Using the Crawl Job Readiness Checklist

The readiness checklist is the gate between a configured crawl job and one that's fit to run. It turns "is this safe and authorized?" into a concrete, trackable list, and it drives the job's readiness status automatically.

What the readiness checklist is

Every crawl job has a checklist of items — each with a label, category, description, and status. The checklist opens with a default set the first time you view it, so you always start from a sensible baseline. Items are marked required or optional, and the job's readiness status is computed from them.

Checklist item statuses

Each item can be:

• pending — not yet addressed.
• passed — confirmed and satisfied.
• blocked — a real problem that stops the job.
• not_applicable — doesn't apply to this job.

A job becomes ready only when every required item is passed or not_applicable. If any item is blocked, the job's readiness status becomes blocked. Otherwise it sits at needs_review.

How readiness status is derived

• All required items passed/not_applicable, none blocked → ready.
• Any item blocked → blocked.
• Otherwise → needs_review.

Because this is computed from the items, you don't set readiness by hand — you work the checklist and the status follows.

Work through the checklist

1. Open the crawl job and go to its Readiness checklist. If it's the first time, the default items are created for you.
2. Review each item's label and description.
3. For each item, set the appropriate status and add notes and the completed by name where useful.
4. Mark items that genuinely don't apply as not_applicable rather than leaving them pending.
5. If something can't be satisfied, set it blocked and explain why in notes — this intentionally holds the job.
6. Save. The job's readiness status updates immediately based on your changes.

Then move to approval

A ready job still needs governance approval before execution can be enabled. Once the checklist is clean, set governance status to review_required and have a reviewer approve (recorded in approved_by). See Configuring and Governing Crawl Jobs for the full governance flow.

A realistic example

Before the Northwind Coffee crawl runs, the checklist includes items like "Written authorization on file," "robots.txt reviewed," "Scope fenced to allowed prefixes," and "Rate limit appropriate for target." Maya marks the first three passed with notes, marks a "Staging environment excluded" item not_applicable, and saves. All required items pass, so readiness flips to ready. Her lead then approves the job.

Tips

• Use not_applicable deliberately — leaving required items pending keeps the job out of ready forever.
• Put evidence in item notes (permission references, who confirmed what). The checklist is part of your audit trail.
• Treat blocked as a feature: it's the safe way to park a job that isn't ready yet.
• Re-open the checklist after any big scope change; widening scope may reintroduce items you should re-verify.

Troubleshooting

Readiness won't reach ready. At least one required item is still pending or blocked. Filter to required items and resolve each.

I passed everything but the job still can't run. Readiness ready is necessary but not sufficient — the job also needs governance approval and centrally enabled execution.

The checklist looks empty. The default items are created on first load. Re-open the checklist; if items still don't appear, confirm the job saved successfully.