Vault Station Manager Configuration (Quality)

Vault Station Manager is a mobile application for iOS and Android tablets that allows workers in manufacturing facilities to view Quality documents on shared devices. As more manufacturers replace paper binders on the shop floor with electronic documents accessed via tablets, organizations need a secure way to share these documents on approved devices. Vault Station Manager provides a completely mobile, encrypted experience for viewing Vault Quality documents, with fast, offline access 24 x 7.

Vault Station Manager is easy to use and focused on the manufacturing user’s needs. Even with gloves on, documents within the application are only a few taps away. Vault Station Manager also requires minimal setup and maintenance. Site IT users only need to log into the application once. After that, the account is permanently logged in on that device, including after the tablet is restarted. When online, Vault Station Manager automatically syncs with Vault every 15 minutes to ensure that users always see the most up-to-date documents.

Vault Station Manager users generally fall into one of three categories:

• Business Administrators were in charge of managing paper binders on the manufacturing floor prior to the adoption of Vault Station Manager. They do not interact directly with the mobile application but rather use Vault to administer Stations and Station Documents. This article is for Business Administrators.
• IT Administrators manage the provisioning of tablet devices that are available on the shop floor. IT Administrators use a shared account to log into the Vault Station Manager mobile application on each device and associate it with a Station. Learn more about Vault Station Manager Application Setup.
• Manufacturing End Users pick up tablet devices in their area of the shop floor and use the Station Manager mobile application to access documents they previously accessed in paper binders. Learn more about Using Vault Station Manager.

Station Manager Components

Vault includes the following components for configuring Vault Station Manager and associating documents with stations:

• Station Object: Provides a list of Stations to which documents and devices can be associated.
• Station Document Object: Associates specific document versions to Stations.
• Station Device Object: Provides a list of tablet devices that are currently associated with a Station.
• Station Document Lifecycle: Allows you to add or remove Station Documents from Vault Station Manager by moving the object records into specific lifecycle states.
• Station Device Lifecycle: Allows the Vault Station Manager mobile application to manage the registration and unregistration of Station Device objects.
• Update Station Document Entry Action: Automatically updates Station Document records when referenced documents reach a Steady, Obsolete, or Superseded lifecycle state.
• QR Code User Action: Creates a QR code to link users to the latest steady state version of a document, Station Document record, or station document category.
• Station Document Metadata: Allow you to customize the Station Manager mobile application experience for manufacturing end users.

About the Station Object

The Station object captures a list of all stations a Site IT Admin can select for a Vault. Admins can use the Station object to define a list of all documents a user should see when using Vault Station Manager at a given station on the manufacturing floor.

About the Station Document Object

Vault associates documents with Stations using the Station Document object. Documents referenced by the Document field on the Station Document object are version specific. Only the document version selected will appear in the Vault Station Manager application.

The Station Document record must be in Effective state to sync with devices. Vault can associate up to 1,000 Effective state Station Document records with each Station.

Document Categorization

This option allows Admins to categorize Station Documents in Vault. These categories display on the mobile application, so manufacturing end users can pick a category and limit browsing to documents relevant to their current task. Categorization can be useful for situations in which a Station Manager device is shared across multiple roles, products, or pieces of equipment.

About the Station Device Object

When a Site IT Admin logs into the Vault Station Manager application and associates a Station with a specific tablet, Vault automatically creates a Station Device object record, which stores the following information:

• Tablet device serial number
• Date the device was associated or disassociated with a Station
• When the device last successfully synced
• The User account used to log into the device
• Device operating system
• The Station Manager mobile application version
• If a device sync fails, Vault stores information about the most recent Vault sync for the device

While not directly created or managed by Vault Admins, these records allow Vault Admins to view and report on the tablet devices using Station Manager on the manufacturing floor.

About the Station Document Lifecycle

Vault includes a standard Station Document Lifecycle for the Station Document object. This lifecycle includes the following states:

• Draft: Initial state of Station Document record; when a Station Document is in Draft state, the document is planned for use on a Station but is not in use on any devices.
• Effective: The document is in use on a Station Device.
• Superseded: A newer document version is in use on a Station Device.
• Obsolete: No version of the document is in use on a Station Device.

About the Station Device Lifecycle

Vault includes a standard Station Device Lifecycle for the Station Device object. This lifecycle includes the following states:

• Approved: The device is currently associated with a Station. The Station Manager application automatically creates a Station Device record in the Approved state when a device is associated with a Station.
• Removed: The device is no longer associated with a Station. The Station Manager application automatically moves a Station Device record to the Removed state when a device is disassociated with a Station, either by logging out, switching stations, or unregistering a device.

You can select Remove Station Device from the Actions menu to move Station Device objects to the Removed state manually. This forces a device to log out on the next sync attempt.

Configuring the Update Station Document Entry Action

You can configure the Update Station Document entry action on the Steady or Obsolete states of any document lifecycles. When a document enters a Steady or Obsolete state, Vault automatically updates the state of any Station Document record associated with that document.

You should not configure this entry action on non-Steady or non-Obsolete states.

How the Update Station Document Entry Action Works

When a document reaches Steady state and is currently associated with an Effective state Station Document record, Vault moves the existing Station Document record to Superseded state. Vault then creates a new Station Document record in Effective state that is associated with the Steady document version.

For example, the document “Site Emergency Plan” (v4.0 in Steady state) is currently available to Station R10 through the Station Document record “Site Emergency Plan v4.0 – R10” (in Effective state). When “Site Emergency Plan” v5.0 reaches Steady state and v4.0 becomes Superseded, Vault also moves the existing Station Document record into Superseded state and creates a new Station Document record, “Site Emergency Plan v5.0 – R10”, in Effective state.

When a document reaches Obsolete state, Vault moves all related Station Document records to the Obsolete state.

Configuring Station Document Metadata

Station Document Metadata configurations, accessible in Admin > Configuration > Station Document Metadata, allow you to customize the document fields that Station Manager displays on the document information page.

To customize the fields displayed on the document information page, use the field selector to choose fields. By default, Station Manager displays the Name, Major Version Number, Minor Version Number, Document Number, Lifecycle, and Type fields. You can up to ten (10) additional fields to display.

You must select the Station Document Metadata record in each Station object record that you wish to use the configuration. You can select the same metadata configuration for any number of stations. Create and manage Station Document Metadata records in Admin > Configuration > Station Document Metadata.

Selecting a Station Configuration

The Station Configuration field on Station object records is a text field which can accept values in the format Stationconfiguration.[name] where [name] is the name of the Station Configuration record. To make selection easier, we recommend configuring the Station object page layout to use a special Station Configuration drop-down.

To add the Station Configuration drop-down selector:

1. Navigate to Admin > Configuration > Objects and click into the Station object.
2. In a section of the layout, click Add.
3. Select the Station Configuration selector from the list. Note that while the default Station Configuration field may also appear in this list, you should select the option with the application control icon.
4. Optional: In the Add Station Configuration dialog, you can select the Specify different Label and Help Content checkbox to customize the displayed name and tooltip text.
5. Click Done.
6. If the default Station Configuration text field exists on the object page layout, remove it by clicking the X (remove) icon.
7. Click Save.

You can now use the Station Configuration drop-down menu to select any defined Station Configuration when editing any Station object record.

Creating Stations & Station Documents

You can create individual Station and Station Document records, or use Vault Loader to create records in bulk.

After creating Station Documents, you must change the record state to Effective for Vault Station Manager to sync with Vault and display the document on the Station Device.

Creating Stations in Bulk

To create Station records in bulk, you must first create a template CSV file. You can use Vault Loader to extract a template CSV for the Stations object type using the Only Extract Column Headers option.

When you download your extracted template CSV, you can choose to remove the status__v and facility__v.external_id__v fields. Populate the remaining fields for each Station you want to create. Then, return to Vault Loader to upload the CSV file and create Station object records. Learn more about creating records using Vault Loader.

Creating Station Documents in Bulk

To bulk create Station Document records, first export a list of documents in Steady state:

1. Navigate to the Library.
2. Add a Document Version filter and select Steady State Only to see all Steady-state documents.
3. Select the Library’s Tabular layout.
4. From the Actions menu, select Edit Columns and add the Document ID, Major Version Number, and Minor Version Number.
5. From the Actions menu, select Export to Excel.

Next, navigate to the Loader tab. Extract a list of current Stations to retrieve each station’s ID. Then, extract the Station Document object type and select Only Extract Column Headers to create a Station Document CSV template.ß

Once you’ve exported all necessary document and Station information, you can populate the Station Document CSV template:

1. In the station__v column, enter the relevant Station’s ID.
2. In the station__v.name__v column, enter the Station’s name.
3. In the document__v column, enter each document’s ID in the format: DocID_MajorVersion_MinorVersion.
4. Remove the document_unbound__v column.

After you’ve populated the Station Document CSV, navigate back to the Loader tab and upload the CSV to create new Station Documents.

Sample CSVs

• Stations
• Station Documents

Document Limits

The following limits apply to documents on Station Manager:

• Maximum of 1000 assigned documents per Station
• Maximum of 100MB for a document rendition and 500MB for a video rendition
• Maximum of 10GB for all renditions combined per Station

Related Permissions

The following permissions control the ability to configure Vault Station Manager components within Vault:

Type	Permission	Controls
Security Profile	Admin: Document Lifecycle: Edit	Ability to configure document lifecycles and the Update Station Document entry action on document lifecycle states.
Security Profile	Object: Station: Create, Edit	Ability to create and update Station records.
Security Profile	Object: Station Document: Create, Edit	Ability to create and update Station Document records.
Security Profile	Object: Station Device: Read	Ability to view a list of devices in use on the Vault Station Manager application.
Security Profile	Object: Station Device: Remove Station Device: Execute	Ability to select the Remove Station Device action to unregister a Station Device.