There are times when multiple documents need to be loaded into iPassport and the New Document feature only allows loading one at a time. To make this process more efficient, the Import Documents feature allows loading a number of documents in one operation. Some manual operations are still required to ensure the documents go to the right place, follow their intended lifecycle within iPassport and keep the relevant users informed.
This feature can be switched on or off for the entire account. To make it available, a global setting must be enabled by a user with Administration Editor privileges:
Once this is enabled, only users with appropriate permissions will be able to access the feature.
To access the Import Documents section, the user requires the same permissions as those for creating a New Document (e.g., SOPs:Create SOPs). To import authorised documents, permissions to authorise documents are additionally required (e.g., SOPs:Authorise SOPs). Note that there are specific permissions for every type of document - Policies:Create Policies, COSHHs:Create COSHHs, Documents:Create Documents, etc. If a user doesn’t have any ‘create’ permissions, they won’t even see the button, Import Documents. If they have ‘create’ permissions but not, ‘authorise’ permissions, they will only be able to import documents in draft state. If they have these permissions for only certain types of documents (e.g., can only create and authorise documents of the type Policy), the button will be visible but it will only be possible to import documents of the allowed type(s).
Furthermore, documents can only be imported to the OUs where the user has the appropriate permissions.
To start the process:
Once in the staging area, each document will require basic information so that it’s named, classified and filed correctly.
The parameters, OU, Document Type, Category and Section can be set in bulk:
1. Select one or more documents by ticking the checkbox on the left of their row (they can all be selected by ticking the checkbox in the header of the Import Queue section)
2. Click the button, Update Multiple Documents
3. In the lightbox that pops up, click in the fields to expand a dropdown menu; if fields are left blank, any existing information will be left unchanged; if selections are made, they will replace existing ones
4. Click Update
This multiple selection method can also be used to Delete a number of documents from the staging area or to Import them to the account at the end of the process.
In addition, some parameters can be added or edited on a file by file basis to minimise the amount of work required later, when adjusting the document’s review settings.
Attachments can be uploaded in this window as well.
The parameters that can be adjusted at this stage are:
- Index - the default is, “Auto Generate” but it can be changed by replacing the text with the desired index
- Name - if not edited, the system will use the name of the uploaded file
- Controlled Document State - it is possible to edit the status of a document to draft (default safe option) or authorised; when authorised is selected, three fields automatically appear at the bottom (‘Document Authoriser(s)’, ‘Date Authorised’ and ‘Effective Date’)
- OU - the OU can also be set here
- Controlled Document Type - the Doc Type can also be set here
- Version - the default initial version is based on the system preference, ‘Versioning: doc type’, usually, v1.0
- Document Author(s) - especially important to add if the status is set to authorised
- Document Owner(s) - especially important to add if the status is set to authorised and required if the next review date is added
- Next Review Date - advisable if the status is set to authorised, according to the nature of the document (some don’t need reviewing)
- Category - if categories have been created, they can be assigned here
- Section - more than one section can be added but only the sections which are associated with the document’s OU will be listed; if no OU is selected then the dropdown will be empty
The following fields only show when the document state is set to authorised:
- Document Authoriser(s) - this field is required if the status is set to authorised
- Date Authorised - when left blank, this parameter will auto-populate with the current date if the document is set to authorised; this date can be set in the past if the document had already been authorised outside of iPassport at the time of importing it
- Effective Date - when left blank, this field will match the authorised date; this date can also be set in the past if the document had already been authorised outside of iPassport at the time of importing it
For more information about these parameters and creating controlled documents, please refer to the user guide, Creating a New Draft Controlled Document
To edit the parameters of a specific document in the staging area:
The column, Status in the Import Queue section is useful to quickly check if a document is ready for importing. Files with an exclamation mark under, Status are either missing data or have incompatible parameters and need addressing prior to importing. When hovering over the ‘!’ symbol, a message appears with details about which parameters are not ready. Any complete documents will show a thumbs up symbol, indicating they can now be imported.
Sections need to be linked to an OU so they are visible within documents in that OU. Therefore, the system checks the availability of sections added to documents before approving them for import. This check doesn’t cover document review related information, since it can be added after the document is imported (as long as it’s in draft status).
The search filter Status, just above the Import Queue section, allows to isolate those documents that are still requiring information.
Just click the text-box under Status and select either:
Once one or more documents are ready, they can be imported individually or in bulk by ticking the checkbox on the left of the row of each document. If all documents in the list are ready to import, they can all be selected at once by ticking the checkbox in the header section.
As soon as a selection is made, the header of the Import Queue expands to show the buttons, Update Multiple Documents, Delete and Import.
Click Import to bring up a lightbox that confirms how many documents were imported.
Click, Close and the documents will be cleared from the current Import Queue view.
The Actions column on the right allows deleting, downloading or importing individual files when they are ready.
It’s also possible to use a CSV file to add or update the metadata for a number of documents in one step. A set of documents can be prepared for import and all the metadata can be entered to a template spreadsheet, obtained by clicking a link.
There are two links - one for a generic sheet that only contains one example row and is already formatted for iPassport to interpret correctly; the other link is for a sheet populated with the metadata already added to any documents sitting in the staged area. Therefore, the documents themselves need to be uploaded to the Import Queue for the Metadata CSV to produce any information. The second option is especially useful to capture the exact name of the file for iPassport to locate it easily.
To download the templates:
The fields in the template are the same as those available in the lightbox that opens when you click the row of any queued document. The importer should ignore the example row and empty rows. If any rows in the template correspond to uploaded documents that don’t need any changes in their metadata, they can be deleted or just ignored.
Once a worksheet is populated with the necessary metadata, it needs to be saved/exported in CSV format (ideally, Unicode (UTF-8)). If the system can’t interpret the CSV properly or finds errors in the content (for example, a repeated filename) or missing fields, a message with appropriate feedback will appear.
The steps to follow are: