Data and Documents

The Data and Documents section contains structured collections of items, each with its own freely defined fields: it is the tool for organising the information that every management system needs, whatever standard is adopted.

There is no limit to the number of collections or to the structure each can have: every organisation can decide which collections to create, what they should contain and what to call them, according to the standards adopted, its own characteristics, structure, processes and objectives.

The same collection can serve more than one of these purposes at the same time:

Browsing a collection

The Data and Documents page shows all the collections you have access to. You can filter by name using the magnifying glass ().

When you open a collection you will find:

• The item list
• The item filter (magnifying glass in the top bar): see Search filters
• The change history
• The bell icon () to subscribe to notifications about changes
• If you have the relevant permissions, also:
  
  • The button to download the collection as an Excel file
  • The button to add an item
  • The button to upload a bulk update

The item page

The item detail page shows the fields configured as visible, the log of changes and the edit (pencil ) and delete (bin ) buttons, if you have permission.

If the administrator has enabled it, below the fields there is also an Attachments section, which works as it does in issues and checklists: anyone with access can upload images and documents freely (see Attachments section).

Linked sections

Besides attachments, the detail page can be configured to show the issues, actions, checklists and items of other collections linked to the one you are viewing: each of them has its own section.

The links are created automatically. For example, if issues include a selector field that draws on this collection, every time an item is chosen in an issue, that issue will appear in the Linked issues section of the chosen item: the relationship is therefore visible from both sides.

Clicking a linked entry opens its detail page. Where the section allows it, a + button is available to create a new linked entry directly from here: when the selected type has this collection as its data source, the starting item is preselected automatically, so the link is recorded without having to enter it again by hand.

Adding and editing items

The form is the same for insertion and editing: in edit mode the fields are pre-filled with the existing values. Each collection has its own form, configured by the administrator according to the organisation's needs. All mandatory fields must be filled in before saving (see How forms work).

Approval workflow

For each collection the administrator decides who can change its items and with how much autonomy: some can update the collection directly, and their changes take effect immediately, while others can propose changes, which take effect only once approved.

When there are proposals pending, a link appears in the collection header, different according to what you can do:

• For those who propose changes, the Status of submitted proposals link shows the list of their own proposals with the type (insertion, edit, deletion) and the outcome if already assessed.
• For those who approve them, the Changes to approve link shows the pending proposals. Clicking one opens the detail:
  
  • Insertion: complete record of the proposed item
  • Deletion: complete record of the item to be deleted
  • Edit: current values shown alongside the proposed changes

Before accepting, the approver can change the proposed values. Accepted proposals are applied immediately; rejected ones are discarded.

Bulk update via Excel

Updating via Excel is reserved for those who can update the collection directly. To update many items at once, click the upload arrow button (): a window opens with the necessary instructions and controls.

In the window, choose the identifying column: the system uses it to recognise the items in the collection. By default this is the Id column (assigned automatically), but you can select another one as long as it has unique values (e.g. a code from your ERP). Make sure you select the same column each time you reload the file.

Then download the Excel sheet to work from: the columns correspond to the fields of the collection. A few special cases:

• Identifying column: it has a red background. Do not change its values for existing items; if it is the default one (Id), for new items you can leave it empty and it will be filled in automatically, whereas if it is the column of a field you fill in yourself, it must have a value before you reload.
• Selectors: they take up two columns, one for the value and one for the label.
• Mandatory fields: they have a blue background.
• Text fields with formatting: they use Markdown. The downloaded file already contains the text in this format (e.g. **bold**, _italic_), and the same format must be used when you edit or add values: for the syntax you can refer to markdownguide.org/basic-syntax.
• Images and documents: they do not appear, because attachments cannot be added, updated or deleted via Excel.

Each row is an item already present in the collection, with its values in the respective columns. If the collection is empty, the sheet contains only the headers.

Update the values and reload the file. Before confirming the upload, check how the "Delete items not present in the Excel sheet" option is set:

• Off (default): the system updates the items that have changed and adds the new ones, but does not delete any missing items.
• On: the system updates the items that have changed, adds the new ones and deletes all items whose value in the identifying column is no longer present in the uploaded file.