Notification

Notifications in SeedDMS are for monitoring (watching or having an eye on) documents or folders. Any user can add a notification to documents and folders for himself or one of the groups he or she is a member of. Notifications are being triggered when the document or folder changes or is deleted. Though there are various triggers for notifications, the user may not select certain triggers and discard others. Setting a notification for a document or folder will always include all notification triggers. Notifications are send by email. Sending of notifications can be completely turned off in the configuration by unchecking Enable E-mail.

SeedDMS extensions can be used to implement other ways of notification, e.g. xmpp.

In order to add a notification the user must have read access on the document or folder. Each folder and document may have any number of notifications, which is called the notification list of that document or folder. The notification list will be cleaned up, when the access rights of the folder or document changes. Users or groups who loose read access will automatically be removed from the notification list.

Notification must be explicitly set, but there is one exception. If Enable reviewer/approver notification or Send notification to users in next workflow transition is set in the configuration then all users and groups involved in the next workflow step will be notified. There is no way to turn this off for individual documents, because the notification is rather implizit and cannot be removed from the document.

Another option in the configuration is Enable owner notification by default. Though it appears similar to Enable reviewer/approver notification there is a major difference. If set, a notification for the owner will be automatically added to the new document, just like it was added manually. This can be removed at any time later and it will be removed automatically if the user looses read access on the document. But, if the owner of the document changes, the original owner will keep the notification. There is no way to tell later if the notification was added automatically or manually.

SeedDMS distinguishes between the action that triggers a notification and the type of notification. Actions can trigger several notifications of different type and a certain type of notification can be triggered by different actions. A prominent example of an action which triggers serveral notifications is when a document was reviewed and needs to be approved. This triggers a Review submitted and Document status changed notification and also asks the approvers with an Approval request notification to approve the document.

Notification types

Any single notification type results in a message send to individual users or a group of users. Those types can be grouped into notifications related to a

• document

• folder

• review, approval, or workflow

• notification

With the introduction of document revisions and acknowledge of document reception in SeedDMS 6 more notification types have been added.

Document related notification types

Document added:

Informs about a new document.

This notification is sent to users and groups on the notification list of the new document and its parent folder.

Document deleted:

Informs about deletion of a document.

This notification is sent to users and groups on the notification list of the document and its parent folder.

Document moved:

Informs about moving of a document.

This notification is sent to users and groups on the notification list of the document and its old and new parent folder. If the user initiating the operation is not the owner of the document, then the owner will also be informed.

Document status changed:

Informs about a status change of a document, e.g. when an approval was submitted and the document was either released or rejected.

This notification is sent to users and groups on the notification list of the document.

Document name changed:

Informs about a name change of a document.

This notification is sent to users and groups on the notification list of the document. If the user initiating the operation is not the owner of the document, then the owner will also be informed.

Document comment changed:

Informs about a comment change of a document.

This notification is sent to users and groups on the notification list of the document. If the user initiating the operation is not the owner of the document, then the owner will also be informed.

Document expiration date changed:

Informs about a expiration date change of a document.

This notification is sent to users and groups on the notification list of the document. If the user initiating the operation is not the owner of the document, then the owner will also be informed.

Document owner changed:

Informs about a new owner of a document

This notification is sent to users and groups on the notification list of the document.

Document access permission changed:

Informs about changed access permissions of a document

This notification is sent to users and groups on the notification list of the document.

Document updated:

Informs about an updated document

This notification is sent to users and groups on the notification list of the document. If the user initiating the operation is not the owner of the document, then the owner will also be informed.

Document version replaced:

Informs about a replaced document version

This notification is sent to users and groups on the notification list of the document. If the user initiating the operation is not the owner of the document, then the owner will also be informed.

Document version deleted:

Informs about the deletion of a document version

This notification is sent to users and groups on the notification list and all reviewers and approvers of the document. If the user initiating the operation is not the owner of the document, then the owner will also be informed.

Attribute of a document changed

Informs about a single attribute of a document which has changed

This notification is sent to users and groups on the notification list of the document.

Attribute of a document version changed

Informs about a single attribute of a document version which has changed

This notification is sent to users and groups on the notification list of the document.

Document transfered:

Informs about the transfer of a document to another user

This notification is sent to users and groups on the notification list of the document.

Attachment of a document deleted

Informs about the deletion of a document attachment

This notification is sent to users and groups on the notification list of the document. If the user initiating the operation is not the owner of the document, then the owner will also be informed.

Folder related notification types

Folder added:

Informs about a new folder.

This notification is sent to users and groups on the notification list of the new folder and its parent folder.

Folder deleted:

Informs about deletion of a folder.

This notification is sent to users and groups on the notification list of the folder and its parent folder.

Folder moved:

Informs about moving of a folder.

This notification is sent to users and groups on the notification list of the folder and its old and new parent folder. If the user initiating the operation is not the owner of the folder, then the owner will also be informed.

Folder name changed:

Informs about a name change of a folder.

This notification is sent to users and groups on the notification list of the folder. If the user initiating the operation is not the owner of the folder, then the owner will also be informed.

Folder comment changed:

Informs about a comment change of a folder.

This notification is sent to users and groups on the notification list of the folder. If the user initiating the operation is not the owner of the folder, then the owner will also be informed.

Folder owner changed:

Informs about a new owner of a folder

This notification is sent to users and groups on the notification list of the folder and its parent folder.

Folder access permission changed:

Informs about changed access permissions of a folder

This notification is sent to users and groups on the notification list of the folder and its parent folder.

Attribute of a folder changed

Informs about a single attribute of a folder which has changed

This notification is sent to users and groups on the notification list of the folder and its parent folder.

Approval/Review/Workflow related notification types

Approval submitted:

Informs about an approval submitted for a document

This notification is sent to users and groups on the notification list of the document.

Review submitted:

Informs about a review submitted for a document

This notification is sent to users and groups on the notification list of the document.

Request approval:

Informs about the need to approve a document.

This notification is sent to users and groups in charge for approving the document version.

Request review:

Informs about the need to review a document.

This notification is sent to users and groups in charge for reviewing the document version. If there is no reviewer the approvers of the document version will be informed.

Request workflow action:

Informs about the need to take action in the next workflow step.

This notification is sent to users and groups in charge for triggering the next transition of the document version.

Approver deleted:

Informs, that a user has been removed as an approver

This notification is sent to the user or group who has been removed from the list of approvers.

Reviewer deleted:

Informs, that a user has been removed as a reviewer

This notification is sent to the user or group who has been removed from the list of reviewers.

Workflow deleted from document:

Informs, that a workflow has been removed from a document version

This notification is sent to users and groups on the notification list of the document.

Workflow transition triggered:

Informs about triggered transition in the workflow.

This notification is sent to users and groups on the notification list of the document.

Start a sub workflow:

Informs about the start of a sub workflow.

This notification is sent to users and groups on the notification list of the document.

Return from sub workflow:

Informs about the return from a sub workflow.

This notification is sent to users and groups on the notification list of the document.

Rewind of workflow:

Informs about the rewind of a workflow to its intial state.

This notification is sent to users and groups on the notification list of the document.

Notification related notification types

Notification added:

Informs about a new notification of a folder or document.

This notification is sent to users and groups on the notification list of the document or folder.

Notification deleted:

Informs about the deletion of a notification of a folder or document.

This notification is sent to users and groups on the notification list of the document or folder.

Receipt/Revision related notification types

Acknowledgement of receiption submitted:

Informs about acknowledgement of reception being submitted for a document

Request for acknowledgement of receiption:

Ask recipients to acknowledge reception of a document

Recipient deleted:

Informs, that a user has been removed as a recipient of a document

Revision submitted:

Informs about revision being submitted for a document

Request for revision:

Ask revisors to revise a document

Revisor deleted:

Informs, that a user has been removed as a revisor of a document

Actions

Actions in SeedDMS often trigger notifications. The list of users and groups actually notified depends on the action. Changing the name of a document will only inform those users and groups watching the document, but removing a document will also inform those users and groups watching the parent folder.

Notification are send for the following occurences.

Document added:

Notifications are send to all users and groups watching the parent folder of the new document and the document itself. If Enable owner notification by default is turned on, the owner of the document will automatically be added to the list of notifications of the new document. If Enable reviewer/approver notification and the traditional workflow mode is turned on the reviewer will be notified or if there is not reviewer the approver will be notified. If Send notification to users in next workflow transition and the advanced workflow is turned on, the users and groups involved in the first workflow step will be notified.

Folder added:

Notifications are send to all users and groups watching the new folder and its parent folder.

Folder deleted:

Notifications are send to all users and groups watching the folder to be deleted and its parent folder.

Document deleted:

Notifications are send to all users and groups watching the document to be deleted and its parent folder.

Document moved:

Notifications are send to all users and groups watching the document to be moved, and the old and the new parent folder of the document.

Folder moved:

Notifications are send to all users and groups watching the folder to be moved and the old and the new parent folder.

Document meta data changed

Notifications are send to all users (plus the owner of the document, if he or she is not currently logged in) and groups watching the document. This action can trigger the notification types Document name changed, Document comment changed, Document attribute changed, or Document expiration date changed

Folder attributes changed

Notifications are send to all users (plus the owner of the folder, if he or she is not currently logged in) and groups watching the folder. This action can trigger the notification types Folder name changed, Folder comment changed, or Folder attribute changed.

Document owner changed

A notification of type Document owner changed is send to all users and groups watching the document.

Folder owner changed

A notification of type Folder owner changed is send to all users and groups watching the folder.

Document access permission changed

Notifications are send to all users and groups watching the document.

Folder access permission changed

Notifications are send to all users and groups watching the folder.

Document updated

A notification of type Document updated is send to all users and groups watching the document. A Document expiration date changed notification is send to all users and groups watching the document, if the expiration date has also changed. Request approval, Request review or Request workflow action will be send if needed.

Document expiration date changed

Notifications are send to all users (plus the owner of the document, if he or she is not currently logged in) and groups watching the document.

Document approved

Notifications are send to all users and groups watching the document. This may result in two notifications. One for submitting an approval and one for a possible document status change.

Document reviewed

Notifications are send to all users and groups watching the document and the user who as uploaded the document version. This may result in two notifications. One for submitting a review and one for a possible document status change.

Approver/Reviewer changed

Notifications are send to those users and groups who have been affected by the change, either because they have been added as a new reviewer/approver or because the have been removed as a reviewer/approver.

Workflow set

Notifications are send to those users and groups who are involved in the first workflow step.

Workflow transition triggered

Notifications of type ‘Request workflow action’ are send to those users and groups who are involved in the next workflow step. Notifications of type ‘Workflow transition triggered’ are send to all users and groups watching the document.

Attributes of document version changed

Notifications are send to all users and groups watching the document. The will be for each changed attribute.

Notification added

An initial Notification is send to the user or group just added a notification. Other users or groups watching the document or folder will not be notified.

Notification deleted

One last notification will either be send to the user or groups whose notification was deleted. Other users or groups watching the document or folder will not be notified.