Skip to content

Latest commit

 

History

History

Documents

README.md

Table of Contents

Introduction

In the following the master data model for the domain Documents is explained in detail. As for every Open Integration Hub Master Data Model, an UML class diagram, a JSON schema as well as a description table exists.

Basic Ideas

One challenge of this model is to fit a wide array of services dealing with documents. The features provided by heterogeneous services like Dropbox and other more advanced systems like SharePoint or ELO are far apart.

In order to be suitable for all scenarios, this model is split into several implementations.

  • Basic Sharing documents between services
  • Comfort Sharing documents and metadata between services
  • Extended Sharing documents, metadata, policies and sub-resources betweeen services

Managing documents by specialized systems

The following table classifies the complexity of document management or sharing services currently available.

Type Description Example
File storage A service that can store documents (folders/ documents) in a hierarchically organized structure including limited metadata capabilities FTP, S3, Network fileshare
Online file share A service that can store information (folders/ documents) in a hierarchically organized structure. Allows sharing content easily. Some services do provide metadata capabilities. DropBox, OneDrive, Box
ECM/EIM/Content services A service that captures, stores, delivers, manages and organizes information based on additional metadata or hierarchically organized structures. In most cases DMS functionalities can be seen as a fundamental part of these services. Alfresco, ELO, M-Files, OpenText, SharePoint

Business services creating documents

In addition to systems that have been specifically designed to capture, store, deliver and manage documents and informations, there are additional services that have been designed in order to produce content.

Service/ System Sample document types
Inbox services Incoming Invoices, Notifications, ...
ERP Outgoing Invoices, Purchase Orders, ...
User Stories
As a user I want to automatically send an email with the invoice created by the ERP system.
As a user I want to automatically store generated outgoing documents in the document management system.
As a user I want to use inbox services for digitalizing invoices for further processing.

Business services consuming documents

From a companywide perspective, there are a variety of systems that generate or recieve documents that are related to business transactions of other systems. If a document management system is used, these documents are centralized in a repository that contains information that refers to the business transaction.

Therefore ERP or CRM systems can view a list of related documents from document management systems or third party sources. The following table lists systems that create business transactions.

Service/ System Sample document types
CRM Invoices, Purchase Orders, Billing documents, E-Mails, Communication, etc.
ERP Invoices, Purchase Orders, Billing documents, etc.
User Stories
As a user I want to view stored documents of the current invoice transaction in the ERP system. This gives me additional information like attached terms and conditions or the related delivery docket.
As a user I want to add additional documents while displaying the customer record in the CRM system.
As a user I want to pass all documents uploaded to a specific DropBox folder to be passed to the ERP system.

Considered Standards

WebDAV

Reference: https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc4918

This standard is probably the most widely used one related to document authoring and versionning. It is of widespread use and based on an extension of the HTTP protocol. It however suffers two drawbacks. First, it requires an extension in the web server itself, and cannot be built using plain HTTP. Second, the protocol and its XML format are both non-trivial and verbose.

CMIS

Reference: http://docs.oasis-open.org/cmis/CMIS/v1.1/CMIS-v1.1.html

This standard is used in the "Document Management Industry" to some extend. The protocol is based on SOAP and is 335 pages long. In other words, small companies might face a challenge due to its scope and complexity. Besides the complexity it is one of the few standards that support a wide range of systems and use cases implemented by the enterprise.

The model presented here attempts to be compatible with it in a simplified version that is designed to be used by rest services.

Operations

CRUD functionalities can be performed based on the model.

This folder contains a draft of operations that can be used for building REST webservices.

Content

UML Diagram

The extended model specification does contain all properties that are required in order to handle additional functionalities of DMS/ECM/EIM systems. Metadata definitions can be additionally queried. Therefore a specification of generic metadata describes how information can be passed.

Master Data Model - Documents Extended Version

The basic model specification describe a basic implementation for sharing documents and files without the need of handling metadata or additional information.

Master Data Model - Documents Basic Version

JSON Schema

  • Documents Schema: document
    • Technical description of a documents object
  • Documents Schema: folder
    • Technical description of a folder object
  • Documents Schema: object
    • Technical description of an 'object' object
  • Documents Schema: relation
    • Technical description of a relation object
  • Documents Schema: sharedDefinitions
    • Technical description of a documents object

Description Table

In addition to the uml class diagram, this folder contains a description table which includes the following information for each attribute:

  • Type
  • Properties
  • Short description
  • Sample values
  • Enumeration options (if attribute is an enumeration)