Selecting IBM BPM or an external ECM system to manage folders

You choose a folder to manage your Enterprise Content Management (ECM) documents and subfolders. This folder can be on IBM® Business Process Manager or an external Enterprise Content Management system.

About this task

In the Process editor under the Folder tab, you specify whether IBM BPM or an external ECM system handles your ECM folders and documents in the Folder Management section. In addition, if you select IBM BPM, you can control the actions of your users, such as whether they can only view folders and documents or create folders and documents.

You do not require any permission to create a folder that uses the IBM Business Process Manager selection. For the Enterprise Content Management system selection, your selection is from the ECM systems listed in the Process App Settings page. Therefore, you must set up access to an external ECM system first before you can add a folder to it.

Though the user interface in the Folder Management section contains hover help for many of the fields, use this information to understand the complete view of the set of interacting fields. Links to key concepts such as local documents, references to external documents and folders, and the effect of linked processes are also important when you make your folder management decisions.

Procedure

Select whether IBM BPM or an external ECM system will contain the folder for your subsequent ECM documents and subfolders.
- IBM Business Process Manager: Use IBM BPM as the system to contain the base folder for your subsequent ECM documents and subfolders. This selection is the default. Next, select the options that you want for your users:
  - Allow locally managed documents: A user can create IBM BPM documents for the duration of a process. See Local documents.
  - Allow locally managed folders: A user can create an IBM BPM folder for the duration of a process. Locally managed folders are helpful for grouping documents and folders into a meaningful structure without relying on this structure in an external ECM system. For example, you might create a tree structure of folders for financial information. You can add subfolders for United States and China, and then add financial documents for those countries.
  - Allow external document references: A user can add a reference to a document on an external ECM system. See Adding references.
  - Allow external folder references: A user can add a reference to a folder on an external ECM system. See Adding references.
- Enterprise Content Management system: Use an external ECM system and folder to contain the base folder for your subsequent ECM documents and subfolders. When you create a new folder, this selection becomes preselected. Next, add the server and path.
  - Server: Select the server that you want to use.
  - Path: Enter a path for the folder.
    Paths can be static or dynamic. A static path might be /templates/claim-documents. The folder in this path would contain templates that are relevant for a claim. A dynamic path can be created by using environment and local variables in a JavaScript expression. For example, tw.env.claimsRootFolderPath + "/" + new Date().getFullYear() + "-" + tw.local.claimId would link to a folder specific to the Claim instance.
    - Create automatically: If you select this check box, the folder is created. If you do not select this check box, you must use a folder that is in the Type drop-down list.
    - Type: If other folders available, such as a Financial Records folder, you can select one of those folders from the drop-down list. The default type is Folder.
Click Save or Finish Editing.