Attachment Handling for SFA

Features pertaining to remote attachment handling for SFA/Central are discussed in this help topic. See the help topic Attachments for more information about the Attachment screen and regular attachments. From within SFA/Central and remote properties, attachments can be made to a Business Block or Sub-Block, an Account, an Activity, a Contact, or a Lead. With the correct permissions, users at a remote property can access and display attachments made in SFA, while SFA users can access attachments made and stored on the remote property level. A URL is dynamically constructed upon file retrieval and displayed to the user if the account and/or contact is subscribed to the Central System. Actual remote attachments are not transferred, but rather a link allows the user to look up the attachment in the Central System via web services. See Remote Attachment Setup below.

Global attachments made in remote properties or in SFA/Central provide further viewing access. For example, Global Attachments made in a remote property can be viewed in SFA/Central. Global Attachments made in SFA for a remote property can be viewed and opened by all remote properties that are configured in the same schema as the attachment property (with the appropriate permissions).

Note: When attachments exist for a Lead, and that Lead is under external control, the Attachment Indicator Lamp is still visible and accessible to users requiring access to those attachments on the following screens: Lead Main, Lead View and Lead Receive.

Prerequisites

Application Settings

When the General > File Attachments application function is set to Y, the Attachments screen allows you to select and create file attachments.
The application parameter Blocks > Global Auto Attachments is available for the following reports (only) to determine if they will be attached Globally or Locally:
- rep_cont_merge
- sample_beo_1column
- sample_beo_2column
- sample_sc_quote
When the Blocks > Global Auto Attachments parameter is inactive (N), the report will be attached as a Local attachment to the Business Block, if the check box to attach the report is selected on the report parameter screen. When the Blocks > Global Auto Attachments parameter is set to Y, the report will be attached to a live property Business Block as a Global attachment, if the check box to attach the report is selected on the report parameter screen.

Examples

When the Blocks > Global Auto Attachments parameter is active (Y) and a booking is in a live property in SFA and one of the above reports is generated and attached to the booking, in S&C for the same booking another report can be generated and attached. In both SFA and S&C, both reports can be viewed.

When the Blocks > Global Auto Attachments parameter is inactive (N), only reports attached to properties in SFA will be visible in SFA. And, reports attached to a live property will be visible only in the live property.

When the Blocks > Global Auto Attachments parameter is active (Y) and the reports are generated for a block created in a remote property, the reports will be attached Locally. Remote properties cannot be set Globally.

Permissions

Users access to attachments in any property is dependent on their permissions in that property (General > New / Edit / Delete File Attachment rights).
In multi-property environments, the General > New/Edit/Delete File Attachments permissions must be granted for specific properties to enable rights at that property. For Business Blocks, the property where you must have Attachment permissions is determined by the business block's property. Therefore, you must have the appropriate Attachments permission at that property to create, edit, and/or delete attachments for that business block. For Contacts and Accounts, the property where you must have Attachments permissions is determined by the property selected in the Property filter on the Attachments form when the attachment is created.

Remote Attachment Setup

Prior to sending and receiving attachment information to/from remote properties, OPERA Web Services and external databases must be set up. Set up OPERA Web Services in Central and the remote property (Configuration > Setup > External Databases). For more details on configuring ORS External Databases, see ORS to External Database Setup.

Activate the application parameter General > Subscription Management. Ensure that the proper accounts, etc. are subscribed to Central.
Only one database is required to be configured per remote schema, per interface. Access Configuration > Setup > External Databases. All properties within each schema should be linked as properties. Do not create a separate database configuration for properties that are sharing the remote schema. See External Database Setup.
It is imperative that all properties that are physically located together in the same remote schema are grouped together in the same external database in SFA.
Ensure that the application server name and JNDI name for each remote schema is set correctly.
The Business Event data element ATTACHMENT CHANGED needs to be configured for Profiles, Activities, and Business Blocks (Configuration > Setup > Business Events > Configuration).

Remote Attachments

Attachments Lamp

The Attachments lamp that displays on Search and Edit screens when an attachment is present does not differentiate between local and remote attachments. You must first click the Attachments lamp to open the Attachments screen in order to display both local and remote attachments in the display grid.

Selecting the Attachments lamp from an Account, Contact, Activity, Lead or Business Block will launch the Attachments screen. Alternatively, this screen can also be accessed from any of the previously mentioned screen's options menus. Notice that a remote attachment is indicated as such in the Display Grid of the Attachments screen.

Because remote files are stored on the database, no remote file names will be listed here. Instead, the record will indicate that the attachment is remote in both the Description (Remote Attachment from <property code>) and the File Name (Remote Attachments).
Local files will list the file name and file description as entered when the attachment was created.
An X in the G column indicates that the attachment is Global (visible at all properties). The X can be toggled on or off by clicking in this field. See Global Attachments in SFA, below.

To access a remote attachment, highlight the file in the grid and select the Edit button to display a new Attachments browser window with the list of remote attachments available for download.

If the remote property has multiple attachments (i.e. on Accounts or Contacts), these attachments will display in the new Attachments browser.
To download the attachment from Central, click on the link from the list.
If all the attachments in Central are deleted, then the external attachment indication in the remote properties is removed.

attachments_remote_browser

Global Attachments in SFA

In multi-property environments, the Global check box on the File Upload screen can be used to control whether or not an attachment is visible in all properties (if Global is selected) or only at the property to which the attachment is linked when it was created (if Global is not selected).

Important! Global Attachments are accessible for any user who has the attachment permissions granted for the logged in property. Property specific attachments are only accessible for users who have the attachment permissions for the attachment property granted.

When attachments are accessed from the Accounts or Contacts screen, the Property search option (which defaults to the login property) is visible.

Here is a summary of the Global attachments feature.

At the Property Level

A Property list of values appears on the Attachments screen when it's accessed from Accounts or Contacts. The property shown here defaults to the property selected on the Account screen or the Contact screen (the default is the log in property).
When an attachment is added to an Account or Contact, the attachment will be linked to the property selected in the Property LOV.
When an Attachment is added to a Business Block, the attachment will be created with the business block's property.
An attachment not marked as Global will be visible only in the property it is linked to.
A user’s access to attachments (New / Edit / Delete) rights in any property is dependent on their permissions in that property.

At the Central Systems Level

If Remote Attachments is configured, an attachment marked as Global in SFA for a remote property will be visible at that remote property and other remote properties in the same schema as the attachment property. An attachment marked as Global at the remote property will be visible in SFA.
If Remote Attachments is configured, an attachment not marked Global in SFA will not be visible in the Remote Properties.
Note: Business Events to remote properties will only be fired on addition of an attachment when the attachment is made for the remote property and is checked as Global. Attachments for the SFA property or local properties, and attachments not checked as Global will not fire business events. No business event is fired on deletion of an attachment. The Remote Attachments Exist flag in the remote property will be updated after the last attachment for that property is deleted but only when another change to the profile is made.
If logged in as an SFAUSER and no property is selected in the Contact or Account screen, the SFA resort will be passed to the Attachments screen.