Pros and Cons of using Managed Documents

[rev3]

Hi All,

Our Service Now instances have been under a lot of customization. There is a need for us to document the changes specially for discovery. I am trying to understand the benefits and issues with "Managed Documents" application. Any experience on managed documents would be helpful.

Thank You

Reva

[TrevorK]

I can address your question regarding user and group permisisons. In order for you to add a user in User Permissions, that user must have the document_management_user role. If you have just added the plugin without demo data, no one will have this role and you will see no one in the list. Group Permissions has a very similar restriction, except it is that the group must have the document_management_user role attached to it (which therefore would mean all the users that are a part of the group have it too).

Here is what the Script Include that by default determines who you see verifies this:

You're always welcome to send me a message through this forum and we can exchange email addresses if you want a quicker/more detailed response. I am not an expert like some of the gurus here, but we have been using Managed Documents for quite awhile now.

PS: Tip #1 for Managed Documents: Remember the UI Actions in the header (context menu) are absolutely necessary because you need them for the approvers.

[StephLindorff]

I expected a collaborative environment wherein   Reviewers are able to upload a revised copy if they couldn't Approve the revision but I'm not seeing this option.   Am I missing something?   What's the difference between a Reviewer and an Approver (apart from being able to set a sequence for Approvers)?

Thanks

[TrevorK]

If my memory serves me correctly, you are correct. Reviewers would have to reject the document - they would not have the ability (out of the box) to upload a new revision from that record. In a way, I can see the logic. If a reviewer has changes, those should be a new revision. This is one of the reasons I feel that the ServiceNow implementation is not great for collaboration. In a way, you could end up with a dozen revisions before it even passes the Reviewers.

Out of the box, all Reviewers must approve to proceed so really the only difference is that a Reviewer is not in order. I guess I can see the point in this, it's a larger group of people that need to review it but you don't want a specific order in place to do the approvals. For us the Reviewers are more the users that deal with it on a daily basis, the Approvers are management. I'm not sure I have come across a functional different in ServiceNow other than what you mentioned - you order Approvers and their approvals, whereas all Reviewers can review and approve simultaneously. Again - that's out of the box. You can of course customize how you see fit.

ServiceNow can be customized however you see fit. But I'm not sure I can see a logical process off the top of my head that is any better because, in all fairness, if one reviewer wants to make a change then all the reviewers should review it again. Sure you could customize a bit and give them a "Reject and Upload Suggested Revision" UI Action to close down the revision, upload a new file, kick off the workflow. But at the heart of this you are still doing the exact same thing, just automating a couple small steps. If that helps your users, then by all means, a great customization.

For us we still want to have an individual that authors the document. We do not want Reviewers or anyone else modifying the document - the last thing we need is someone to use a different font, size, etc. - these are the little things we rely on the individual to maintain and protect and why we do not allow Reviewers to modify the document itself, only make suggestions.

[Goran WitchDoc]

Keep a eye on this thread as well. Pretty much the same: ServiceNow as a Document Management Solution

[Michal_Ziemba]

Hi,

Any successful implementations which allow group collaboration on managed documents in SN?

I have seen the webinar where someone implemented the embedded window from SharePoint displaying documents in Service Now related to the specific item (it was made on the example of a contract in that webinar but it can be a project or CI or service as well). And I believe that collaboration is better in SharePoint, especially in Office 365 than in ServiceNow (you can work on a different type of documents online). Can you prove otherwise?