Example of how the Office Add-in uses Word and Excel custom property fields

After you save an Office document with the Add-in, go look at the File/Properties menu item and then look at the Custom tab. That's where the Add-in stored all the "metadata" about the document. The document number is here, the categories, the division, the document type, etc.

The bonus to this is that you can display these pieces of information in the document, for example in the footer of the document to reference the project and the document number. Very handy to have this at hand.

July 21 2009 Synergy VUC Meeting Agenda

North American Synergy User Community Monthly Meeting – July 21, 2009

Agenda

· Need a presenter for Sept 15 Meeting! Contact Ann at 402-707-1652 or earoos@tconl.com to volunteer

· Reminder to visit the Forum
o Total posts 1130 • Total topics 388 • Total members 694
o http://forums.exactamerica.com/exact/index.php

· August 18 Meeting is about Background Jobs in Synergy

· Reminder about Engage 2010 – give us your suggested topics and think about volunteering to present at the conference

Today’s Presentation is given by Liz McBeth, Manager of IT and Marketing for Armour Valve

The topic is: Using Synergy Favorites Effectively and Managing them Company Wide

Second topic (if time permits) is Document List Layouts presented by Ann Roos Hayner

Synergy Document List Layout Creation and Use Tips

Synergy Document List Layout Creation and Use Tips

List Layouts produce a list or set of documents that have something in common
Document categories
Item number
Assortment
Security level
Language
Subject
Type
Project
Account
Combinations of the above

They organize documents for users

They dynamically update when a new document is added with matching “metadata” or criteria

List layouts can have a Header Document that serves as the Title area

Function Right 270 controls who can create List Layouts – used in Document Administrator and Web Administrator Roles

List Layouts used on a News Page - example

Synergy User Group - Presenters' Bios

Here are bios of 3 of the 4 speakers for the Synergy User Group Meeting in Nashville at Engage Tuesday March 24, 9:45 AM/

Joel Wolnik, Libra Industries, Topic: Parallel Workflow Process

Joel Wolnik is the IT Manager at Libra Industries Inc. in Mentor, OH. Joel has been with Libra for 19 years (12 yrs in Production, 7 yrs in IT). His experience on the production floor gives him a unique insight into creative business solutions that link office and shop processes. Joel has been a user of Macola since 1989, and has been supporting it since 2001. Joel develops custom applications and reports, using a combination of Visual Basic, Crystal Reports, SQL Services, Event Manager and Flexibility (Macola’s integrated Microsoft VBA script.)
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Bruce Wright, Topic: Process Workflows

Bruce Wright has been the Director of IT for UFP Technologies in Georgetown MA since June 2000. With more than 20 years of experience in manufacturing, primarily in Materials and Operations Management, he has implemented more than 25 ERP systems as a team leader, project manager, and consultant. His extensive experience with a variety of business management solutions has left him with a keen understanding of both the technical and strategic impact that software technology can have on a business.
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Tony Wynohrad , Gamma Vacuum, Topic: The Power of Mail Merge

Tony Wynohrad grew up near Minneapolis, Minnesota. After receiving an undergraduate degree in engineering from Roger Williams University in Rhode Island, he pursued and obtained his MBA from Northeastern University in Boston. He started working in the scientific grade vacuum industry as a product manager shortly after settling back to in the Midwest. He and several partners purchased the business unit he was working in when it became available in 2003. Since then, Tony has been functioning as a Business Director for Gamma Vacuum, making the 18 person company look and perform better than larger companies in its industry.

Engage in Nashville

The Engage annual user conference for all Exact Software users is a little over a week away. If you're not able to attend the conference you can follow announcements, especially about Synergy, via Twitter. Here's the link.
http://twitter.com/exactsoftware . Looking forward to meeting everyone that I've met over the last year through the Synergy User Group.

The User Group is having a live meeting on Tuesday at 9:45 at Engage so make sure you sign up for that breakout session and come meet the folks you've been talking to at the montly meetings. The meeting will feature three excellent users speaking on how they are leveraging the abilities of Synergy to outperform their competition in this challenging economy.

In addition to the presentations we'll have a roundtable so that attendees can ask questions of any kind about the product and maximize their investment not only in the conference but in the tool as well.

See you in Nashville March 22-25!

Document Scanning in Synergy

Document Scanning in Synergy Briefly Explained

Synergy includes a Document Repository system. The repository can hold nearly any kind of content including Microsoft Office files, PDF files, images, e-mails, etc. Content can be cross-referenced to other objects in the greater Synergy database: customers, partners, projects, items, associates, etc. This cross-reference data is called “metadata”. Content is also classified into a 3-level category system.

One method of putting content into the repository is through scanning a document. As part of the scanning process, a user can indicate the categories to be used as well as any other metadata points they wish, to facilitate later retrieval. Some scanners allow the user to choose the categories and metadata on a scanner input screen. This method works well for uploading small numbers of documents. Other scanners need to have a cover sheet created with bar coded information about the categories and metadata. This latter method works well for “mass uploading” of large numbers of documents.

In order to effectively scan documents into Synergy, the categories need to be defined and set up first. Any other metadata to be used must also exist in the database. If bar coded cover sheets are going to be used, the bar code software also requires some additional setup. Once this preparatory work is done, cover sheets can be printed as needed and inter-leaved with the documents to be scanned. Then scanning of large numbers of documents can be accomplished rather quickly.

When a business department or unit wishes to begin scanning content into the system they need to give some thought to the kinds of content to be uploaded. Specifically they need to:

List out the kinds of documents
Determine the taxonomy, or categories, to be used
Determine the kinds of metadata to be used
Determine if the metadata is mandatory or optional
Determine the security levels needed (this will control who can retrieve and view a document)
Determine if different kinds of documents need to be shared for editing purposes
Determine if only certain individuals can create specific kinds of documents
If metadata is to be used, determine if there are limits that need to be considered (e.g. document type “A” can only be cross-referenced to an active associate as opposed to an inactive associate, or document type “B” can only be cross-referenced to a specific project)
Determine who is going to perform the actual scanning, especially for mass uploading

Once the above items are considered, a plan can be created that will determine the steps needed to prepare Synergy, set up the bar code software, and organize the documents to be scanned.