It is possible for an item to be published immediately after initial creation, but this is not the typical case. The workflow system provides Content Items with multiple levels of editing or approval before final publishing. Unlike the creation of content types and authoring kits, custom workflow programming is usually unnecessary. Workflows can be created and maintained entirely using the CMS administration UI. You can learn more about this from the Red Hat Content Management System Administrator Guide.
Although there is a certain amount of flexibility in specifying workflow steps, a workflow typically follows this form: an initial step of type Author, zero or more steps of type Edit, and a final step of type Deploy.
When an item with a default workflow is first created, an instance of that workflow is initiated, and the first step of the workflow becomes active. The task is automatically locked to the author.
The original author finishes the initial authoring task using the task completion form. The next task becomes active. Tasks of type Author only have one option on the task completion form, other than the comment box. Authoring tasks are one-way, always advancing to the next step upon completion.
When the next task is an Edit task, which requires approval, the user has an option to reject the item. A rejected item is pushed back to the previous step. Accepting the item pushes it forward to the next step.
This process is repeated for as many approval steps as are in the item's workflow.
The final deployment task is completed implicitly when the publisher assigns the item a lifecycle and makes it live.