The following are some of the important terms and concepts that you need to understand before you start using Intelligent Workflows.
Projects
Imagine an office having separate cabinets for its various departments or business processes in a file room. Each cabinet holds one or more files containing documents related to a specific department or business process. For example, there may be a cabinet dedicated to the Human Resources department. Another cabinet is dedicated to the loans business process, which contains files of all customers with loan information.
Intelligent Workflows provides you the same functionality by storing files and documents (converted into digital format), in a project rather than a filing cabinet.
If you are working with Intelligent Workflows for the first time, you must create and configure a project first.
Files
In a file room, physical files (or folders) are used to store and organize related documents within a filing cabinet. Similar organization happens in Intelligent Workflows where a file is a searchable container for various types of related documents; not to be confused with a computer file.
For example, suppose you have a filing cabinet for storing and organizing customer's loan files. Imagine that you have put a sticker on the cabinet bearing the name "Loan Files". In the filing cabinet are several plastic files or folders containing paper documents. One of these files belongs to Keith Adams. When you open his file, it contains several different paper documents.
You can represent a similar scenario in Intelligent Workflows. You will need to scan the documents first to make the documents available in a digital format. You can create a project, name it "Loan Files", and add a file for "Keith Adams". In the file, you can store all documents belonging to Keith.
Intelligent Workflows allows you to create index fields for files in a project. You can search for the file based on any combination of index values. For example, if you have added the index field "Name" to the "loan files" project, then you can find Keith's file easily by searching for "Keith". However, note that the result will return file records of all customers with "Keith" as their name.
Suppose you add another index field "Loan Amount" to the project. Now you can enter a loan amount as a search parameter. You can also set a range for the loan amount, depending on how you have set up the index field.
Now, if you set the search criteria to "Keith" for Name and 5000 to 10000 for Loan Amount, then the result will return the file records for all customers having "Keith" as their name and a loan amount between 5000 to 10000 (both figures inclusive).
Documents
Intelligent Workflows allows you to work with a wide range of document types. You can scan and save documents directly into a specific location in a file or import documents into a specific location in a file within a project. Intelligent Workflows provides a Windows Viewer and a Web Viewer that allow users to view and work with documents.
Dividers
The documents stored within a project file can be grouped logically according to dividers. You can set up dividers while setting up a project or enter a divider name when adding content to the system. Dividers set up for a project are available to all the files in the project. Once you have a divider in place, you can scan or add a document to the divider. You can also copy and paste documents from other dividers.
For example, Keith Adam's file may contain documents that deal with general correspondence about a loan application and the loan application received from him. You can set up two dividers 'General Correspondence' and 'Loan Applications'. Once the dividers are added, you can scan or add documents to the appropriate divider so that the documents are grouped meaningfully for easy retrieval.
You can search for a file by selecting a divider name as a search parameter using the advanced search options.
Dividers also allow you to add an optional master sheet to a file. You can use a master sheet to keep an updated summary of the file. You cannot delete a master sheet.
Intelligent Workflows displays a divider within a file, if it has at least one document attached to it. When you add or scan a document to a file without specifying a divider or a separator, Intelligent Workflows inserts a default divider named '<<NO DIVIDER>>'.
You can also turn on divider security that limits a group of users by providing access to specific dividers only.
Separators
Intelligent Workflows provides you with separators that can be used to group dividers logically in a file according to the business requirement. You must enable separators in Intelligent Workflows if you want to use the separator feature. You can set up separators while setting up a project or at a later time. Separators set up for a project are available to all the files in the project. You can also copy and paste documents from other dividers or separators.
For example, you can group your dividers according to certain dates. You can create separators named according to specific dates. Once the separators are in place, you can add dividers to the separator. Now, the documents in the file are grouped into dividers, and the dividers are grouped into separators for specific dates.
You can search for a file by selecting a separator name as a search parameter using the advanced search options.
Intelligent Workflows displays a separator within a file if it has at least one divider attached to it. When you add or scan a document to a file without specifying a separator, Intelligent Workflows inserts a default separator named '<<NO SEPARATOR>>'. Intelligent Workflows will not display any separators if it is not enabled.
You can also turn on separator security that limits a group of users, access to specific separators only.
Users
Besides general users, there are three other types of users in Intelligent Workflows: System Administrator, Project Administrator, and Access Administrator.
System Administrator
A user with System Administration rights has complete access to Intelligent Workflows. A System Administrator can create, configure, and manage users, groups, projects, and vendors. System Administrator rights can be assigned to one or more Intelligent Workflows users.
The System Administrator uses Intelligent Workflows Administration to perform administrative tasks. Intelligent Workflows Administration is also available to Project Administrators and Access Administrators, but with limited functionality. General users do not have access to Intelligent Workflows Administration.
Access Administrator
A user with Access Administrator rights can manage Groups, Users, and Vendors in Intelligent Workflows Administration. The Access Administrator has no access to projects or other system configurations. Access Administrator rights can be assigned to one or more Intelligent Workflows users.
Project Administrator
A user with Project Administrator rights can configure and manage projects assigned to the group they belong to. However, unlike the System Administrator, the Project Administrator cannot create or delete a project from Intelligent Workflows. The Project Administrator does not have rights to create and manage users, groups, or vendors. Project Administrator rights can be assigned to one or more Intelligent Workflows users.
Group Administrator
A user with Group Administrator rights can manage certain settings for the Groups that they have been assigned to. The Group Administrator has no access to projects or other system configurations. Group Administrator rights can be assigned to one or more Intelligent Workflows users.
Group Administrators can perform the following tasks in their assigned groups:
- Configure all general permissions for the entire group (except enable Project Admin)
- Assign or remove users from the group
- Assign or remove Separators
- Assign or remove Dividers
- Setup File & Field security (if enabled at the project level)
Note: Group Administrators cannot change the Assigned Projects for groups.
Groups
Intelligent Workflows allows creation of different user groups based on the roles that users have in the project. For example, you can create a group of users that perform data entry only, while another group of users takes care of project administration. The same user can be assigned to one or more groups. Just like users, one or more projects are assigned to a group. The same project can be assigned to more than one group. When groups are created, a System Administrator can create an unlimited number of users.
You can assign various rights related to files, documents, annotations, and workflow to a group. You can set various file and field level security options for a group. You can assign dividers and separators to a group. You can configure Intelligent Workflows for a group, so that, when new files are added, the files will be available on the clipboard.
The System Administrator can create a special group for the Project Administrators. Users assigned to the Project Administrator group can manage the projects assigned to this group.