System administration
System Administrators have full control over the entire document management system. The System Administrator needs to have an understanding of not just the technical systems but also how the organization is structured so that they are able to set up system functionality and content for the various users, teams, groups, departments or other groups that may need to access the files. Optional qualifications for this role would include knowledge of Microsoft technologies like Active Directory.
The System Administrator provides for the creation and management of user groups, system permissions, individual user accounts, system security settings, as well as the management of the optional synchronization with Active Directory. This is in contrast to the Library Administrators who define and manage the files that are stored in document management system.
The System Administrator may be the same person as the Library Administrator; however, we recommend that more than one individual take on these roles in order to cover vacations or other leaves of absences.
This section describes the steps required to use the System Administration area of FileHold including:
- Log in
- Set up locally managed and domain users (Active Directory)
- Set up groups
- Manage logon and password security
- Set up user self-registration
- Manage FileHold licenses
- View administration reports
- View full text search settings
- Manage options
- View the dashboard
- Enable the viewer settings
- View the activity reports
- View the document repository
Skills required to administer FileHold
Administering FileHold is not complex. The system is designed to be administered by fairly non-technical users who have a firm understanding of how their organization requires documents, records and other important files to be stored, organized, categorized and protected from unauthorized access.
A member of the IT team is often the System Administrator and provides IT expertise to assist the Library Administrator configure the document management system as well as more specific tasks such as synchronizing Active Directory users, the creation of managed users, and defining roles and groups.
It is important for System Administrators to understand their role and work together with the Library Administrator to organize the document management system so that users can find, search, browse for, update, and manage their files in an efficient and straightforward manner.
Responsibilities of the system administrator
System Administrators create the roles, groups and security settings that define the system in terms of permissions, access, and user rights. Library Administrators use these foundational settings to build the file structure and document categorization system that provides users with highly configurable schemas for different types of documents. In other words, Systems Administrators take care of the system security and provision users while Library Administrators are responsible for the management and security of the content held in the document management system.
In order to effectively accomplish this, the System Administrator should:
- Understand the document management systems System Administration by reading the System Administration guide and reviewing the training demos.
- Work with the Library Administrators on the creation of groups and permissions and roles these groups are assigned. Keep things simple at first. Remember it is easier to give users the minimum role required rather than retracting permissions in the future.
NOTE: The System Administrator may be the same person as the Library Administrator; however, we recommend that several trusted individuals take on these roles in order to cover vacations or other leaves of absences.
- Examine the list of users / employees that will be accessing the document management system, group these users into logical groups, and provide a descriptive name for the groups. A descriptive group name will make more sense to you or to other administrators months or years from now when they are adding new users or thinking of creating new groups.
Security considerations:
- What level of access (permissions) do the various groups need?
- What roles do the various groups need to do their work in the system?
- Are there places in the file structure that require a group to have their normal access restricted?
In some organizations (especially larger ones) there may be a desire or requirement to have different individuals acting as System and Library Administrators. In this case the IT group will be responsible for System Administration, while a separate group from either the records management department, information department or some other central department spearheads Library Administration management.
System Administrators create and manage user accounts and therefore controls who gets access to the document management system. FileHold supports two types of user accounts:
- Locally Managed User Accounts — User accounts (that are added directly to the document management system and are independent of any type of directory server (including Active Directory)
- Domain User Accounts — User accounts that are synchronized with a third party Directory Server (most typically Microsoft Active Directory) These accounts definitely require the support of the organization's IT department
System Administrators also create user groups which are typically users that work together and require a specific type of access permission (role) in the Library. These groups are then used by the Library Administrator for both system permissions and membership of the cabinet, folder, and schema level.