Introduction
The InfoPlace Document Organizer facilitates the sharing of a collection of
documents among members of a workgroup. It greatly simplifies the task of
storing information in an organized form so that anyone can find it when it is
needed.
The Problem
The intranet is gaining wide acceptance as a solution for information dissemination within
an enterprise. Much of the information is contained in electronic documents. Publishing
these electronic documents on the intranet is a non-trivial and time consuming task.
Publishing a collection of documents presents challenges in organizing and presenting them
in a meaningful way. It also involves difficulties in dealing with the computing
infrastructure. Current methods and tools to address these issues are expensive,
time-consuming and need specialized expertise.
The cost of consumers not finding available information can vary from a
little - time lost - to very high - lost sales or legal exposure. Groups with the biggest
challenges are Marketing & Sales, Human Resources, and Project Management.
The Solution
The InfoPlace Document Organizer offers a simple, powerful and easy-to-use
solution to the problem of sharing Documents on an intranet. It is entirely
browser-based and so it eliminates any requirement to install and maintain
client-side software. It offers a flexible Document organization structure and
an intuitive forms-based interface for publishers of Documents. This greatly
facilitates the initial publishing effort as well as ongoing modifications to
the Document collection, which is known as an Infobase.
It supports different thinking and filing styles by providing multiple ways of
looking for Documents. It accepts all kinds of Documents - HTML pages,
spreadsheets, word processor files, presentations, text files, image files, and
application binary files. In fact, any valid URL will work. Workgroups can
decrease their dependence on scarce technical resources for maintaining static
HTML pages as well as system administration of complex Document management
systems. The InfoPlace Document Organizer transforms an abundance of
information from a liability to an asset.
Application Overview
The basic organizational structure is that of Categories and sub-categories
which are like the familiar folders of the file system hierarchy. The main
difference is that Categories are more flexible than file folders and do not
have to conform to the layout of any particular file system. They can be
arranged in a way that makes sense for the information they contain.
Documents can be placed in more than one category. The Document itself is not
duplicated; what is stored is a pointer to the Document. Each Document has a
set of "Properties" like "Author" and "Title" associated with it.
A collection of Documents and Categories is called an Infobase. It allows
an entire set of Documents to be organized into manageable and meaningful
partitions.
When Users first log into the InfoPlace Document Organizer, they are
presented with a list of
Infobases. They have to select a particular Infobase to work
with. They are then presented with a view of the
Categories at the "Main" or top level of that Infobase. This is displayed
in the frame
on the right. At any one time a User can only be logged into one Infobase.
The frame
on the left displays the commands available to the User. These are
determined by the access privileges associated with the User. From
here Users can
navigate the hierarchy of Categories to look for and retrieve particular
Documents. Some commands make sense only after the User has selected a
Document or Category. Selection is done by clicking on the radio
button in front of the Document or Category.
The Commands in the left frame are arranged in three groups -
"Browse", "Modify" and "Global. Each group of commands can be shown in an expanded form
or collapsed by clicking on the group name. The Browse commands are
used to present different ways of navigation. The Modify
commands are used for making changes to the Infobase.
There are some incompatabilities between the way different versions of
browsers behave. Some commands may not work in the expected way on some
browsers. Please see the Troubleshooting
Help file for a list of known problems and incompatabilities.
Navigation
The User clicks on an object like a Category or a Document to "visit" that
object. Clicking on a Category presents a view of the elements contained in
that Category. A Category may contain sub-categories or Documents. After
clicking down a hierarchy of Categories, the User ultimately gets to a list of
Documents.
Clicking on a Document usually brings the Document into view in a new window.
HTML, text and PDF Documents are displayed by the Web browser. For other
Documents like spreadsheets or MS Word Documents, the browser relies on the
preference settings for that Document type. The usual settings instruct the
browser to launch the application corresponding to the Document type and view
the Document within that application.
To save the file to your local machine/disk, use "Save As" from the browser or
the application that was launched. If the preferences have not been set for
a particular Document type then the browser prompts the User to save the
Document as a file on your local disk.
There are four other ways of viewing lists of Documents. The "What's New"
command shows a list of Documents that have been added to the Infobase or whose
Properties have been modified recently. Each User can define how recent "new"
is by setting a time span in their Preferences.
The "Table of Contents" command shows a hierarchical view of all the existing
Categories. Clicking on the icon in front of the Category,
expands the view to show a listing of Documents or sub-categories belonging to
that Category. Expanding another Category will automatically collapse
the one that is currently open.
The "Index" command shows an alphabetical listing of Categories and
Documents. The Index, and Table of Contents, are generated on the fly and shows
a listing that is current at the time you invoke the command.
The "Find Document" command allows Users to specify search terms for locating
Documents and shows a list of Documents that match the given criteria. It will
be covered in more detail below.
Finding Documents
The "Find Document" command brings up a form for specifying search
criteria. The search terms are based on the "Properties" associated with
Documents. The User can specify one or more criteria that must be satisfied
for a match. By using "Contains", "Starts With" or "Ends With", the User can
specify partial string matches for Author, Title, Description or Keywords. The
User can
restrict the search to selected Categories or Document types. A range can be
specified for dates or version numbers.
Other Commands
The "Glossary" command shows a list of terms defined in the Glossary.
The "View Properties" command shows the Properties associated with the
selected Document or Category. Documents are assigned Properties when
they are added to an Infobase.
The "History" command pops up a window which lists all the Categories
and Documents that have been visited in the current User session. This
provides a convenient way to go back to previously visited Documents
or Categories.
The "Preferences" command brings up a window that lets Users customize
some features of the application. The "What's New" setting lets Users
specify how recent new is. The "Document View" setting lets Users
select what Properties should be shown when a Document list is
displayed.
The "Exit" command quits the current User session. The User can then start
another session with a different Infobase.
Help
All pop-up windows have Help files associated with them. Clicking on
the Help button will bring up the related Help file. This overview
Document can be accessed from the login screen. The "?" icon on the
left frame brings up a help file describing the commands.
Access Control
When you log into the Document Organizer for the first time,
you will be prompted for a User ID and password.
This information is stored in your browser.
All Users have privileges to
Browse and Modify the Infobases. The Admin User has "Admin"
privileges that allows that User to add Users and execute other Admin commands.
Adding Categories
The "Add Category" command brings up a form in which a User creates a
new Category. You have to select an existing Category as a parent. The
new Category will be made a sub-category of this selected
Category. You are only allowed to select Categories which do not contain any
Documents as parents Categories. It is recommended that you do not add
any Documents to the "Main" Category. Otherwise you will not be able
to build a hierarchy of Categories.
Adding Documents
The "Add Document" command brings up a form in which a User assigns
Properties to the Document being added to the Infobase. The current
User's name is filled in as the default Author name. It can be changed
if the Document is being added on behalf of another Author. The
"Title" should be a meaningful name rather than a file name. A
Document may be placed in more than one Category by selecting multiple
Categories. The "Description" and "Keywords" fields are optional. Added On
and Last Edited (date and time) are automatically filled in by the application.
If the Document is on the local machine/disk and the User wants the
application to copy it to the server, then the User should select
the "Upload" option. The User then selects the Document to be uploaded
using the familiar file browsing mechanism. The Document will be
uploaded and placed in a directory and the appropriate URL will be
automatically generated. This URL will start with the special word "$INFOBASE".
If the Document is already on the server, then the User simply
enters the URL for the Document. This can be a complete URL of the
form "http://hostname/pathname/filename.ext" or any path starting with
"/" for Documents on the same server.
If the User does not wish to create or point to a real document then the
third option can be used. It indicates simply that the text in the
Description field should be treated as a Document. This option is
useful for adding small scraps of information on-the-fly.
Adding Glossary Terms
The "Add Glossary Term" command brings up a form in which a User
creates a new Glossary Term. The Glossary is always displayed alphabetically.
Modifying Properties
The "Edit Properties" command brings up a form for editing, the existing
values of the Properties, of the selected object. The values can be modified
any time after they are added. This command is used to modify the Properties
of Documents, Categories and Glossary Terms.
Deleting Objects
The "Delete" command is used to delete a selected object. This is used
to delete Documents, Categories and Glossary Terms.
You can start building up an Infobase by getting your administrator to create
a new Infobase or use the "New Infobase" provided with the
application. The Administrator can later rename the "New Infobase" for
you. You can browse the demo Infobases to get an idea of what a
filled out Infobase looks like.
You can login into the "New Infobase" or the demo Infobases with a username
assigned by your Administrator.
Administrators must log into an existing
Infobase to gain access to the administration commands such as creating new
Infobases.
You can start creating Categories using "Add Category" and then use
"Add Document" to add Documents to your Categories.
You may want to
think through your Category structure before you start. However you
can always make changes to the Category hierarchy by using "Edit
Property" and changing the Parent Category. One thing you need to keep
in mind - a Category can either
contain other Categories or Documents. You cannot mix Documents and
Categories under one parent Category. So you may not want to add
Documents to the upper layers of your Category hierarchy. You cannot add
Documents directly to "Main". You need to create at least one Category
under "Main" before you start adding Documents.
Feedback
We would like you to register and send us feedback about your
experience with this product. Please fill out the
feedback form.
Trouble Shooting
If you run into problems while using this application, please refer to the
Trouble Shooting Guide.