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.

Fantastic Document on Exact Website Set Up

Once in a while you find a REALLY helpful document. Makes you feel almost like you found a gold nugget in your front yard. You'll need to log in to the Customer Portal to get to this as it's basically a Table of Contents with nothing but links to good documents on installing, setting up, maintaining and otherwise "care and feeding" of an effective web site and portal for Synergy.

Check it out.

Adding your Logo to the Left Pane

Did you know you can add your logo and a link to your company's website to the left pane in Synergy? It's easy. Exact has a short document that explains how to save the logo itself in the document repository and then link that document. See document 10.982.372 on the Exact Customer Portal. Or simply click on the title of this blog posting and you'll be taken to the Exact .Customer Portal to login

If you don't have access to the customer portal for some reason let me know and I can help you get set up.

Tip on Rejecting Documents in 372/9.5

The newer versions of Synergy allow you to Reject a document AND tell the creator why you rejected it. This is a lovely feature but doesn't seem to work out of the box. If you're getting an error to the effect of "Task can't create - Not allowed resource" here's the solution. When the document approver rejects the document and checks the box to inform the creator, Synergy creates a Task Request back to the document creator. The "out of the box" set up for that request type needs to be tweaked. The Resource field in the request needs to be enabled for ALL resource types, not just Employee resource types. Then the Task is created very nicely.

Security Levels in Synergy

Security levels in e-Synergy

Security levels are the easiest way to control access to documents in e-Synergy. There are other ways, including Division and Project, as well.

The basic rule is that the higher the security level, the fewer the number of people who qualify to see the document. A person with a given security level can see all documents (unless otherwise restricted) at or below that security level. Synergy comes with some security levels predefined. The rest are up to us.

Here are Synergy’s predefined security levels:

Security level
Description
Who can see/Example of use
0
The World
The general external public, for example prospects.

1
All customers
All customers as recorded in CRM can access this information.


2
All suppliers
All suppliers as recorded in Synergy can access this information.


3
Customer specific
Information can be seen only by the Customer whose account is linked to the item.


4
Supplier specific
Information can be seen only by the Supplier whose account is linked to the item.


10 - 98
Internal
Only associates can see this data. Most associates and many documents have a security level of 10.

99
Creator Specific
Only the creator of the document can see the document.

100
Resource specific
Resource (person) tied to the document, direct manager, HR personnel and Synergy administrators.


101
Project specific
Only project members can see this information. Useful for closely-held information.

Setting up Security Levels for Resources

When you first set up your Resources (the people in your organization who will use the tool), you need to give some thought to how they will interact with the documents you plan to store in the document repository. Every resource has a security level. The higher the level, the more documents that resource can see (with a few special exceptions). Normally then, the top management would have security levels higher than entry-level personnel.

You control level 11 through 98. (Levels 0-10, 99, 100 and 101 have special functionality built it and must be used as designed. See Exact's Customer portal document 15.567.559 for the basic explanation of levels.

I'd suggest you diagram out your "management levels". If you have an organizational chart that should help identify how "flat" or " "hierarchical" your organization is. Then assign security levels to each major tier. Leave several numbers between each tier for gradations within that tier and for changes in the structure.

Here's an example:
Top Management (Exec VP, President, CFO etc) = level 30
Vice Presidential = level 25
Director = level 20
Manager = level 15
Supervisor = level 13
General = level 10

Document Taxonomies

One of the first real struggles I had with Synergy was to try to set up a robust “taxonomy” (or classification system) for documents.. In one respect it’s not critical, as you can move documents fairly easily from one category to another. But the more documents that you have in the repository, the more work it will be. I did a small study of knowledge management to get ideas. Here’s one article that might help.

One of the reasons it is difficult to set something up for the entire Enterprise is that not everyone thinks like everyone else (or at least they don’t necessarily think like I do). So it’s important to talk to the intended users of the system to find out how they currently store documents and how they retrieve them. Most organizations today, unless they already have a formal document storage system, use their PC and network resources to store documents. So here’s where I went to look first:

Shared drives on the network – this is usually the biggest source of information
Shared folders in Outlook
Local drives
Intranet (if they have one)
Public web site
Outlook personal folders
Any existing software system that stores conversations, notes, etc

When I interviewed folks the vast majority were more than willing to help and willing to give up their “private stash” of information to help themselves and others.