Vault Station Manager includes a document categorization feature, which can be useful for situations in which a Station Manager device is shared across multiple roles, products, or pieces of equipment. For example, a device may be assigned to a physical location and the product produced at that location may change from one period to the next. Some documents displayed on the station may be specific to one product and irrelevant for others. Using document categorization, you can ensure users see only the documents relevant to their needs.
Note: In previous releases, Station Manager document categories were defined in picklists. Support for that functionality ended with the 21R2.2 release. Vaults with picklist-defined categories should be reconfigured to the record-based categorization method described in this article.
About Station Manager Document Categorization Objects
Vault manages document categorization for Station Manager via two Vault objects:
- Station Manager Category (
station_manager_category__v) is a simple object with only a Category Label field, and Station Manager displays the Category Label field value as a category. - A Station Document Categorization (
station_document_categorization__v) record assigns a Station Manager Category to a Station Document record.
Configuring Document Categorization
In order to use document categories, users must have access to the appropriate objects:
- Create a custom object tab for the Station Manager Category object or add it to the Business Admin menu.
- Add a related object section for the Station Document Categorization object on the Station Document object page layout.
Note that Station Manager Category and Station Document Categorization object records are only visible in the mobile app if they are in the Approved lifecycle state. If you wish to implement an approval workflow before making a category visible in the Station Manager mobile app, you can leverage standard Vault lifecycle and workflow configurations for these objects.
If you wish to restrict the ability to create or deploy categories, you can leverage standard Vault user and role-based security configurations for these objects and their associated lifecycles.
Scoped Categories
In some cases, such as customers with distributed manufacturing facilities, local administrators may wish to manage categories and category assignments within their own facility rather than have a single global set of categories. Vault allows you to scope your categories, for example, by Facility or Organization. When creating a Station Manager Category object record, users specify the Facility or Organization to which that category belongs. Then, when creating Station Document Categorization records, users are only able to pick from the categories belonging to that Station’s Facility or Organization.
For example, to scope your categories by Organization or a similar object:
- On the Station object, add a required object reference field for the Organization object with label Organization and name
organization__c. - On the Station Document object, create an object reference lookup field for Station > Organization with label Organization and name
organization__c. - On the Station Manager Category object, create a required object reference field for the Organization object with label Organization and name
organization__c. - On the Station Manager Category object, deselect the Values must be unique option for the Category Label field so users can create a category with the same name across different Organizations.
- On the Station Document Categorization object, set the Criteria VQL for the Station Manager Category field to:
organization__c = {{this.station_document__vr.organization__c}}
Categorizing Documents
Once configured, follow these steps to categorize documents assigned to Station Manager:
- Navigate to Business Admin > Station Manager Categories or to a custom object tab.
- Create Station Manager Category object records for each available category. Set the Category Label (
name__v) field value to the label you want to appear in the Station Manager mobile app. If you have scoped your categories, for example by Organization, specify the Organization to which that category belongs. - Navigate to Business Admin > Station Documents or to a custom object tab and click into a Station Document record.
- Create Station Document Categorization object records in the related object section. If you have scoped your categories, for example by Organization, you can only select from categories belonging to the same Organization as the Station to which that Station Document belongs.
The next time the Station Manager mobile app syncs with Vault, the categories appear in the mobile app for selection by the manufacturing end-user.
Creating QR Codes for Document Categories
If configured by an Admin, you can create a QR code for users to scan and view a category of documents.
To create the QR code:
- Navigate to Business Admin > Station Manager Categories or to a custom Station Manager Categories object tab.
- Perform the QR Code action.
- In the pop-up dialog, click Download.
You can use the resulting QR code image file to print and place near applicable areas.