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First, we would like to thank you to use eDMS as your Documents Management System. This user manual may contain some spelling mistakes, non associated links or non clearly described information. If you need answer to non related subject or would like to update one or more parts of this user manual, please send a mail to documentation@no-sod.org.
Electronic Documents Management Systems are programs, procedures and/or software that manage, control and provide access to electronic documents. Important functions performed by EDMS systems include:
Version control of documents
Enabling collaborative work (e.g. holding documents in a common, controlled space for group of users to work on together)
Indexing of documents for easy retrieval
Providing some access and change control on documents (e.g. providing a structure within which permissions to view and / or alter documents can be put in place).
Anyone who works with eDMS. This manual has been created to give you concrete information to help you to navigate through this Efficient Documents Management System. Rem: For information about the eDMS maintenance, please read the Maintenance Manual.
In order to run this application, you only need:
A client (workstation, laptop, ...) with a web browser correctly installed
A username, a password and an URL (given by your system administrator)
Please use the table of contents to find direct access to requested information. By clicking on a (blue) subject title you can navigate through related categories or go back to the table of contents. Rem: To quickly search items from this User Manual, hit the CTRL-F keyboard keys to invoke the browser search engine.
You'll find below all the new functionnalities that have been implemented into this new release of eDMS. Some bugs have been corrected regarding the feedback we have received from a lot of eDMS users via our open forums:
New 'folder' and 'file cabinet' icons are used from the navigation tree to avoid misunderstanding between folders and file cabinets. Please check the symbols eDMS page for more information about those new icons.
New 'expired and checked out' status icon used for a document's flow. Please check our symbols eDMS page for more information about this new icon.
Thank you very much for your support !
To start eDMS, open your web browser and type the URL given by your administrator. If this is the correct URL, the NO-SOD Center (logon) should be displayed on your screen. Type your username and paswword, select the eDMS module and click on the ENTER button. If your username and password are the good ones, the eDMS web interface should be displayed.
Rem: Please contact your system administrator for logon problems
From now, you can start using eDMS. Expand the left tree to retrieve your documents or click on a file cabinet to add a new document into the system...
Rem: We suggest you to bookmark the URL to not have to type it each time you would like to run eDMS.
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To help you to efficiently manage your documents, eDMS has been built to give you a 'user friendly' full graphical web interface where options and functionnalities are logically and dynamicly placed on the screen.
As browser based application, the eDMS interface contains most of the ingredients you can find on any other browser window (like when you surf on the Internet). Some of them have been removed for security reason. That's why you'll only see from the main eDMS window the title bar, the top right window buttons and the message window (at the bottom).
The tile bar is only used to display some interesting information regarding an eDMS session:
Rem: even if eDMS is comptabile with most of the common browsers available on the market, this application has been tested for Internet Explorer (version 5.x and later)
Two of the three window buttons are accessible from eDMS:
The window message bar (at the bottom of the window) is used to give 'general' information to the user. Depending on the screen you are currently viewing, contextual help may be displayed into this message bar.
Rem: Please note that 'system' messages are displayed into the message area (before or after specific user actions).
The eDMS interface contains six main areas. Some of them are always on screen while others are partially displayed depending of the context. The areas are:
Some interesting information are available from this section. The current release of eDMS is displayed at the right of the screen. You can also have access to this online help by clicking on the brown book. In order to leave this application, please use the EXIT icon instead of directly closing the browser window. By this way, your current eDMS session will be properly closed by the system. If you want to go back to the welcome screen, you can also just click on the eDMS logo (at the top left of the screen). We'll see that this option will be used by the search engine to browse all the folders on the system... To check if you have the latest version of eDMS installed on your server, you can check the last status of NO-SOD products by clicking on the hyperlink of the NO-SOD Project: it will open the NO-SOD website in a new window in order to leave your working session intact.
Sometimes, the system will send some useful messages. Two kinds of messages are displayed: common information messages in green and critical error system messages in red. Please take care of critical messages! They are delivered in order to help you to detect system anomalies and/or user mistakes.
The integrated search engine gives you the possibility to search documents via keywords. Keywords are part a any document pushed into the system. We encourage you to use keywords every time you push documents into the system, this is the easiest way to retrieve your data through thousands of documents in only one mouse click! Please check search related help form more iformation about how to use efficiently the integrated search engine system.
Documents in eDMS are stored into file cabinets. File cabinets are stored into folders. To visualize the structure of all documents locations, a tree is dynamiquely generated containing all file cabinets and associated folders created on the system. To display documents stored into a file cabinet, select the folder (by clicking on the folder's icon or on the folder's name) containing this file cabinet and then select the file cabinet (by clicking on the file cabinet's icon or on the file cabinet's name). The content of this file cabinet is automatically displayed in the data area. Please check the locations management information available (for system administrators only) from the maintenance manual.
Rem: You cannot delete the last folder/file cabinet.
Depending on which srceen you are woking with, some buttons will be available. Those buttons lets you navigate through the eDMS functionnalities:
Rem: Please note that all the menus are dynamically build depending of the application's context. All buttons are not available from all screens. Please check the crosstable for button's availability.
The information below briefly describes the lifecycle of a document pushed into the eDMS system.
Rem: At any time, the document can be modified (data, location, ...).
Table below displays the eDMS options availability regarding your user's category and the document status:
Table 3.1. eDMS options availability and document flow
| AVAILABLE | CHECKED OUT | DELETED | LOCKED | WAITING CONTROL | WAITING VALIDATION | REJECTED CONTROL | REJECTED VALIDATION | PENDING | EXPIRED | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CHANGE DATA | O | O | O | O | O | O | ||||
| VIEW HISTORY | OECVW | OECVW | OD | OECV | OECV | OECV | OECV | OECVW | OECVW | |
| DOC LOCATION | O | O | O | O | O | |||||
| DELETE | OD | OD | OD | OD | OD | |||||
| CHECK OUT | OEW | OEW | OEW | OEW | OEW | |||||
| CHECK IN | #OEW | |||||||||
| VIEW | OECVR | OECVR | OD | OECV | OECV | OECV | OECV | OECVW | OECVW | |
| DOWNLOAD | OECVR | OECVR | OD | OECV | OECV | OECV | OECV | OECVW | OECVW | |
| UNDELETE | OD | |||||||||
| CONTROL | C | |||||||||
| VALIDATION | V |
Legend:
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Once you have selected a file cabinet from the navigation system (the tree at the left of the screen), the system displays his content into the data area.
Two different views are available: the normal view and the deleted view:
The content of the table is the same for the two views:
Rem: You can obtain a complete list of recognized applications with their respective icons by cliking on the SYMBOLS button from the menu.
A paging option can be used to split file cabinet's content into multiple screens. To switch from page to page, click on the Previous Page or Next page link on top and bottom of the table. The current file cabinet and page number is also dipslayed near the table.
Rem: The number of rows has been fixed to 15 for this version. Please check the next releases section for more information about how this parameter will be managed from next eDMS release.
From this table you can:
Depending on your user privilege for each document, you may have (or not) access to some options from the document's details screen. Useful information are displayed on the document's details table:
Rem: To add more than one keyword for a same document, you must separate your keywords with a blank character (space).A lot of possible actions are available from the document's details screen:
Table 4.1. List of possible actions on a document
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
| CHANGE DATA | To change some data of the current document:
The document's name, type and version are displayed only for information. Rem: Only document's owner can modify the document's property. It's under his/her own responsaibility to choose an appropriate document's flow (defined by the document's property). If you're not the owner of a document, the property drop down list will only contain the current document's property. Then:
|
| VIEW HISTORY | To display the list of all different releases attached to a document. From this screen you can:
Rem: Because accesses privileges are stored at the 'master record' level (and not for every document's versions), the blue/red eye icon has been here replaced by a black eye icon.
|
| DOC LOCATION | To modify the location of the current active document version:
|
| NORMAL VIEW | To go back to the list of documents of the current selected file cabinet |
| DELETE | To delete the current active version of a document:
Rem 1: Only document's owner can delete a document Rem 2: The only way to work again with a deleted document is to undelete it |
| UNDELETE | To undelete a deleted version of a document:
Rem: Only document's owner can undelete a document |
| CHECK IN | To check in a new document's version (after a check out): Please check the Add a new document into the system section to know how to check in a new document |
| CHECK OUT | To check out the current active version of a document (in order to modify it and to check in a new version):
Rem 1: Only document's owner can check out a document Rem 2: The only way to check in a new document version is to check out the current version before |
| VIEW | To view the document's content in the main eDMS window Rem: Depending on your browser configuration (plug-ins), the document may or may not be displayed. Please contact your administrator for browser configuration problems. To go back to the previous screen, click on the yellow BACK link at the right side of the message area. |
| DOWNLOAD | To save the document on your local hard disk or on a server Rem: Please note that a document saved on a local disk will leave the document's flow managed by eDMS |
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eDMS is delivered with an integrated powerful search engine. It lets you search documents into all the system locations or into a specific file cabinet by using keywords. Keywords are part of any document pushed into a system. Even if this is a non required information, we encourage you to use keywords every time you push a new document into the system. By this way, you'll be able to retrieve easily your document by just one mouse click. Please check the new document related help section for more information about how to add keywords into a new document.
Rem: From this version you can only search documents through keywords. Please check the next releases section for future implementations.
To search documents through all the system locations, you have to switch first into a global mode. This means that you cannot search through all the system locations if you are currenctly displying the content af a specific file cabinet. To switch to global mode, you just have to click on the RESET button on top of the tree. It will display all the document into the main area. Now that you have switch to this mode, enter one or more keyword(s) into the search field (just above the tree) and click on the FILTER button. The integrated search engine will then list you all the docmuents (with their location) pushed into the system containing the keyword(s) you just have entered.
To search documents into a specific file cabinet, you have to select first the file cabinet from the tree. Then enter one or more keyword(s) into the search field (just above the tree) and click on the FILTER button. The integrated search engine will then list you all the docmuents pushed into this file cabinet containing the keyword(s) you just have entered.
When you apply filters by clicking on the FILTER button, this button switch from green to red. This indicates that the filter mode is active. To deactivate this mode, just click again on the FILTER button (without modifying the keywords) and it will automatically switch back from red to green. To apply new filters (even if the FILTER button is already red), just add new keyword(s) and then click on the FILTER button again.
To verify if you are currently in global mode or in file cabinet mode, you can just check the title of the result table displayed in the data aera: if it indicates 'the complete public directory' then you are in global mode, if it displays a file cabinet's name, then you are in file cabinet mode.
Rem: Only one directory is available for global search from this version. Please check the next releases section for future implementations.
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eTo add a new document into the system, click on the NEW button from the menu area. This process will be done in two steps (two different screens):
Rem: Only users who are part of the documents creators users group are able to create new documents.
Before to start to enter document's information, you can check if the current document's loation is the good one (from the document location info field). If this is not the right place, please select first the appropriate file cabinet for this new document and then click again on the NEW button to add your new document.
Rem: Note that you can also modify the document's location before it's creation by clicking on the DOC LOCATION button from the document details screen.
First, you have to give some information regarding this document before to push it into the system:
PROPERTY: Document's property. This information is used to define the document's flow. Only document's owner are able to modify the document's property. Its under his/her own responsibility to choose and appropriate property (which define the document's flow) regarding the document's type. Please check the next releases section for future implementation. This information is required by the system. You can manage the content of this drop down list from the maintenance screen.
The 'none' value is used by default. This value means that no flow (control and/or validation) will be affected to this document.
Rem: To add more than one keyword for a same document, you must separate your keywords with a blank character (space).
The 'nobody' value is used by default. This value means that only the document's owner will be granted with those authorities.
Rem: You can manage the content of this drop down list from the maintenance screen.
Rem: From this version, if you would like to modify the end date of a document release, you must push a new release into the system with the modified end date. Please check the next releases section for future implementation.
Rem: You can manage the content of this drop down list from the maintenance screen.
Note for Administrators: Infos attributes are stored sequentialy for a document. The sequence is linked to the infos fields sequence defined from the maintenance. The only link between the content of the infos fields and the infos fields labels is this sequence (e.g. if the label of the third info field is modified from the maintenance, it will be modified for ALL documents)
Once at least all required information is entered, click on the NEXT button to switch to the upload screen.
This screen displays the document's data given in the previous screen. If one or more information is wrong, you can just click on the CANCEL button and the system will go back to the previous screen and automatically retrieve all document's data you have entered. Then you can apply required modification(s) and click on the NEXT button again.
When data are correctly given for this new document, you have to complete the electronic signature by giving your username, password and the reason for which you want to add this new document into the system. Then click on the browse button (in the UPLOAD FILE field). It will browse your hard disk (or a hard disk of a computer on your internal network) to allow you to select the file (document) you want to push into the eDMS system. When it's done, the path is displayed in the UPLOAD FILE field and you can now click on the SAVE button to effectively push the file into the system.
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As an Electronic Documents Management Systems, eDMS must be able to manage,control and provide access to electronic documents. This is done through advanced functionnalities integrated into the system. Some of them are activated by the user. Others are running as background tasks.
Some eDMS functionnalities are activated after a specific user action:
eDMS contains an Electronic Signature system that will be used to authenticate the identity of the user that would like to execute an action for which Electronic Signature (esig) is required.
Each time eDMS will activate the esig, you'll have to give following information to the system:
The Electronic Signature is required for any edition screens (when you have to apply some modifications or for any new documents pushed into the system)
eDMS contains an Electronic Signature system that will be used to authenticate the identity of the user that would like to execute an action for which Electronic Signature (esig) is required.
eDMS lets you manage your own documents working flow, including control and validation, by associating a property to each document.
This means that when a check for control and/or validation is required (depending on the document's flow), and if your user is defined into the control and/or validation users group, you'll have to control/validate or reject documents.
By using the electronic signature mechanism, you'll be able to validate (or not) the document and, by this way, complete the document's flow.
Some processes are running on background in a totally transaprent way for the eDMS user:
A version robot has been integrated into the system. The main job of this robot is to decide which version of a document must be set to active and which version of a document must be displayed into the documents list table.
The robot will be activated:
How is it working? The robot checks all document's versions. For each version, it verifies if the status of the document is not pending, expired, rejected or waiting for control/validation and takes the last version corresponding to those criterias. If a version is found, this version is defined as active and visible. If a version is not found, the robot will take the last version and set this one to visible (but not active).
Rem: The version robot is also used by the system to send e-mails notifications for the document flow.
eDMS includes an e-mails notification system that will automatically send electronic mails to users regarding the document's flow:
How is it working? The robot checks all document's versions. For each version, it verifies if the status of the document is not pending, expired, rejected or waiting for control/validation and takes the last version corresponding to those criterias. If a version is found, this version is defined as active and visible. If a version is not found, the robot will take the last version and set this one to visible (but not active).
Rem: The version robot is also used by the system to send e-mails notifications for the document flow.
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From this version you only have the possibility to print the manuals available from the eDMS interface (User Manual and Maintenance Manual).
To print a manual, use the menubar on top of the manual window:
Rem: Please check your hardware or ask your administrator for any printer problem.
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In order to correctly maintain the eDMS system, some maintenance tasks should be performed, like the documents locations management or the maintenance of some drop down lists used inside the system.
In order to correctly maintain the eDMS system, some maintenance tasks should be performed, like the documents locations management or the maintenance of some drop down lists used inside the system.
Sometimes, you will have to manage folders and/or file cabinets where documents are stored into the eDMS system. This section lets you to add, rename and/or delete folders and file cabinets. Please consult the eDMS Maintenance Manual for more explanation about how to manage locations through eDMS.
The maintenance screen lets you to manage some drop down lists used at document creation time or for the document's workflow.
Information that you can easily manage from the maintenance are:
Please consult the eDMS Maintenance Manual for more explanation about how to manage drop down lists through eDMS. From all sections, you can CREATE new items or DELETE current items.
Please find below a known bugs list that should be solved from next release:
| 11.1. | I have some strange colors effect around the pictures of the interface. How can I solve this problem? |
The configuration of your video card is probably set to 16 bits colors and should be set to 32 bits (depending on your screen resolution and video card type). Please contact your system administrator to modify this parameter on your computer. | |
| 11.2. | Why nothing happen when I click on the small calendar icon? |
The calendar is displayed in a new browser window, probably behind your active window. Use ALT_TAB keyboard keys to switch to the eDMS calendar window. | |
| 11.3. | How can I go back to the previous screen after displaying a document? |
After you click on the eye icon, the corresponding document is displayed into the data area. To go back to the previous screen, a yellow BACK link is automatically created at the top right of the screen (near the message area). Sometimes, after clicking on this link, the link will dissapear without going back to the previous screen (this bug should be fixed within next release). You can then right click on your mouse button and select the first BACK link from the menu to go back to the previous screen. | |
| 11.4. | Where can I find commercial support on eDMS? |
The company ROOTFUSION provides you commercial support and maintenance contracts based on The NO-SOD Technology. |
Please find below the next implementations that should be added to the next version of eDMS:
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Table 13.1. Appendix 1: Menu button's availability
| WELCOME | NORMAL VIEW | VIEW DELETED | NEW | DOC INFO | MAINTENANCE | SYMBOLS | ABOUT | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NEW | X | X | X | |||||
| NORMAL VIEW | X | X | X | X | ||||
| DELETED VIEW | X | X | X | |||||
| LOCATIONS | X | |||||||
| SYMBOLS | X | X | X | |||||
| CHANGE DATA | X | |||||||
| VIEW HISTORY | X | |||||||
| DOC LOCATION | X | |||||||
| MAINTENANCE | X | |||||||
| DELETE | X | |||||||
| UNDELETE | X | |||||||
| CHECK IN | X | |||||||
| CHECKOUT | X | |||||||
| LOCK | X | |||||||
| ABOUT | X | X |
Some options may not be available regarding your profile. As all application's menus are dynamically build, you should not have access to one or more options described on this table.
When a new user is created by your administrator, he has to give him/her a user profile that will define the privileges that the user will receive:
Users belonging both to Document Manager and Administrator groups will be granted with all privileges from both user profiles (but the user profile displayed will only be Administrator).
Rem: From eDMS, the user profile is always displayed on the title bar of your browser window.
Eleven different status are used in eDMS to represent the flow of a document pushed into the system. Each status is represented by a specific icon:
Table 13.2. Appendix 3: List of documents status
| ICON | STATUS | DESCRIPTION |
|---|---|---|
| CLOCK | Pending | A document has been pushed with a subsequent start date |
| GREEN LIGHT | Available | An active document has been pushed into the system and is available |
| UP ARROW | Checked Out | The document has been set in a status check out by an editor (or somebody having write access to the document), in order to prevent simultaneous updates of a new document release. When a document is checked out, only the person who set this status is able to check in a new release. |
| PADLOCK | System lock | Document locked by the system when a user is modifying document's data |
| TRASH | Deleted | A user can delete a non used document (and undelete it if necessary) |
| X | Expired | The end date of a document has been reached |
| X on UP ARROW | Checked Out and Expired | The end date of a document has been reached but a new version of the document is currently checked out |
| C SIGN | Waiting for Control | A document is submitted to an internal validation process flow and needs to be controled |
| V SIGN | Waiting for Validation | A document is submitted to an internal validation process flow and needs to be validated |
| GLASSES MAN | Rejected at control | A document, submitted to an internal validation process flow, has been rejected at the control step |
| STOP MAN | Rejected at validation | A document, submitted to an internal validation process flow, has been rejected at the validation step |
Rem: The status is directly linked to a document and NOT to each version of a same document.
Table below represents the rules applied on document that are pending, available or expired (regarding document status):
Table 13.3. Document flow rules
| EXPIRED | PENDING | TIME OK | |
|---|---|---|---|
| DELETED | DELETED | DELETED | DELETED |
| LOCKED | LOCKED | LOCKED | LOCKED |
| WAITING CONTROL | WAITING CONTROL | WAITING CONTROL | WAITING CONTROL |
| WAITING VALIDATION | WAITING VALIDATION | WAITING VALIDATION | WAITING VALIDATION |
| REJECTED CONTROL | REJECTED CONTROL | REJECTED CONTROL | REJECTED CONTROL |
| REJECTED VALIDATION | REJECTED VALIDATION | REJECTED VALIDATION | REJECTED VALIDATION |
| CHECKED OUT | EXPIRED | PENDING | CHECKED OUT |
| NO LOCK | EXPIRED | PENDING | AVAILABLE |