Document Import for Controlled Document Management

Overview

Category Managers and Controlled Document Management app admins can import existing approved document versions, including effective and legacy obsolete document versions, from external systems into Egnyte’s Controlled Document Management app. This feature helps streamline the migration of these documents into the application.

How to Enable the Import Feature

The Controlled Document Management app admin and Egnyte domain admin users can enable or disable the Document Import feature at the document Category level.
To enable this feature, navigate to the Document category and select the checkbox for Allow to import the documents which are approved outside of Egnyte Workflows and click the Submit button.

Once the feature is enabled, the users can import the documents from the Category root folder.

How to Import Documents

To add a new document, perform the following steps:

1. Create a draft document that is in the folder (or one of its subfolders) associated with the document category
2. Right-click on the draft document and select Import to Controlled Documents option from the context menu
3. An Import to Controlled Document Management dialog will be shown with a form with document metadata fields
4. To import a new document, keep the default New Document option in the Import as dropdown menu
5. The Document Category is read-only and based on the folder that the file belongs to.
6. Choose one of the Document Subcategories associated with the category.
7. The system will provide a default Document Identifier based on the next available number for the prefix based on the subcategory users have selected. The user can change this to another number as long as that identifier isn't already being used for another document. For example, if SOP-1, SOP-2, and SOP-8 already exist, the system will suggest the next available identifier, SOP-3. This can be changed to other unique identifiers such as SOP-10, SOP-100 but not SOP-1, SOP-2, and SOP-8.
8. By default, the Document Version name is set to the file name without the extension. The user can change this to any other value.
9. The Document version has a default of 1.0 but can be changed to another number in the X.Y format (for example, 1.0, 2.0, 2.1, etc).
10. (Optional) The Responsible Department can be entered.
11. The user can choose the approval date using the Approved on date picker. Approved on date MUST be earlier than the Effective on date.
12. Choose the Effective on date, the date when the document became effective. The user can select the date in the past to bring already effective documents or legacy obsolete documents into the Controlled Docs.
13. Choose the Effective until date. If the Effective until date is in the future or present, the document will be imported as Effective or Future effective status. If the Effective until date is in the past, the document will be imported with an Obsolete status.
14. Click the Import button.
    

The document will be added to the Controlled Document Management Application with a status automatically assigned based on its Effective On and Effective Until dates. An Imported label will also be displayed along with the status in the metadata field when previewing the document within the app.

To add a new version of an existing document, perform the following steps:

1. Create a draft document in the folder (or one of its subfolders) associated with the document category for the document to reside within. This document can either be a separate file on the file system from the original document or a new version of the same file.
2. Right-click on the draft document and select Import to Controlled Documents option from the context menu
3. An Import to Controlled Document Management dialog will be shown with a form with document metadata fields
4. Choose the New version of an existing document option from the Import as dropdown menu
5. In the Effective document version field, find the document to update.  The user can type to search by the identifier or document name.  The dropdown only shows all the documents including the drafts from the category associated with the folder the document resides in.
6. The Document Category, Document Subcategory and Document Identifier is read only based on the selected document
7. By default, the Document Version name is set to the current value of the selected document.  The user can change this to any other value.
8. Enter a unique Document version in X.Y format (for example, 1.0, 2.0, 2.1, etc).
   
   

   Using the Import feature, users have the flexibility to specify custom version numbers, not only in an incremental sequence but also earlier than the current version. For example, if the latest version of a document is 10.0, users can import a version as 6.0, provided that version number does not already exist in the app.

9. (Optional) The Responsible Department can be entered.
10. The user can choose the approval date using the Approved on date picker. Approved on date must be earlier than the Effective on date.
11. Choose the Effective on date, the date when the document became effective. The user can select the date in the past to bring already effective documents or legacy obsolete documents into the Controlled Docs.
    
    

    The effective until date of the existing effective document is shown for reference.  The user can choose to set the effective date to the day after it expires or to another date.  If they choose a date earlier than the expiration date of the existing document, the existing document's effective until date will be reduced.  If they choose a date more than 1 day after the expiration date, there will be a period where there is no effective version of the document. If the user choose a current date, the existing document version's effective period will end immediately and that version becomes obsolete.

    
    
    
12. Choose the Effective until date. If the Effective until date is in the future or present, the document will be imported as Effective or Future effective status. If the Effective until date is in the past, the document will be imported with an Obsolete status.
    
    

    The Effective until date controls when the document's effectiveness will end.  The user can set this for a time period (for example, a year) and then later choose to extend this date after periodic review before the expiration.  If a document passes its effective until date, the document will move to an Obsolete status.

13. Click the Import button. 

The document will be added to the Controlled Document Management Application with an Effective, Future Effective or Obsolete status automatically assigned based on its Effective On and Effective Until dates. An Imported label will also be displayed along with the status in the metadata field when previewing the document within the app.