---
alias: tutorials-document-management-tutorial-index
tutorial: deepdive
module: Document Management
description: "Learn how to create, organize, and present controlled documents to users during Material and Resource operations"
---

# Document Management Tutorial

## Overview

!!! info
    Document Management is a Critical Manufacturing optional module. Confirm that it is enabled in your environment.

Controlled documentation is a requirement in regulated and high-technology manufacturing. Technical sheets, engineering drawings, and standard operating procedures (SOPs) or work instructions only help when the user works from the current version, at the moment the instruction applies. Documents kept in separate drives or folders make that difficult, because users can work from a stale local copy or have to search for the right file.

In Critical Manufacturing MES, Document Management stores documents, controls their versions, and makes them available to the users who need them. A Document consists of a file and its associated information, such as the author and creation date.

Document Management supports:

- Document storage: Depending on the Source configuration:
    - Internal: The file is stored on the MES server.
    - External: Only a link to the file is stored in the MES. The file remains in its original location, such as an intranet page.
- Version control: When a new document version becomes effective, all contexts referencing the Document automatically present the updated content, without requiring changes to their configuration.
- Read confirmation: When required for regulatory compliance, the MES can require users to confirm that they have read and understood the new version before continuing an operation. The system records who confirmed and when.

In this tutorial, you will learn how to:

- Create documents.
- Organize documents in folders.
- Present documents during a Material operation and a Resource state change.
- Enforce Read and Understand at Track-In.
- Check which employees acknowledged a document revision.

The scenarios target process engineers and administrators who configure documentation for the shop floor.

!!! info
    For more information, see:

    * [[user-guide-document-index]] in Business Data
    * [[user-guide-document-page]]
    * [[user-guide-quality-documents-page]] in Quality.

    For short task-based guides on the document operations used here, see [[tutorials-document-management-howto-index]].

## How Documents Are Delivered

The Critical Manufacturing MES delivers a **Document** to a user in three stages:

1. Create the Document and make it effective through the applicable Change Set approval process.
2. Associate the **Document** with an operation or state transition using the **Material Document Context** and **Resource Document Context** smart tables.
   You can also associate a **Document** using one of the following:
      - **Maintenance Activity** through the **Documents** tab.
      - **Checklist** and **Checklist Item** using the **Documentation URL**.
      - **Qualification** and **Certification** using the **Information URL**.
3. Configure the **Document** presentation so that the user sees it during the operation. Optionally, require the user to read and understand it first.

Users can also reach a **Document** from outside the MES. Each version provides two URLs, described in the following table.

| Field | Resolves to | Use it when |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **Link** | The version that is currently effective. | An email or an intranet page must always open the current content. The same URL opens the new content once a new version is set effective. |
| **Version Link** | One specific version. | A record must point at exactly the version that was in force at the time. |

Table: URLs provided by each Document version

![Link and Version Link fields on the Document page.](images/document_links.png)

The supported content types are listed in [[user-guide-supported-document-types]].

The **Where Used** view on the **Document** page lists only direct associations, such as a **Maintenance Activity**, and the context tables that present the **Document**. A reference entered as a URL does not appear there.

## Learning Path

Complete the scenarios in order. Documents and configuration created in the early scenarios are reused later.

| Scenario | Description |
| --- | --- |
| [[tutorials-document-management-prerequisites]] | Confirm the security features, context tables, and master data that the scenarios require. |
| [[tutorials-document-management-scenario-create-organize-documents]] | Create an internal document and an external document, organize them in folders, and assign them to a **Document Group**. |
| [[tutorials-document-management-scenario-material-track-in]] | Associate a document with a Material context and view it at Track-In. |
| [[tutorials-document-management-scenario-read-and-understand]] | Enforce Read and Understand at Track-In and track the acknowledgement. |
| [[tutorials-document-management-scenario-resource-context]] | Associate a document with a Resource context and view it when the Resource changes state. |

Table: Document Management tutorial scenarios

Start with [[tutorials-document-management-prerequisites]].