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Document and Revision Management

DrawMGT makes a distinction between a document and a revision of a document. This reflects the construction industry's practice of strict revision control. Each revision has its own, separate workflow steps.

Definitions:

This means that in order to put a document or drawing into DrawMGT it is necessary to create both a document and a revision.

Documents

A document has three components:

When you create a document is critical that you first:

If you change the document type, the screen will refresh and any data that you have entered will be lost. This occurs because different document types can have different types of document codes and title blocks.

When you create a new document you are given the option to Save and New Revision, this save the document information and then presents you with a new revision screen, with many of the field (particularly the title) already filled in.

You can create a new document:

Searching for Documents

The document search screen can appear, at first glance, overwhelming. In fact, most searches can be made using only a few of the fields. The most often used search fields are:

The search screen is divided into the following blocks:

Document Blocks:

Revision Blocks:

Report:

Searches are restricted to the current contract. If you need to create documents lists from multiple contracts, you can use the drawing basket to assemble the list.

Document Lists

Document lists are displayed when you:

Document list features and functions:

You can also download metadata in as a file in tab separated format (suitable for reading into Excel) using the Download Metadata Spreadsheet button. This operates on either selected or all items in the list, including items on pages which are not currently displayed.

Document Basket

The document basket operates similarly to document lists. It also offers additional features, which generally operate on either all or selected documents:

Depending on your user roles, some of the buttons may not be available.

Document Detail Screen

You display a document detail screen by clicking on a document or revision code in a document list.

The document detail screen shows all the information (e.g. metadata) about a document, all its revisions (which could be 'no revisions') and any tasks associated with the document.

The detail screen contains the following major components:

In the revision detail screen a revision list is displayed, with superseded revisions shown in gray. You can display the detail information about the revision by clicking on the revision code.

The columns displayed in the revision list change depending on the workflow type. Generally information about the last two workflow steps is displayed.

Document Codes

Each document stored in DrawMGT is assigned a document code. The type of document code depends on the system configuration and is based on:

A document code consists of a series of components, each of which has meaning. These components can be used to set classification (and other) fields in the document form. Classification fields are filled automatically based on the document field when you press the save or preview buttons. This is a powerful feature unique to DrawMGT.

The format of document codes is project specific. You can enter the document code either as text in the upper part of the field, or via a combination of drop-down menus and text boxes in the lower, gray part of the form.

Revisions

A revision has three components:

You can create a new revision:

Revision Workflows

The list of workflow steps is determined by the document's workflow type. Each workflow step allows for the entry of a planned date, complete date, person responsible and, for approval steps, an approval status.

The following restrictions apply to work flow steps:

The lists of people responsible are determined by the user roles. Basically if you want someone to appear in the list, you must add the appropriate user role to the contract (or contact and group).

A the exact workflow for a document depends on the system configuration, which is based on:

The following workflow types are available:

You can change the display of document lists (by clicking on links above the list header) to show information about different workflow steps.

Revision Colors

The color of the revision in lists and detail screens changes depending on the state of the workflow. Basically the color goes from pink, though yellow, brown and green, and finally to white once the workflow is complete. (Think of a traffic light going from red to green).

The colors are set according to last workflow step that has been completed:

Additional colors are used to mark superseded and obsolete revisions:

The gray colors are used to prevent you from inadvertently using a superseded or obsolete document. It is possible to display and download superseded documents, but you receive a warning when you do so.

Uploading Metadata

It is possible to create documents and revisions (and update revisions) by uploading metadata. The basic format is a tab-separated file, such as created by Excel, with column names defined in the first list of the file. The exact file format is described in the screen produced by the left-hand menu item Help - Upload File Format.

The easiest way to create metadata upload file is to download a metadata file from the document list screen. Typically you create additional documents and revisions by downloading a file with similar revisions and then adding/changing lines to define the required documents and revisions. Using Excel, save your file in text tab-separated format.

You can delete columns for fields that can be derived from the drawing code, or columns that have acceptable default values (see you site configuration guide for details).

To upload a metadata file use the left-hand menu item Document - Upload Metadata. You will be presented with a screen for selecting a file, and some checkboxes for selecting the format and default value behavior. Normally you should not change any of the settings and only select the upload file.

The upload proceeds in two stages:

  1. When you press the Upload button you are presented with a exception report listing any errors
    • encountered in the file.
  2. If there are no error listed in the error report, then you can confirm the upload and actually update
    • the DrawMGT system with your data. Nothing permanent happens until you perform this step. Press the Upload button on the second screen to actually load your data.

After the upload is performed you are presented with a confirmation screen and the uploaded documents are placed in your document basket.

Some restrictions apply when uploading metadata:

DocumentsRevisions (last edited 2010-01-08 14:54:44 by softxs)