Core concepts
Document storage and project documents
How document storage structures organise a project's documents, when a structure locks, and who can see, open and download each document on a project.
- Admin
- PM
- Member
A document storage structure is a named set of folders, subfolders and document names, such as Formulation → Stability → Stability report. Activity templates point at one, and their Document Upload tasks ask for documents from it. That is how every project of a kind files the same documents in the same place.
On a running project the structure becomes the Documents tab: one row for each document the project's tasks ask for, with its status, its versions and who can see it.
Document storage structures
Structures are kept under Document Storage in the left menu, next to Activity Templates. Both need Templates page access. A folder can hold documents directly, subfolders, or both; a subfolder holds documents. Each document name is a slot: a place for one file that a task will ask someone to upload.
Different project types often need different folders. Create one structure per set of folders you need, then pick the right one on each activity template.
Start blank or copy an existing structure. The new one is a Draft. Disabled with Templates: View.
Only an Active structure can be picked on an activity template.
The activity templates that use this structure. While this lists any, the structure is locked against renames and deletes.
Edit and Duplicate. A Draft that nothing uses also shows Delete.
Draft, Active and publishing
A new structure is a Draft. Nothing can use it until it is published, which makes it Active. Publishing is one way: there is no way back to Draft.
Publishing checks that nothing is empty. It is refused, with each problem named, until the structure has at least one folder, every folder holds a document (directly or in one of its subfolders), and every subfolder holds a document.
| Your access | What you can do with a structure |
|---|---|
| Templates: None | Document Storage is not in your menu. |
| Templates: View | See every structure, Draft or Active, read-only. |
| Templates: Action | Create, edit, publish and duplicate any structure, whoever created it. Delete a Draft that nothing uses. |
This differs from activity templates, which only their creator can edit. Here Created by is for information only. An Active structure can never be deleted, and a Draft cannot be deleted while a project or an activity template still uses it.
Duplicate copies a structure's folders, subfolders and document names into a new Draft that you own. Later edits to either one do not affect the other.
Locking while in use
While any activity template uses a structure, it is In use: you can still add folders, subfolders and documents, but you cannot rename or delete them. The lock lifts when the last activity template that uses it is deleted.
The structure's status. In use beside it means an activity template uses it right now.
Change the structure's name and short description.
Makes an independent Draft copy that you can reshape freely.
Names the activity templates that use it, and says what is locked: renames and deletes.
Adding is always allowed, even while the structure is in use.
A folder with its documents and subfolders. + Add and + Add document add inside it; Locked means it cannot be renamed or deleted.
One document name: the slot a Document Upload task asks for.
Even when a structure is not locked, a document that a project or a deleted activity template still uses cannot be deleted. Srishti says so instead of deleting it.
Documents on a project
The project's Documents tab shows the folders of its template's structure, with a row for each document the project's tasks ask for. Unused documents and empty folders are not shown. People working on the project also find the documents they may see in the Docs tab of the project card on My Activities.
How many people can see every document on the project: the PM, people granted access to the whole project, and the members of teams granted it. Manage access is the PM's.
A folder from the structure, with how many documents are in it and its own Manage access.
The document's name, who uploaded it and when (or Pending upload), its subfolder and its visibility trigger. Then View or Download, and for the PM Versions and Manage access.
Where the document is in its life: Pending, Uploaded, Checked, Approved or Rejected.
Statuses
| Status | What it means |
|---|---|
| Pending | Nothing uploaded yet (shown as Not yet uploaded on My Activities). |
| Uploaded | A file is in. If a Check / Reject task reviews it, it waits for that check. |
| Checked | A Check / Reject task passed it. |
| Approved | An Approve / Reject task passed it. |
| Rejected | A reviewer rejected it. The owner uploads a corrected file. |
Versions
- Each upload is a version: V1, V2 and so on. A document has one live upload at a time. A new version can be added only when the document was never uploaded, was rejected, or its upload was taken back.
- The owner can remove their upload while it is still Uploaded, before the task is completed.
- Uploads are accepted only while the activity is open for work, and never on a closed project.
- Only the PM sees Versions and can open older versions. Everyone else sees the current one.
- Documents of a deleted activity are kept, read-only, marked “(from deleted activity: name)”.
Who sees a document
Each Document Upload task sets two things in the template (and the PM can adjust them while creating the project): Visible to, the teams beyond the uploader's that may see the documents, or All teams; and the Visibility trigger, the moment those teams can see them.
| Who | Sees the document |
|---|---|
| The project's PM | Always, at every stage. |
| The owning team (the team of the activity that uploads it) | Always, from the moment it is uploaded. |
| The uploader, and the owners of activities whose review tasks check or approve it | Always. |
| A member of a Visible to team | Once the trigger has fired, and only if they are assigned to an activity in the project. |
| Someone the PM granted access to | Once the trigger has fired, whatever their team and whether or not they are assigned. |
- On upload
- As soon as the file is uploaded.
- On check
- Once a Check / Reject task has passed it (Checked or Approved).
- On approval
- Once an Approve / Reject task has passed it. Without such a task, only the people who always see it ever do.
Granting access
Only the project's PM can grant access, with Manage access on the whole project (Project-wide access), on a folder, or on one document. A grant goes to a person or a team, at one of two levels:
- View only
- Opens files a browser can show, such as PDFs and images, with View. Other file types, such as Word or Excel, show No preview for this file type — view-only access.
- View & Download
- Opens and downloads every file type.
- A grant on a folder or the whole project covers every document inside it.
- A grant never opens a document before its trigger. On an On approval document it starts working once the document is approved.
- The PM can change a grant between the two levels or remove it. Each change is recorded in the project's activity log.
- On a closed project, Manage access is gone and grants can no longer change.