Document Management

Updated May 1, 2012

Scope

• Document Management Library System (DMLS) Project for scanning, storing, indexing, and sharing books.
• DMLS project is limited to scanned documents, though it certainly can be expanded to include any digitally stored content outside of the scope of this project.
• One of the purposes of this project is to record the content of books and eliminate the need for maintaining them in a physical library and to free up shelf space. With the involvement of more people, the project could be extended to include non-destructive or labor intensive scanning that preserves the original material bindings.

Ownership and Copyright Issues

• Access to all copyright content is restricted to Accounts in the DMLS. The DMLS Accounts are the Owners of the content.
• Contemporary or possibly contested materials will require additional Check In/Out protocol and content expiration for checked out documents.
• Content explicitly requiring only a single owner is owned by the Account that checks out the document. The Check-out Account is the document's owner for the duration time from check-out to check-in or content expiration.
• Anonymous access can only be granted to the overall Titles catalog and documents that have licenses allowing public domain access. (e.g. Creative Commons, GPL, etc.)
• This DMLS is not to be used to illegally store or transmit content.

Software Platforms Selection Criteria

Technically, the DMLS is not platform specific.

After reviewing concerns regarding copyright issues, and considering his limited experience, this article's author has selected the Microsoft software platform: Windows 7/Windows Server 2008, Visual Studio 2010, SQL Server 2008 Express, IIS, and Adobe Acrobat (X preferred). This platform is most within the author's existing experience and capabilities to complete a proof of concept implementation that includes document lifecycle security in a reasonable amount of time.

The documents repository can be hosted by any file sharing server platform. The repository should support multiple connections enabling multiple software platforms access to the documents. This enables anyone at the space to develop software to manage the documents using any software platform.

This author encourages others to get involved in any development that can use and build on the scanner and documents repository.

Proof of Concept

Physical Requirements

Components

Document Scanner	Auto Doc Feed (ADF), Duplex, and Flatbed	May 1, 2012	Donated
Binding Paper Cutter	300 pages capacity Guillotine Cutter	Band Saw can be used for concept or Stack Paper Cutters	Band Saw w/New Blade or Cutter
Belt Sander	220 Grit?	For use if Band Saw burr or other separation issues (spilled beer etc)
Input PC Workstation	2.5GHz, 2GB RAM, Firewire or SCSI for Epson GT scanner, Windows 7, 32 bit, Adobe Acrobat X Prof, 1GbEth	1280x1024 monitor or touch screen, keyboard, mouse, etc.
Input Operational Foot Print	A sturdy induction workspace, 3'x5' minimum	1/4 for Terminal, 1/4 for Document Prep, 1/2 for Scanner
DMS Server VM	LAMP or WIMP, 500GB drive space (VHD expandable is OK)
DMS Backupcache VM	Windows or Linux 500GB drive space (VHD expandable is OK)	Different Host from DMS server
DMS Public Interface Server VM	LAMP or WIMP minimal for web application to access the documents over the Internet	If security requires this
Subversion Edge Server VM	LAMP, Collab.net Subversion Edge, Ubuntu 12.0.4LTS (server), 120GB (VHD expanding OK), 2GB RAM (1GB will work if RAM is a constraint)	Can be used for the DMS and other software development projects at UAS

System Constraints

System constraints are requirements or conditions that are expected to limit the overall performance of the system. In this case the system constraints will limit the rate that new documents can be added to the DMS. Exploiting these constraints will maximise the throughput of the DMS.

• Document Preparation

The ADF requires that the binding be removed and the pages manually separated prior to loading.

• Document Scanning

An operator must load the ADF, operate the scanner, and monitor its operation. The operator must be skilled enough to correct miss-feeds and jams

• Document Managment

The scanner operator must identify the document and enter that information into the DMS. The operator must associate the scanned document file with the DMS.

Software

The architecture of the DMS will be Client-Server.

DMLS client workstation performs document and data input

• Windows 7/32bit operating system (32bit for easier scanner driver support)
• Acrobat X (current version) Professional version with SDK for COM automation
• Visual Studio Professional (MSDN) for VB and C# DMLS applicaton development
• SQL Server Express 2008 Management Studio Express
• Libre Office for system documentation
• Subversion Client for software source code version control

DMLS server provides a central database server and documents repository

• SQL Server 2008 Express for storing Document Indexing, User Account, and other DMLS information
• Repository File Server for storing PDF documents

Backup cache file server

• Maintain a backup of the documents

Because human operation is a constraint, as soon as a document is committed to the repository, a copy should be transmitted to a backup to minimise the possibility that a document would need to be re-scanned.

• Maintain a backup of the database
• Maintain a backup of the source code repository.

Public facing server(s)

• Custom Web Application available DMLS accounts to access the documents
• Subversion Edge for software developers' version controlled source code repository

Note

• For proof of concept, some of the above servers can run on the same machine. Only the backup cache should be on a separate physical machine than the main data.
• Technically, the scanner workstation does not store any critical data, so it does not need to be backed up, other than maybe an image backup for ease of reconstruction due to hardware failure or catastrophic software update.

Scanner PC Client Software

General Requirements

• Connection to Network Shared File Storage for the PDF documents.
• Scanner Interface Drivers (e.g. TWAIN or vendor proprietary)

Optional Support Software

• Software Development Tools for the Scanner Application
• Database Management Tools

Adobe Acrobat Manual PDF Creation

• Import from Scanner Feature

Custom Application

• Automate Acrobat's Import from Scanner method to scan documents
• Transfer scanned documents to the server
• Associate Scanned Documents with Database Records
• Manage Document Lifecycle properties (e.g. expiration)
• Manage Document Security attributes (e.g. ownership, security level, access control)

DMLS Server Software

• Store and secure document files
• Database for indexing documents
• Provide a Public Interface for authenticating users and processing their requests for documents.
• Assign Security to documents and transmit them

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IMPLEMENTATION - PHASE 1

Prepare Scanner Workstation and Document Server for Development

(TBD) = To Be Determined

Scanner Workstation Setup

• 1. PC Workstation, Windows 7 Pro/32, install updates, test
• 2. Document Scanner, FireWire or SCSI, install drivers, test
• 3. Install Acrobat, test Import from Scanner

== Scanner Workstation Development Environment Setup

• 1. Install Microsoft .NET 4 extended (from the optional updates)
• 2. Install Visual Studio 2010 Pro
• 3. Install SQL Server Express 2008 Management Studio Express

Document Server Setup

• 1. Server VM, Windows Server 2008 R2 Std, install updates, test
• 2. Install File Services Feature, Configure Share for Documents Repository

Note: The only systems that should be able to access the Repository are the Server and Scanner Workstation.

• 3. Configure Scanner Workstation to access the Document Repository Share, test
• 4. Enable Remote Desktop for administrative and developer access through RDP client.

Document Server Development Environment Setup

• 1. Install Microsoft .NET 4 extended (from the optional updates)
• 2. Install IIS Role with ASP.NET extension and other options (TBD)
• 3. Install Visual Studio 2010 Pro with SQL Server Express 2008. Include Visual Basic, C#, and C
• 4. Install SQL Server Express 2008 Management Studio Express
• 5. Install Acrobat

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IMPLEMENTATION - PHASE 2

Start Scanning Documents and Developing Custom Software

Document Preparation

• 1. Develop criteria for identifying which documents should be scanned
• 2. Develop procedure(s) for preparing and queuing the documents to be scanned
• 3. Try various methods for preparing documents: Band Saw/Belt Sander, Knife, etc

Scan Documents

• 1. Try various document capture techniques.
  • Scanner with Auto Document Page Feeder (ADF)
  • Photographic Book Scanners DIY Book Scanner

• 2. Develop procedure for using Acrobat to Import from Scanner, Save, and Upload to Server
• 3. Develop schema for indexing and recording document meta-data

Workstation Automation

• .1. Develop custom software to provide an application that enables the operator to efficiently scan and associate documents with database records.

Document Management Library Services

• 1. Define document sharing protocols and security attributes
• 2. Develop application service(s) to apply security attributes to documents prior to transmitting them to users
• 3. Develop a web application that enables administrators to manage the documents' meta-data and security attributes
• 4. Develop a web application that enables end users to access the documents.

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Other Related Links and References

• Google Book Scanning
• Photographic Book Scanners - DIY Book Scanner
• YouTube videos