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Docman Hub TIFF Converter as a Service is a new product being offered by Docman to replace the current printer driver offered solution.
Unlike the current implementation which uses a virtual printer driver to intercept print messages and convert the document, the new service uses an API application to programmatically convert the document.
The new converter is a combination of a Windows service, which is used for the actual conversion, and an MVC web application, linked to the main Docman Hub console, which handles the configuration. When the new service is set up, users are expected to create conversation profiles for every document type for each document source. Before the service is switched on, users have to sign off all the profiles they have created. As part of the solution, users are able to see how the documents have been converted.
As the new service is no longer using a printer driver, the overall use of CPU has gone down. Therefore the new service doesn’t need its own server to run the solution; the service can sit on the same server as the Hub.
Note TIFF Converter as a Service is only available to new customers and existing customers who have upgraded to Docman Hub 9.4.2 or above. Existing customers that wish to use the new application but aren’t on a applicable version of Hub will need to contact their account manager regarding the upgrade
The service polls the Hub database to see if any documents are awaiting conversion. If any documents that meet that criteria they are compiled into a list. The conversion service then complies a list of active profiles that have been created.
The service converts each document in the awaiting conversion list based on the profile it has been matched to. If the service converts the document successfully, it posts the resulting TIFF document to the encrypted file store. The service amends the file system, writing the TIFF document into the live file and original doc to the original file. Finally the service changes the status of the document to waiting. If the service fails to convert the document successfully it leaves the document in its original format in the live document table.
If the service fails to find a profile to match a document then it posts an error to the error log and leaves the document in the ‘awaiting conversion’ status. The document will continue to stay in this status until a profile has been created on the MVC application to match the document.
Once the service has attempted to convert all the documents it polled from the database it has a minute of down time. It then goes back to the database to see if any more documents have the status awaiting conversion. If there are no documents that need converting, the service has another minute down time.
A core component of the new service is the creation of conversion profiles. A conversion profile needs to be created for every type of document posted to the Docman Hub. Accepted document types that can be converted are:
In the profile set up you need choose the following settings:
There are many additional conversion settings as well dependent on the document type that you are converting. These are covered in the user guide.
Users can create as many profiles for one document type as they like (they can create two DOC profiles, two PDF files etc)
Profiles also need attaching to a specific document source (for example DOC profile one could be attached to document source Urology whereas DOC profile two could be attached to Paediatrics)
Profiles are created on the profiles tab on the MVC application.
Every profile in the MVC application requires signing off and activating. To sign off a document the user needs to go to the profiles page on the MVC application and find the profile they want to sign off. The user is asked to upload a test document to the application, this test document is then converted to the settings within the profile. The converted document is then displayed, the user is required to confirm that the document has converted to a satisfactory level. Dependent on the result the user signs the document off or rejects the document. If the document is rejected the user will need to amend the profile.
Once the profile has had a document signed off against it, it is available to be activated. Once the profile is activated the service will immediately start converting documents that match the profile.
Every time that a profile is created, edited, deleted, made active or made inactive an audit log is created. The audit covers every action the user made, makes a note of the user who made the changes and timestamps when the changes happened. The audit is available from the logs page in the MVC application.
Every action that the conversion service takes is recorded in the log. Logs are available immediately from the logs page in the MVC application. Every 24 hours the log is converted into a text file and stored on the logs page. Within the settings in the MVC application the user can set how many days’ worth of logs they want to keep.
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