Job documentation

This topic applies to ArcEditor and ArcInfo only.

A key element in the Workflow Manager system is job documentation. Workflow Manager provides a variety of ways for you to document the work that is being done.

Standard and Extended Properties

Standard Job Properties

These are properties that are available in all configurations and all jobs. They are standard properties that most, if not all, pieces of work would need to be documented. They include properties like the job name, due date, description, and priority. These standard properties allow you to get started with Workflow Manager without configuring the extended properties immediately.

Extended Properties

These are properties that are specific to your organization but need to be tracked alongside the job. Users are able to put extra system tables into their geodatabase and configure them to appear inside the Workflow Manager applications.

This allows organizations to have their own business specific values integrated with their workflow management system as if they were core, standard properties. Because they are stored within the geodatabase in a normalized fashion, querying or reporting on these values is also very simple. Examples of some extended properties could include charge codes, approval managers, parcel numbers, work order management IDs, and so on.

Notes and Attachments

Job notes

All jobs have a note section for recording personal notes and reports on the job. Notes are visible to all users and can be used to communicate important job-related information such as job points of interest or user highlights. Text documents may be pasted directly into the notes section and made available to all.

Job Attachments

Attachments allow the user to associate entire documents with the job and have them accessible to its users. There are two ways to store attachments—by reference or in the database. If you store the attachment by reference, only the path of the file is stored with the job, so each user must have access to that location. If you store the attachment in the database, the file is uploaded and stored alongside all the other job information and is accessible anywhere. In both cases, these attachments are available from the desktop application, from a Web application, and with ArcMap when working on a job.

Area of Interest

The area of interest (AOI) is the geographic extent of a job. Its purpose is to highlight important areas where the majority of the job work will be performed. Although not required, it is recommended that you define the AOI of a job before editing. This will enhance job history recording and speed user orientation.