Getting started with documents

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In this video, we will explore document statuses and relate these to its lifecycle,

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discuss how a document progresses through its lifecycle, and learn how document versions and revisions capture document changes.

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Let's take a look.

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A document in Upchain is any file that is not a CAD or drawing file, and not directly part of a cBOM or supporting drawing.

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Upchain supports a wide range of file types.

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Often, documents provide the supporting or additional information for an item,

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a bill of materials, a project, or other business processes in Upchain.

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A document has a life cycle much like most objects in Upchain.

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It can have one of the following statuses.

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It could be in a draft state.

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All documents first uploaded into Upchain begin in a draft state.

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This means that it can be modified and versioned to maintain a history of its changes.

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The document could be in review.

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The document has been submitted to a workflow and currently awaiting review.

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Publishing a document can only be achieved by using a workflow,

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so, often, the workflow will have at least one intermediary step to allow for review and approval of the document.

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And during this time, it should be given a status of in review.

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The document could be published, meaning the document is considered finished and ready to be used for its intended purpose.

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In theory, it has been reviewed by at least one other person before it has reached this state.

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And lastly, a document can be archived.

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This means the document is in a read-only state and cannot be modified further,

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but it is retained in its current location for use as reference,

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or at least to indicate that it was potentially once in use, but should now be ignored.

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So how does a document move from one status to the next?

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The answer is with a workflow.

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A workflow is the series of steps and processes that govern the life cycle of an object in Upchain.

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All tenants are provided with a workflow for documents to govern the life cycle of it to get you started.

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But tenant administrators are able to create their own workflows if they so choose, if this one is not applicable.

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The workflow provided is a simple one that sends a task to the project manager to review and approve the document.

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If approved, it is moved to a status of published, but if not, the document is returned to a draft state and the workflow is canceled.

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The archive status cannot be included in document workflows, instead this status is set in the web application only.

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This moves the document to a read-only state, and this action cannot be undone.

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Let's look at an example.

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A user uploads a new document into Upchain, and it begins in a draft state,

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at version 1 and revision level XX, meaning it does not have a revision level yet.

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While in this state, users with the appropriate license,

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and access can check out this document to make changes to it,

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and then they can check it back in.

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This creates a new version of the document, and this can happen as many times as necessary.

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Once the user considers the document finished, they can send it to a document workflow to have it reviewed and published.

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Assuming it is approved, the latest version of the document is moved to a status of published.

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And the revision level is incremented to its first value, in this example, AA.

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Should further changes need to be made, a user can check out the published document to make the necessary changes,

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and again check it back in,

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again, to create a new document version.

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And this new version is now back in a draft state.

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Again, this document can be checked out and checked back in as many times as necessary.

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Once again, for it to be published, it must be sent back through the workflow to be approved and signed off by the project manager again.

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Lastly, if the document is no longer relevant but still needs to be visible as a reference,

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it can be moved to an archived state using the functionality only found in the web application.

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You'll learn more about how to perform these functions in further courses.

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You should now have a better understanding of the sorts of documents we'll be working with in this and subsequent courses,

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the different statuses a document can have and what they mean, how a document progresses through its life cycle,

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and how document changes are managed with document versions and revisions.

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Consider how you'd like to manage the lifecycle of documents within your tenant.

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Keep going to learn more.

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In this video, we will define document categories, explain the difference between document categories and specification types,

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and discuss how they can be beneficial to your organization.

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So let's take a look.

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Document categories allow you to organize all documentation you may wish to associate to a project,

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or an item, or any other object such as a business process or project task in Upchain, in the same way across your entire tenant.

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Document categories are split into two groups: document categories and specification types.

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Document categories appear everywhere documents can be uploaded to Upchain, primarily seen on projects and items,

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but also on business processes and project tasks.

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Specification types appear only on items.

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Specification types allow you to create additional categories for documents specifically meant for items,

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and are displayed in addition to the default cBOM drawing and translation categories.

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Why create document categories in the first place?

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Document categories are a useful way to ensure consistency in how documents are organized throughout your entire tenant.

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They can be used to ensure all users are familiar with where to find certain documents within projects, items, and other objects.

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Lastly, they allow you to create different document numbering rules for documents added to each document category, if you wish.

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At our example company, we want to use the following document categories: project plans, requirements, quotes, and templates.

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As you can see, these are fairly broad categories.

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Should we need further granular organization within these categories for certain projects, items, or business processes,

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we can always create further subfolders within them on an as needed basis.

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And we would also like to have the following specification types, user manuals and preventative maintenance.

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Again, we're keeping it simple with fairly broad categories to allow for some flexibility across items.

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Users can always create subfolders if more granularity is required in certain cases.

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Please note that there is always a default category named "general documents",

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so that you have at least one location to begin working in even before other document categories are created.

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Documents can always be moved later on.

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Document categories are configured by your tenant administrator.

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This is covered in a different course.

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You have now learned what document categories are,

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the difference between document categories and specification types, and how they can be beneficial to your organization.

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Take all this into consideration, and think about how you might apply this knowledge when organizing your documentation in your own tenant.

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Keep going to learn more.