The project may contain references to many different ‘documents’. These references can be entered into the system, and if required, the soft-copy of the document can also be uploaded with each document reference. The document reference, if not used in another area of the system (Action, Amendment, Device, Drug, Insurance, SAE or Update), can also be deleted. The aim of entering references for all project documents is to be able to track documents, regardless of whether you keep hard-copies in a filing cabinet, use the HRECTrack document upload, or use a third party electronic document repository.
It is important to note that document details (with or without a soft copy) need to be entered into in the system before they can be associated in other areas of the project. For example, say an insurance update arrived for a project. It is best to enter the insurance document reference here first, then go to the Compliance - Insurance area of the project and enter the details, since you can then associate the document reference while entering the insurance details.
A useful tip here is that while the 'Description' field is not mandatory, it is helpful to enter text, as this is used as a prefix in the drop-down selector in other areas of the system when associating the document references. The example below shows an insurance document description, and how it appears in the Compliance - Insurance edit page :-
Note that Closed projects can have documents of type 'Progress Report' added (for use in the Progress Reports area).
Documents can be sent to a meeting to be 'approved' by selecting the desired meeting date in the drop down.
If a document has its Date Approved set to a date other than the selected meeting date, it is deemed to be 'approved between meetings', and it will appear on the 'Approved Between Meetings' document list for the meeting following the selected date. It will NOT appear as a document requiring approval at the meeting!
In the example above, if the 'Date Approved' is set to 10-Aug, then the document appears on the 'Approved Between Meetings' list. If set to 15-Aug, it will appear as a document in the Meeting Management module, and comments can be added against the document.
Users can also associate the document with other meetings via the meeting management option.
The meeting management icon may also appear offering meeting status details in the tooltip.
Please note that the ‘Is Billable?’ option will be greyed out if the project is not flagged as billable.
Likewise, the ‘Is Invoiced?’ and 'Invoice Amount' option may be greyed out if the document is not flagged as billable.
If the 'Is Billable?' option is checked, please ensure that the ‘Is Invoiced?’ option is also checked once invoiced, to ensure consistency for reporting.
The 'Invoice Amount' field requires a numeric value (no dollar sign), and may default from the Project's default 'Agreed Document Amount' if it is non-zero (non $0-), and the 'Invoice Amount' field is left at zero dollars ($0-) when saving the record.
The advanced search supports finding non-invoiced documents via the 'Can Invoice' and more specifically the 'Document Can Invoice' search options.
Note that to access Invoice details once 'Is Billable' is ticked, you may need to save the record first (as this applies additional business logic).
Note also that some document types may default to billable when the project is billable.
Documents
A document is approved once its approved date is reached, and is deemed ‘ratified’ if a meeting date has been set and has passed. Documents with a past meeting date, which have no approved date set, raise an alert . Users can also associate the document with other meetings via the meeting management option.
If a soft-copy is uploaded :-
1.it needs to be less than eight (8) Mb in size (defined in configuration),
2.it must match the allowed document types that can be uploaded (doc, docx, xls, xlsx, pdf, etc),
3.it is renamed during upload to be “<original name>_yyyyMMdd_HHmmss.<original file type>,
4.the option exists to try to convert the file to a PDF on upload, storing the converted PDF instead of the file you requested to be uploaded.
Because the uploaded file is uniquely renamed, it is possible to ‘orphan’ a previous document if a new soft-copy is uploaded (associated with a document reference). If this occurs, an area below the document list displays the ‘orphaned’ documents, allowing you to view or delete them.
Orphans can also occur if the document reference is deleted, and it had a soft-copy associated.
The system can also attempt to convert uploaded documents to the PDF format if required. By selecting the 'To Pdf?' option before saving, the system attempts the conversion, and if successful, references the converted PDF; otherwise the original file is kept and referenced. Note that the default value for the 'To Pdf?' option is defined in configuration, so can be changed to suit your preference.
Where E-Docs is enabled, you can also associate an uploaded E-Doc (document type only) directly from a drop down.
n.b. that if you browse and select a document, and select an E-Doc, the selected document 'wins', and the E-Doc selection is ignored.
Document(s) appear throughout the system via these icons on paginated lists and some tooltips :-
- no document associated (yet),
- document is associated, and clicking the icon will open the document,
- a document is specified, and was uploaded, but cannot be found.
HRECTrack can also be switched to reference an external document repository, and allow the user to paste in the URL reference to the document in the external system; rather than uploading the document itself. In this mode, the following icons are used :-
- no document URL specificed (yet),
- document has a URL, and clicking the icon will open the document.
The project advanced search function allows the contents of some documents to be searched. When the contents of document(s) allow projects to appear in a search result, the relevant Project Document row(s) will have the icon displayed on their status area, and the icon tooltip indicates the reason the icon is visible.
n.b. The meeting date selector offers only available meeting dates, except administrative users who can also select the previous meeting date.