Background
From important artifacts to documents and spreadsheets, files are the backbone of any business in the modern age. Modern file management systems are used to store and organize these files inside of a folder structure created by users or an administrator. While simple and straightforward for personal applications, this can very quickly become difficult to manage for large organizations.
Most modern file management systems are not designed to accommodate the needs of large organizations, particularly when it comes to gathering, organizing, and accessing artifacts for audit or compliance purposes. All users end up required to have a full understanding of modern file management practices, and need to apply & self-validate them every time they handle any file. With no guard rails or fine-grained permissions, human errors or access risks can occur.
These everyday human mistakes can make it difficult to know if any given file is the correct, most up-to-date version, and that only the correct group of people can modify or access certain files.
Introducing Page Attachments
Ondexx 5.1 introduces Page Attachments, the first of a new initiative to address these problems and make file management simpler, and help prevent mistakes.
What is it?
Page Attachments is a new type of page component used to provide a dynamic list of files related to the page they are hosted in.
With this component in a page, specified users can drag & drop files onto the live page to add them to the list and make them available for viewing in a Document Viewer. Additionally, the filename of the attached documents will become discoverable within the site’s search function.
This differs from simply creating your own list in a regular page component, as new attachments are instantly available for viewing. In other words, the page itself does not need to be edited and approved to add attachments, and is not subject to the Page Lifecycle.
The rights used to control Page Attachments are separate from Page Editing rights. This allows for non-editor users to be granted the ability to upload and manage attachments, without the repercussions of granting them editor rights. This also prevents users from modifying folders and files in the File Manager.
How does it help?
Page Attachments is a simple, easy, and convenient way to organize, store, and access related documents without having to grant access to the file system. The very nature of Page Attachments prevents human error with respect to mistakenly moving files and folders, making unneeded duplicates of files, and accessing files and folders without permission.
Use-Cases
The unique benefits of Page Attachments make it extremely useful for a variety of use-cases, and is specifically ideal for consolidating internal documents and artifacts.
Some specific use-cases include:
- Audit
- Organizing audit data requests & other documents (proof points)
- Compliance
- Continuously collecting evidence for ongoing compliance matters
- Customer Management
- Storing executed agreements, contracts, statements of work, and other legal documents
- Finance & Accounting
- Organize and store Accounts Payable (invoices) and Accounts Receivable (receipts)
- Treaty Management
- Store related amendments and other documents alongside the treaty itself