InfoPlace Document Organizer - Overview

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. The Problem
  3. The Solution
  4. Application Overview
  5. Navigation
  6. Finding Documents
  7. Other Commands
  8. Help
  9. Access Control
  10. Adding Categories
  11. Adding Documents
  12. Adding Glossary Terms
  13. Modifying Properties
  14. Deleting Objects
  15. Getting Started
  16. Feedback
  17. Trouble Shooting
  18. Administrator's Overview

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.

Getting Started

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.

Back to Table of Contents