manually. Editors would gather the relevant events, copy the details, and build the advisory article themselves.

Superdesk’s planning tools already included export and scheduling features, which were adapted to Belga’s needs. Editors can now define filters that select the relevant events, such as all sports events in the coming week or all major events scheduled for the next day.

These filters can be connected to scheduled exports. At a predefined time, the system automatically generates an advisory article on the chosen desk, with all the selected events already formatted and inserted. What once required manual compilation and was time-consuming is now handled automatically, freeing up editorial time and ensuring consistent output.

“We adapted these features so editors can generate advisory articles automatically, based on filters. What used to be a lot of manual work is now fully automated,” said Gideon Lehmann, Superdesk project manager.

Managing Freelancer Availability

As mentioned in our previous article on new Superdesk features, the Availability Manager supports Belga’s wide network of freelance correspondents across the country.

With the Availability Manager integrated into Superdesk, correspondents now enter and update their own availability directly in the system. Managers have a central overview of all freelancers and can filter by region, language, or status. What was previously handled in spreadsheets is now part of the editorial workflow, saving significant administrative time and ensuring up-to-date information for planning and invoicing.

The data from the Availability Manager does more than just support planning; it also plays a role in Belga’s invoicing process. Through the Superdesk production API, the invoicing system can retrieve information about each correspondent’s availability and output. This includes the number of days they were available, partially available, or unavailable, as well as the number of articles they produced during the billing period.

The invoicing system uses this data to calculate payments automatically. The entire process is based on real data from the planning and production workflows.

From Legacy Systems to a Single Integrated Workflow

Beyond the new features, the project highlights one of Superdesk’s key strengths: flexibility. Because the platform is highly configurable, it can be adapted to match the exact needed workflows of different news organisations. And when something is missing, contributing to the open source code base is always an option, enabling users to tailor the software to their needs.

For Belga, this meant building a planning system that reflects the realities of a multilingual newsroom, while also reducing manual work and replacing legacy tools. The result is a more streamlined, integrated workflow that saves time for both editorial and administrative teams.

Interested in learning how Superdesk can simplify your organisation’s workflows? Contact us today for a free demo.