Changes in simple and advanced search. In simple and advanced search administrators and users will now have a more flexible way to configure the columns displayed in the results:

• If multiple metadata schema views are associated to a client user, the user results will be displayed according to the settings merged from all views
• All columns marked for browse will be displayed by default (not only the common ones).
• This behaviour will be enabled by “Extended metadata display” setting.
• The order of the result metadata schemas columns can be now controlled (a new section to control this order is available for archive administrators)
• End users will also be allowed to add any visible metadata in the result grid and their setting will be persisted client side, in a specific cookie.

Added protection in order to prevent searching with empty search. Empty search in advanced search is also not available anymore.

Changes  in  export features  for client users

• A new setting (Export only visible metadata) will allow you to control if client users can export in CSV files only the columns visible in the UI or all columns. Also, for client users the export file header will now include the business name instead of system name.

Subscriptions new features

• When subscribing to a search template the user can configure a subject and a body for the subscription notification and his preference regarding delivery format: digest or individual emails for each subscription.

Processes new features and changes

• Custom jobs security. The administrator can assign custom jobs execution permission for client user groups.
• Subscriptions delivery improvements. The process will also be triggered by metadata changes, not only by document creation operation.
• Redundancy check job. The archive administrator can now configure duplicate check rules on multiple metadata schemas.
• Smart import files. A new job is available in SEAL, allowing files import from a folder structure on a target SEAL metadata schema with optional metadata.

BPM changes

• Extended display in workflow instances. Specific metadata of workflow object (document or smart folder) are now being displayed in workflow instances screens.

Security and compliance changes

• MFA support. Two-factor authentication is now available in SEAL, based on username & password and an OTP sent via SMS. If MFA is enabled then the archive administrator must provide valid phone numbers for all users.
• Two SMS plugins are available currently: WhoSMS (https://www.whosms.ro) and MessageBird (https://www.messagebird.com). Other plugins can be added on demand.
• New options for sharing via document collections. Instead of uploading a supportive document, the collection creator can now choose or fill in a reason field, which will be logged in the audit report. The supportive document can be optional.
• Audit report new feature. The audit report section was enhanced with a new export type, in CSV format.
• Limited user accounts. SEAL stored user accounts can be disabled automatically after a configurable period of time. For more details see Automatic disable date default offset setting in System settings section.

API & Integration new features and changes

• New methods in EJB API. The EJB API now offers support to retrieve the value lists defined in SEAL.

Other changes

• Perspectives. An administrator can now choose the default initial navigation between document perspectives or smart folder perspectives.
• GDPR Dashboard. Custom type metadata can be used to configure the GDPR dashboard.

Content versioning

• It is now possible for users to add multiple content versions to the same document object. Users have specific versioning actions available in document form. A new tab is available in the web page of documents, displaying the content versions (including author, date, comment, version number). Each content version has a major.minor version number generated automatically when a new content file is uploaded.

Smart folder distribution

• Documents are automatically moved from one smart folder to another, if the unique binding key metadata is changed on the document. For example, if documents are linked through SSN metadata in the corresponding smart folder, then changing a SSN value on a document will trigger the automatic move of the document to the smart folder having the new SSN value.
• Another change included in this release is the option to link a document to multiple smart folder types at the same time. The configuration is performed in the metadata schema wizard, by sequentially switching to target smart folder metadata schema and filling in distribution mappings.

Value list metadata extensions

• Related Value List definition allows many-to-many relations (one child can have multiple parents).

Custom processes

• The out of the box SEAL platform can now be extended with custom asynchronous processes (one time only or scheduled). The job developer can use the SEAL EJB API to interact with repository services. A full development guide is included in SEAL Developer Guide.

Automatic restart continuous processes

• The continuous processes configured and started by archive administrators will now be restarted automatically after each application server restart (the process will be restarted on the same node it was initially started).

Improved user experience in “My tasks” & “My workflows” screens

• The user interface in My Tasks & My Workflows pages was improved, displaying now directly to the user the BPM object metadata (document or smart folder) and other relevant information grouped in section tabs: workflow history, workflow diagram, smart folder documents etc.
• The tasks/workflow instances filters section is now collapsible.

New service task and development guide

• A new out-of-the-box service task is available, allowing workflow developers to send email notifications with smart folder documents attached to the notification.

Active Directory Synchronization

• A new option was added to the Active Directory Synchronization job - Notify new users by email – enabling administrators to decide whether new users will be notified by email or not, when their accounts are created.

New alert in Web UI before session timeout

• A new configuration at platform level (System settings) is now available, allowing administrators to specify the number of minutes before session expiration users must be notified. When the notification is being displayed the users can opt to session termination, session extend or continuing with current session.

Preventing end users from exporting large volume of documents

• Platform administrators can configure different size and count limits for content or metadata exports, for archive administrator users and for regular users. When performing any export the users will now receive a warning message and will have the option to continue or abort the export process.

Technology upgrade

• JQuery library used by SEAL was upgraded to 3.4.1 version, in order to remove previous version vulnerabilities.

New repository EJB API

• A new EJB API is available starting with 20.04.01, allowing developers to build custom BPM workflow service tasks, scripts or custom SEAL jobs (asynchronous processes), in which they can interact with SEAL repository.

New Bulk Actions API

• A new HTTP API is available to enable external developers to control bulk update and delete asynchronous processes. Using this API 3rd party applications can launch bulk update operations, using a list of documents or a query to select target documents. Delete operations can also be launched, using a query to select target documents.

Content versioning API support

• Content versioning operations can also be executed through CMIS API: check out, cancel check out, check in and get all versions.

Smart folders CMIS API support

• The CMIS API was extended to include support for smart folder creation and adding documents to smart folder. The browse services are still limited to document perspectives.

Platform UI branding support

• At the platform level, it is possible to configure a CSS package theme, allowing customers or partners to brand their own SEAL instance (including login screen, root UI, etc.).

Improved main page user experience

• The SEAL main page user experience was improved by adding a new shortcut that users can access in order to quickly add a new document.

SEAL Office Plugin

• SEAL Office offers a suite of Microsoft Office plug-ins (SEAL Office Word, SEAL Office Excel, SEAL Office Power Point and SEAL Office Outlook) developed for SEAL, which allows:
  • Uploading documents from Office Word, Office Excel and Office PowerPoint in SEAL.
  • Uploading emails and their attachments from Microsoft Outlook in SEAL.

Notify users on metadata event

• SEAL users/groups of users can be notified through an email notification about an event approach. Time events are defined within event rules, based on DATE/DATETIME metadata values. Event notifications are sent after launching the Send events notifications process and contain the subject and the message defined within the event rule. Event rules can be created only by archive/client administrator(s).

Manage search templates and subscriptions on behalf of other client users

• A new option has been added in the Data model section – Search templates manager, which allows administrators to define search templates and set their security type: public, private or available for certain user groups. From here administrators can subscribe user groups to the search templates.
• In the Advanced search area, client users will have access to public templates, their private templates defined from within this area and to the search templates defined by the administrators for specific groups of which they are part. Client users are not allowed to modify or delete public or group security search templates.

Related value list metadata

• Starting from related value lists, administrators can define and relate value list type metadata. The relation between value list metadata consists of establishing the pair <parent metadata, children metadata>, so as a parent metadata (of a parent value list) can be related to one or multiple child metadata (of a child value list). SEAL will enforce the relation in the following sections: in the web upload form, when editing metadata in the document form and when performing an advanced search.

Smart folders document types restrictions

• When adding a smart folder schema, at step 3, in the Document types tab, administrators can restrict users to upload certain document types in the smart folders. These restrictions also affect the automatic distribution of certain types of documents in a smart folder.
• Other changes of this new version include: a duplicate records check process, a platform process to move documents between archives, changes in system name composition rule (optional fields will be allowed), new generic metadata added (Signed by, Last modified by, Last modified date), redesigned Archive Ledger report interface for improved usability.

New user role – Audit user

• This version comes with a new user role – Audit user, assigned by the archive administrator. The Audit user can access SealClientWeb application and can search for and view all documents, the audit report, without the right to modify or delete documents or perform configurations at archive level.

GDPR metadata anonymization

• The documents’ GDPR metadata (in the audit report) will be anonymized after the deletion of documents (from the application interface or by means of the Delete documents process) or when their storage term expires (by means of the GDPR Metadata Anonymization process). At archive level, the archive administrator configures the GDPR settings, by deciding which GDPR category types should be anonymized.

Activate Inbox section for Records Manager users or for user groups

• Starting with this version, the archive administrator can enable the Inbox section to be available for Records Manager users or to one or several groups of users configured at archive level.

Mailroom new features

• In Register Statistics Report users can view the number of documents registered on each metadata schema associated to a register. The number of documents registered on each metadata schema associated to the register are displayed as a donut chart and in a table. The report results can be exported in a PDF file.
• The Register Report has been enhanced allowing users to display also any specific or generic metadata (of all schemas associated with the current register) whose Browse option has been enabled at the creation of the associated metadata schemas.

Workflow tasks

• Additional information is available in the grid of tasks. All specific and generic metadata (of the documents and smart folders schemas) whose Browse option has been enabled at the creation of the associated schemas will be displayed. In this release the graphic design of the task details page has been improved.

Out of office

• The Out of office section will be available to SEAL users only if the Enable out of office by user parameter is selected from archive configuration page. In the Out of office section, a user can configure the period of his absence and a replacement person that can be contacted during this time. The out of office configuration can be used to automatically route BPM tasks sent to a SEAL user.

Updated graphical interface

• The new version of SEAL has a fresh new graphic design for the web interface, offering an improved experience for non-IT users.

DATETIME metadata

• Users can now use a new type of metadata which will store the time (hour and minute) information also. Users can set their time zone by selecting the appropriate one from the Settings area. By default, the time zone set up at archive level will be applied to all users of the current archive. Specific DATETIME metadata will be displayed according to the user’s time zone preference.

Upload documents using Drag and drop method

• To upload a document in the archive, users can simply drag and drop the file from the local disk to the Browse area or to the Documents tab of a smart folder.

Barcode support

• A new functionality has been added to generate, display, print and search for a barcode associated with a document/smart folder, if a barcode generation rule is configured on the metadata schema.

Improvements for customers using BPM workflows module:

• E-mail notification sent before workflow/task expiration
• Cancel active workflow instances
• System tasks to automatically retrieve values from an external database
• Workflow support for Smart Folders
• Automated rules to start BPM workflows

Automatically create and update document folders

• Possibility to automatically create folders and set them as destination for the newly uploaded documents by creating mapping rules based on the common meaning of the metadata.

Multi-value metadata

• Starting with this new version you will be able to define and set multiple metadata selections to documents from a pre-defined list of values.

Additional authentication mechanism (SMS) for document sharing

• The SMS authentication option is now available for un-registered users.

Advanced features of document routing

• This new version will allow the configuration of the automated routing on a BPMN flow defined in the archive, started when creating a new document. The configuration will be executed by an archive administrator for each metadata schema. Also, starting with this new version you will be able to define logical routing conditions.

Content preview in the web upload form and document file

• This version will allow the users to preview the content of a document both in the web upload form and the data file of the document.

Advanced Search improvements

• The advanced search UI is changed and more flexible. New features for advanced search include:
  • the option to perform a simultaneous search on more metadata schemas by using the logical operator OR
  • the option to mix AND & OR operators in a single search expression
  • the option to define search criteria precedence by using parenthesis

Document templates

• Users can generate new documents from predefined PDF document templates. The Document templates submenu is available in administration UI to enable templates management. The creation of the documents by using templates is available in the Web upload form.

Error messages

• All error messages include a unique code, besides error description additional and the users can access the error messages in a new report named Errors Audit. This section offers the possibility to filter and search errors in a certain period of time for each user of the current archive.