DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT

A common approach for exchanging and collaborating on documents is by using shared folders or by publishing documents on an intranet. The document management module takes this to approach to the next level by offering version control, revision management, access logging, viewing and markup. The document management module is fully integrated with workflow management, so you can define or customize processes for document review, publishing, archiving and printing.

The module can be configured for each user group by setting access rights to fields and functions. You can also define your own processes for modifying or creating data by defining custom workflows. Specific functions for your organization can be implemented on request. The standard functions of this module include:

Internet: All documents are safely stored on a central server and backups are made daily. Employees can quickly find and access documents via the Internet from other offices, home or road. You can also share documents with customers and suppliers, for example when you work together on a project.

Folders: A single document can be placed in multiple folders, for example a presentation can be stored in folder 'sales' and folder 'presentations'. The folder structure can be of unlimited depth and the folder names are dynamically translated. Folders can be made invisible for a certain user group by setting access permissions.

Revisions: A revision management system ensures that only one person can make changes at a given time. When a user checks out a document the document remains locked for editing until it has been checked in again.

Versions: When a document is modified the previous versions remains accessible. This enables users to view or download older versions of a document and read the comments that apply to that version.

Conversions: Documents are converted to a web-viewable format such as PDF or JPEG so that users do not need the native application for viewing the document. Access permissions can be set to make sure that certain user groups only have access to the converted format so that the intellectual property to the native document remains protected.

Markup: Users can markup documents and add their comments using a highlight marker. When moving the cursor over the highlighted area the text of the comment, author and date are displayed.

Notifications: For each document or folder a distribution list can be defined. When the document changes or when a new document is uploaded to a folder the users on the distribution list are notified by email.

Templates: You can define template documents such as drawings, presentations or an expense reports. When the user creates a new document he or she can select the template. The document will then inherit all attributes and settings from the template document.

Links: A document can have references to other documents. When the document is checked out of converted the linked documents are automatically attached. Document links can be used for managing reference files in CAD drawings or including style sheets in HTML documents.

Attributes: The standard fields can be augmented with an unlimited number of custom data fields called attributes. Attributes can be of various types such as text, enumerations, integer, floating point number or reference to another object. Attributes can be editable, read-only or hidden depending on the status of the workflow and user group access permissions.

Log: An access log can be viewed for each document. The log shows when and who uploaded new versions, downloaded or viewed the document.

Security: Access to documents can be specified per user group. The access permissions can be set on the folder level or on the document level. The access permissions can also depend on the status of the document in a workflow.

Workflows: Various workflows can be assigned to a document, for example a workflow for document approval or for archiving. Workflows are role based, and tasks are automatically assigned to persons that belong to a certain role.

Search: Users can search for documents based on various criteria such as keywords, name, author, format or date of last revision.

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