Document Version Control

One of the most common problems encountered in organizations with large numbers of documents is that of document version control. All too often, multiple people are all working on a document at the same time. The difficulty, of course, comes when they all try to save their changes. In such cases, whoever saves their changes last, "wins" and overwrites everyone else's work.

infoRouter prevents this from happening by enforcing document integrity. In order to edit a document, you must first check the document out. While you have it checked out, other users will still be able to view the document, but they will not be able to edit it.

infoRouter retains multiple versions of a document. Every time a document is checked out, edited and checked back in, infoRouter creates a new version of the document.

infoRouter retains all versions until the owner of the document decides to clean up previous versions.

infoRouter Version Control allows users to have access to the latest version of any document while giving them the option to go back to other versions. As documents are changed (edited or updated) users may wish to check earlier versions to make sure the edits are valid. infoRouter allows users to roll back to earlier revisions in case the updates to the document are not approved.

Generally, when you open a document, infoRouter will display the latest version of that document making it virtually impossible to work with an older copy. However, this can be configured on a document-by-document basis. You may chose to display a certain version of a document even if it is not the latest version.

The version you choose to display may be one of the following:

  • Latest version
  • A specific version
  • A tagged version
  • The approved version

Example:

You may choose to display an approved version of a document even if it is not the latest version. This way configuring the document to always display the latest approved version will allow you to continuously edit the document and route it to workflows for approval. When approved, the latest approved version of the document will automatically be displayed.

A good example of this might be a price list that is in effect until the new one is approved. So infoRouter would display the current approved price list even though a newer version of the document exist. It does not become available until it is approved. Once approved, infoRouter would automatically start displaying the latest approved version.

At any given time, users may view any version of a document. Authorized users may delete versions, the owner of the document may revert back to an earlier version.