Usage processes

When using the workgroup file server, several processes for working with documents exist:

  • Viewing a document in the subsidiary
  • Editing a document in the subsidiary
  • Creating a document in the subsidiary
  • Adjustment of the documents

Viewing a document in the subsidiary

When staff members access documents in subsidiaries, the following cases can be distinguished:

  • The version of the file on the server is identical to the file version on the application server.
  • The version of the file on the file server is not up to date anymore.
  • The file does not exist on the file server.

Should the file on the file server not exist or be older than the one on the application server, it is trans­ferred synchronically from the application server to the file server.

Transfer process between file server and application server when viewing a document

Editing a document in the subsidiary

When staff members edit documents in subsidiaries, the following cases can be distinguished:

  • The file version on the file server is identical to the file version on the application server.
  • The file version on the file server is not up to date anymore.
  • The file does not exist on the file server.

If a file is updated on the file server, the system makes sure that the new file version is transferred to the central application server immediately after it was edited.

Transfer process between file server and application server when editing a document

Creating a document in the subsidiary

After storing a new file on the file server, the system makes sure that the file is immediately transferred to the central application server.

Transfer process between file server and application server when creating a document

Periodic adjustment between file server and application server (batch process)

The adjustment of different file versions between the file server and the application server is triggered by a job that initiates a batch process (periodically, e.g., once every night). The job controller is a component of the file server configuration. The application server retrieves the list of the BLOB records from the file server database, compares these BLOB records with the cen­trally stored BLOB records, and initiates the following operations:

Batch process with the adjustment between file server and application server when a document is created

  • All BLOBs with PSC_UPD (on the file server) <PSC_UPD (on the application server) are transferred to the file server and are overwritten there automatically. The PSC_UPD is refreshed in the file server database.
  • All BLOBs with PSC_UPD (on the file server) = PSC_UPD (on the application server) are not transferred once more to the file server.
  • All file server BLOBs that don’t exist on the application server anymore are deleted from the file server. The corresponding entry in the file server database is removed.
  • If a document is planned for distribution, i.e., if there is an entry in the file server list for the docu­ment, the accompanying BLOB is transferred to the file server and a new entry is written to the file server database.