Simple Document Sign Off - Part 3 - Prerequisites and List/Library Setup

Prerequisites

Before building this system you need to be sure you possess specific skills, tools, and permissions. Here is what you need:

Skills

1. Familiar with creating lists and libraries in SharePoint
2. Familiar with adding custom fields to libraries.
3. Familiar with creating custom views for libraries
4. Familiar with creating workflows using SharePoint Designer.
5. Familiar with creating custom pages using SharePoint Designer

Tools

1. SharePoint 2010 or 2013
2. SharePoint Designer 2013
3. Internet Explorer

Permissions

1. You must be SITE OWNER or higher level permissions on the site you are adding sign off to.
2. You must have SharePoint designer access to this site. Access is enabled or disabled by your SharePoint Central Admin team.
3. You must be able to download external files and deploy within SharePoint Asset Libraries. This may be prevented by company policy.

Document Library

Of course, if you are planning to sign off on documents, you need documents. These are stored in the standard SharePoint document library.

To support document sign off, you will need to add the following additional fields to your document library (note the use of underscores in names):

• Notification_Group (Person or Group)
• Notify_All (Yes/No)
• WorkflowSetID (Number)
• WorkflowSetVersion
• Change_Summary (Multiple Lines of Text)

You will also need to turn on versioning for the document library, if it isn't already.

Document Sign Off List

The document sign off list is the list that holds the sign off records for the documents. Create a new custom list in SharePoint called "Document_Sign_Off" (note underscores). This will automatically give you the following fields:

• Title
• Created
• Created By
• Modified
• Modified By

Add the following fields to your sign off list:

• Document_Link (hyperlink or picture)
• Document_Name (text)
• DocumentID (number)
• DocumentReadFlag (single line of text)
• VersionNumber(Number)

Make the document ID and DocumentReadFlag mandatory. Remove the required flag from title.

Document Sign Off List Permissions

In order for this system to function correctly, we need to ensure that the permissions on the sign off list are set correctly. This both ensures that the version update portion of the system works, and ensures that users cannot see or edit each others sign off records. Go to the advanced settings for your Document Sign Off list and se the item level permissions as follows:

<- Simple Document Sign Off - Part 2 - System Overview

Simple Document Sign Off - Part 4 - Setting the Document ID ->