• ExcelIntegrationDocumentLinks

Excel Integration - Document Links

2011-07-29, ah

• Contents

  1. Excel Integration - Document Links
  2. Introduction
  3. Definitions
  4. Limitations of Excel Spreadsheet
  5. Links to Grundlagen Documents
  6. Links to Review Documents
  7. Excel User Interface

Introduction

This section describes a proposal for the Excel Integration user interface for handling links between planning documents and their background and review documents. This includes links to the following types of documents:

1. Technical and contractual Grundlagen documents

2. Stellungnahmen, Prüfberichte and Q-Eklärungen documents

The proposals listed here are for discussion and the details may be changed during the implementation.

Definitions

1. Planning document - A document defined in the Excel Integration planning spreadsheet

2. Grundlagen document - A technical or contractual Grundlagen document

3. Review document - A Stellungnahmen, Prüfberichte or Q-Eklärungen document

4. Target document - A document linked to a planning document. E.g. the Grundlagen and review documents listed above

Limitations of Excel Spreadsheet

Features that are different between the Excel and Web interface.

1. Possible:

   1. Create links to target documents, the link types will be restricted by the column in which the link appears. See the following sections

   2. Display multiple links (for Grundlagen documents only). Multiple links will be displayed in cell comments

2. Not possible:

   1. Create or display link notes

   2. Delete document links to Grundladen documents

   3. Delete document links to review documents. Changing a serial code will cause the existing link to be replaced. See below

Links to Grundlagen Documents

1. Links are document-to-document, and link the latest revision of the planning document to the latest revision of the Grundlagen document

2. Target documents are identified by their Document Codes (excluding the revision code)

3. Link types depend on the spreadsheet column:

   • TGL - technische Grundlagen

   • VGL - vertragliche Grundlagen

4. Link entry requires entering document code of the target document
5. Multiple links are allowed. Adding another target document will add an additional link
6. No checking of the target document is made except to check that it exists

Links to Review Documents

1. Links are revision-to-document, and link the specific revision of the planning document to the latest revision of the review document

2. Target documents are identified by their Serial Codes

3. Link types depend on the spreadsheet column:

   • STN - Stellungnahme

   • PRB - Prüfbericht

   • QEK - Q-Erklärung

4. Link creation/update requires the user to enter the serial code of the target document
5. No checking of the target document is made except to check that it exists

6. Only one target document link for a review document can be created. If the serial code is changed and the link is saved, then the old target document link will be replaced by the new one (Is this OK? See assumptions below)

7. The serial code must be of the correct type for the spreadsheet column. E.g. the Stellungnahme column will only accept Stellungnahme serial codes. If the serial code is an incorrect type, then the link cannot be saved an error will occur

Assumptions: (for review/discussion)

1. Only one link for a review document is possible

2. It is possible for Stellungnahmen, Prüfberichte and Q-Eklärungen to be in a different Bereich than the planning document to which it refers

Excel User Interface

Display and entry of document links will probably be implemented using a pop-up window.

Performance issues for display of linked documents: Choices:

1. Displaying link information when reading documents from the server will be slow -- Try avoid doing this

2. Update server's document read transaction to include XML containing document and serial codes of all target documents (possibly containing a field filter based on the link type)

   • Document read transaction: include a list document codes of linked Grundlagen documents

   • Revision read transaction: include a list serial codes of linked review documents

Possible user interface:

1. Clicking on a link column will cause a pop-up window to appear.

2. The behavior of the pop-up window will change based on whether the column is for a Grundlagen document link or a review document link.

Popup buttons:

1. Display link info:

   • Grundlagen documents - If there is only one target document, put document code in the cell, otherwise create a cell-comment containing all the document codes of the target documents

   • Review documents - Put the serial code of the target document in the cell. Question: How to handle display of multiple links (entered via the web interface)? Probably using cell comments, as described above.

2. Update link: Has a field for entering a document or serial code

   • Grundlagen documents - Create a new link from the document code

   • Review documents - Replace the existing link with the serial code