How do I organize my docouments in GAS?

Grand Avenue Software has multiple possible approaches for organizing documents per project or product line. This article discusses the advantages and disadvantages of each method.

Option 1: Document Collections

Advantages:

Documents associated with multiple projects/products can be in multiple document collections.
The “Search for Documents” page already has a selection list for Included in Document Collections?, so no special configuration is needed to use this feature.

Disadvantage:

Document collection content must be maintained. When new documents are created, someone has to be responsible for manually adding them to the applicable collection(s). Likewise, documents that are no longer applicable to a project/product need to be removed from collections manually.

Create and Populate Document Collections

Click Document Control > Define Document Collections
Click Add Document Collection
Specify the properties of the document collection:
1. Document Collection Type: Hardcopy Book (This is the default collection type; your document control administrator may have defined additional types.)
2. Document Collection Name: Select a name that describes the purpose of the document collection (e.g. Project Venus Documents)
3. Description: Optional text describing the purpose of the document collection
4. Owner: Specify the username of the person who receives email notifications about the collection and has access to add and remove documents.
5. Document Collection Viewers: Viewers are optional. Users who are otherwise restricted from viewing documents by the Document Control Module Access List can be authorized to view the contents of individual document collections by assigning them as Document Collection Viewers for those collections.
6. Documents in Collection:
  1. Click “Add Documents to Collection” to search for and select documents to add to the collection. After selecting one or more documents, click “Add Selected Documents to Collection.”
  2. Click “Remove Documents from Collection” select select the documents to remove. After selecting one or more documents, click “Remove Selected Documents from Collection.”

Search for Documents in Collections

To find all documents for a specific project or product line, select the associated document collection(s) from the dropdown list.

Search for Documents in a Document Collection

Option 2: Configurable “Project” or ”Product Line” Field

Advantage:

A configurable “Project” or “Product Line” field on documents can be defined as a required field, so no documents can be created without them being assigned to a project or product line (even if that value is “N/A”).

Disadvantages:

Documents cannot be assigned to multiple projects or product lines.
Requires a Document Control Administrator to define a configurable “Project” or ”Product Line” field on documents and specify the list of valid projects/products.

Define a Configurable Document Field

These steps must be performed by a Document Control Administrator.

Click Document Control > Configure Document Control
Click Configure Document Control Fields
Scroll to the “Configurable Fields for Documents” table
Click “Edit” on the first available coding field that is not already assigned a Field Name
Define the coding field
1. Name: “Project” or “Product Line”
2. Explanation: Can be left at the default value
3. Display Order: Can be left at the default value
4. Is Required?: Yes
5. Assistance Type: Can be left at the default value
6. Click “Edit Valid Values”
  1. Automatically add N/A to values?: Can be left at the default value
  2. Source for Values: Comma separated list of values
  3. Field Valid Values: List the valid project names or product lines
    Example:
    Example Project Name List
  4. Click “Save”
7. Click “Save”

Search for Documents in Projects

To find all documents for a specific project or product line, select the project/product from the dropdown list.

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