Distribution is the primary way to control document workflows through the DMS. 

Once documents have been distributed to people, they are accessible directly via each person's Documents For Review page. 

Therefore, the use of Distribute and Documents For Review is key to a successful DMS implementation.

Follow the following steps in order to Distribute files:

Select All Files to Distribute

Select all the files you require from the main DMS File Table and click the Distribute button.

Your selected files are listed in the top panel section, where you can select them to continue with the Distribution.  Therefore, you can select multiple files in the main file table and split them into several different Distributions in the Distributor panel.  As you distribute files in this panel, they will be removed from the top listing.

Select Files for Each Distribution

Select the files you would like to group into a single Distribution. A 'single distribution' is a set of documents sent with the same settings and status to a group of people, all defined by a unique Transmittal Number. The maximum total number of files is 100 per Transmittal.

Columns include:

• Filename 
• Title
• File Type
• Revision - Either the revision of the selected file or the revision of the Distributed file, if set in the Destination Folder panel,
• Destination Folder - The Folder of the Distributed file, if set in the Destination Folder panel,
• Previous Recipients - Hover on the icon to show the list of previous recipients of the document whose user accounts are currently active.  Any non-active are not shown.
• Previous CC'd Recipients - Hover on the icon to show the list of previous CC'd recipients of the document whose user accounts are currently active.  Any non-active are not shown.

With your required files selected, continue to the Detail of Issue panel below.

Detail of Issue

Enter the details that refer to all the documents distributed in a single Transmittal.

• Subject - The subject of the Transmittal as it appears in Notification Emails and the Document For Review page (this subject may include some special characters such as ' = + ! " $ ( ) ^).
• Document Suitability - The Document Suitability to set the document to as a result of the Distribution.  This is the manner in which documents move through the system with their Document Suitability set by each transmittal to suit that stage.
  • Refer to Document Distributions and Changing Document Suitability for full details.
• Response required By - The Date and Time by which the recipients have to respond, and thus the transmittal is considered 'Active'.  Once past the Response Date without a recipient response, the document is considered 'Overdue'.
• Expiry - The Date until which the document is available for the recipients to access.  Once past the Expiry date, the document is no longer available to its recipients.
• Attach Transmittal - Include a summary PDF Transmittal in all email notifications for the transmittal. 
  • Note: The PDF Transmittal is saved in the DMS in Published \ Z. System Outputs \ Document Transmittals
• Include Secondary File - Includes any attached Secondary files as part of the distribution when Distributing them to another folder.
• Details - A free text field to enter further details for the Transmittal.

Now, continue to the Distribute To panel to the right.

Separate Transmittal Purpose and Document Suitability

This option can be set within the Project Configuration for the project and allows a separate Transmittal purpose (for the Document Transmittal) to be set from the Document(s) suitability.

• Transmittal Purpose - For ISO19650 Revisioning projects, the Transmittal Purpose can be set within ISO19650 configuration to provide a project-controlled Reason for the distribution of documents.  For Default Revisioning projects, the Transmittal Purpose is fixed and can't be updated.
• Document Suitability - The Document Suitability to set the document to as a result of the Distribution.  This is the manner in which documents move through the system with their Document Suitability set by each transmittal to suit that stage.
  • Refer to Document Distributions and Changing Document Suitability for full details.

Document Distributions and Changing Document Suitability

The rules for updating Document Suitability during a distribution action are determined by the options used in the distribution as follows;

For Non Approval Distributions

• If the distributed files are copied to a new folder, they are copied first and then distributed from there, where comments and redlines are added, and the docs are accessible via Docs4Review,
• Document Suitability of the distributed files is updated immediately, if set, with the distribution.

This process ensures that a document is immediately available in the target state/location even though any informed distributees may not have signed off their distribution.

For Approval Distributions

• Files are distributed from their source folder, where comments and redlines are added, and the docs are accessible via Docs4Review,
• Document Suitability of the distributed files is updated only once the document is Approved (via weighting), where the source (distributed) file is updated first, and then any copies are sent to a new folder (if set).
  • To ensure Comments, Redlines, etc., go to the copied file as well; the Copy Annotations on Issue setting should be set.

This process ensures that a distributed document captures all comments, etc., no matter what the outcome of the Approval.  If it is approved, the source document will reflect that, and any target copy will only be available after the approval is complete.

Distribute To

Select all users who will be recipients of a single Transmittal.  The maximum total number of recipients/cc is 250 per Transmittal.

• Groups - Select the Distribution Group to show its users in the window below.
• Add External User - Add an External User to the Project.  Refer to External Users for details.
• To - Add Users selected in the left-hand panel to the Recipients list in the right-hand panel.  These recipients will be included in the counts of Active and Overdue documents.
• CC - Add Users selected in the left-hand panel to the CC list in the right-hand panel.  These recipients will not be included in the counts of Active and Overdue documents and the transmittal purpose/suitability in documents for review will be set to 'CC'd for information.
• < - Remove users from the right-hand panel they are selected in and thus form the distribution.

Now, continue to the Destination Folder panel to the right.

External Users

External Users are recipients who have not been configured as Clearbox users and have not been given access to the project DMS.  This is a mechanism to send documents to recipients within the Security and Auditing framework of Clearbox and does not require the use of a further distribution mechanism.

Enter the Details of the External User, which must include a First Name, Surname, Company Name and Email.

External Users are included for selection in the External Users Distribution Group.  Therefore, they only need to be set up the first time you wish to distribute to them in the project.

Once the Distribution is sent, any External User will receive an email notification that a document has been issued to them.  Instructions on how to log in will be sent in the email with their first distribution.

External Users will be able to log into Clearbox and get access to a Documents For Review in order to View, Download and Comment on documents.  If they are distributed from different projects, they will also see the Project List , where they can then select the relevant project. 

Details for all users on a project, including emails associated with External Users, are available in the Project User Access report for Superusers.

Approval Required

Approval required is an optional function that enables Approval weighting to be switched on for each distribution as required. 

This functionality is controlled through Security Groups setting and provides control over who and from where documents can be sent for Approval. 

Approval Weighting is a mechanism by which any Document can be passed through a formal Approval, which ensures any document can be Approved or Rejected through a collective weighting principle. This requires one or more responses to approve or reject a document for the document to receive an "Official" approval or rejection status. This result is then recorded against each file as required within the Documents folder location and is specific to the document's current revision and suitability status. Please refer to Distribution Status for more information.

Destination Folder

Optionally, the documents in the distribution can be:

• Copied to a new folder location in the DMS
• Set with a new Revision on the distributed files

If a document is copied to a new destination folder, then the copied file is given the Transmittal Purpose as its own Document Suitability.  

In this way, documents progress through the system via a series of distributions, with each newly copied (distributed) file having the appropriate Purpose.

The options you use here are key to determining the workflow you are using through the DMS.

Documents can only be copied:

• To folders that the Distributor has Add security group access to, and that ALL recipients have at least 1 access role to,
• If no External Users are included in the Distribution.

Select the folder to which you want to create the distributed file copy.  The folder will then be shown in the filename panel Destination Folder column.

Revision

Optionally, if the file is being distributed to a folder, it can be assigned a particular revision.

If this value is not set, it will be incremented in the target file based on the existing number of revisions and source Rev code.

Apply the set Revision to the current transmittal files.

Referring to the top Files panel, the Revision and Destination Folder columns will show Blue links to the target settings.  Click the links to Remove the Settings, but keep all other details about the file in the current transmittal.

If a document is copied to a new destination folder, then the copied file is given the Transmittal Purpose as its own Document Suitability.  In this way, documents progress through the system via a series of distributions, with each newly copied (distributed) file having the appropriate Purpose.

Copy Annotations

If a document has Annotations and is being copied to a new folder, the option to copy existing annotations to the new document location is in the bottom left corner of the panel.  The default option is set in the Project configuration.

Copy DMS Codes

If a document has DMS Codes that are configured to Copy on Issue and documents are also being copied to a new folder in the distribution, then this option allows the copy to be turned off for this distribution, with none of the DMS Codes copied for any of the documents.

Send Distribution

Trigger the current distribution with the selected files in the Distribute session.  At this point, you can continue with the next distribution by returning to the top panel and selecting the next set of files to Distribute, repeating the whole process as required.

 Trigger the current distribution and close the Distribute panel.

Cancel the current distribution and close the Distribute panel.

Email Notifications

All recipients receive email Transmittal notifications regardless of any settings they have set.  The email includes the following details:

• Response Required By Date
• Expiry Date
• Project Name
• Project Number
• Document Transmittal Number
• Issue Date
• Purpose of Issue
• Issued By
• Details
• Recipient List
• Document List - Includes links to open the documents online in the users Documents For Review Page. 
• Document Transmittal - Links to the Transmittal online are on the user's Documents For Review Page.
• CC List

Additionally, a PDF version of the transmittal will be attached to the email if the Attach Transmittal option was selected.

The Distributor will receive a Permissions confirmation email to validate that the recipients receiving the distribution can access the documents in their source location.

• Green indicates that the recipient has required rights
• Red indicates that the recipient does not have the required rights to view the documents provided

The Users Security Group rights will need to be adjusted to give the recipient the required viewing rights to the document.

My Actions

When files are distributed with a Response Date set, an entry is created in the recipient's calendar on that Date. Clicking on the calendar entry link opens the Documents for Review page with filters set to show the documents relevant to that date.

Also, refer to Documents to Review List