Metadata Concept

Updated over a week ago

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6 min read

Overview

Metadata represents the data gathered from various sources that can be used to configure workflow actions. For example, we have information on the person who added files to the workflow (in our database), so we can use that info to configure a workflow to send an email to that person, instead of sending it to a fixed email address. Using the Supply Information action allows collection of additional metadata from users. Willow360 can also obtain metadata from scanning solutions or MFD devices. Using OCR,  information such as Invoice Number, Expense Total Cost can be passed to Willow360. All of this metadata can be used to configure Willow360 actions.

Metadata Input

  • Metadata Input allows the user to mix regular text with metadata variables such as the current month, organisation name or name of the user who added files to the workflow
Metadata Concept
  • This metadata input configuration will produce this email:
Metadata Concept
  • You can distinguish it from a regular text input by the metadata button in the top right corner
  • Metadata input may be in form of a textbox or a text area
  • Metadata variable can be added by picking it from the menu that opens after clicking the metadata button
  • Metadata variable gets added to the current position of the cursor in the metadata text input
  • Currently available metadata variables are:
    • File Name
    • User who added file to the workflow
      • Full Name
      • First Name
      • Last Name
      • Email
    • Processing Details
      • Started Processing
        • Full Date (long format)
        • Full Date (short format)
        • Day
        • Month
        • Year
        • YYYY-MM-DD format
      • Workflow Name
    • Current Date
      • Full Date (long format)
      • Full Date (short format)
      • Day
      • Month
      • Year
      • YYYY-MM-DD format
    • Organisation Name
    • Approval Details - appears only in actions after Approve action (if there is no Merge action after Approve and before the current action)
      • Approver Name
      • Approver First Name
      • Approver Last Name
      • Approver Email
      • Approval Date
        • Full Date (long format)
        • Full Date (short format)
        • Day
        • Month
        • Year
        • YYYY-MM-DD format
    • Form Data - appears only in actions after the Supply Information or Fill in a Form actions (if there is no Merge action between the Supply Information/ Fill in a form and the current action)
      • Every input is a separate metadata option
      • Fill in a form action is treated as just another Supply Information action
      • There may be multiple Supply Information actions (or Supply Information and Fill in a form). In that case, in the first metadata submenu, the user can pick the action (form), and then the input within that form
      • Any User type form data has the following sub-options:
        • Full Name - default when no sub-option is specified (possible only when e.g. the Text type input is used in the Stamp action, and then the input type is changed to User)
        • First Name
        • Last Name
        • Email
      • Any Date type form data has the following sub-options:
        • Full Date (long format) - default when no sub-option is specified (possible only when e.g. the Text type input is used in the Stamp action, and then the input type is changed to Date)
        • Full Date (short format)
        • Day
        • Month
        • Year
        • YYYY-MM-DD format
    • External XML Data - appears only in actions after the External Data action (if there is no Merge action between the External Data and the current action)
      • Every (Name, Value) pair configured in the action configuration XML is a separate metadata option
    • AI Data - appears only in actions after the AI Data action (if there is no Merge action between the AI Data and the current action)
      • Every field configured in the AI Data action configuration is a separate metadata option
    • Export Location - appears only in actions after cloud upload action (if there is no Merge action between the cloud upload action and the current action)
      • SharePoint, OneDrive, Google Drive and Dropbox location are items that can appear in Export Location submenu
      • There may be multiple cloud upload actions of the same kind, i.e. two Upload to Google Drive actions. In that case, there will be “Google Drive location 1” and “Google Drive location 2” in Export Location metadata menu.
  • Order of appearing metadata options in the menu is: Form Data, AI Data, External XML Data, User who added file, File Name, Current Date, Processing Details, Approval Details, Export Location, Organisation Name
  • Please note that all metadata date formats are based on the organisational language locale, so whenever you use it as metadata, it will be in the organisation language
    • The exception is if you use them in the email text/subject. In this case, we will try to use the email recipient's language to format dates and fall back to the organisation language in case the recipient is an external user (so they don't have their preferred language set)
  • We use metadata Input in the following places:
    • Approve - Approvers may be picked from any User type form data (grouped under Form Data option)
    • Email actions (Secure Email and System Email)
      • We have the following metadata in the Emails To field:
        • User Who Added Files
        • Approver (in case of multiple approvers involved in approving files in a job, we send the email to all involved approvers)
        • Any Email or User type form data (grouped under Form Data option)
      • Email Subject (textbox) and Email Text (textarea)
        • Please note that in an unlikely case of multiple approvers for a single job, we will create a sentence including every approver who was involved in approving files in a job (e.g. Approver First Name → “James, Manish and Felix”).
        • Also, the approval date will be the date of the last approval
        • File Name isn't offered because multiple files may be sent in a single email
    • Rename - New file name
    • Add Text to Document - Text
    • Stamp - Stamp text
    • Watermark - Watermark text
    • Cloud upload actions (Upload to SharePoint, Upload to OneDrive, Upload to Google Drive, Upload to Dropbox) - Subfolder path
      • File Name metadata isn't offered because it makes no sense as the folder name
    • Merge - Merged document name
      • File Name and Approval Details are not included in the metadata menu
    • Custom Task
      • Task Description
      • Users who can perform this task with the following metadata options:
        • User Who Added Files
        • Approver
        • User type form data (grouped under Form Data option)
    • Simple Sign -  Available Signers
      • User Who Added Files
      • Approver
      • User type form data (grouped under Form Data option)
    • Personal Digital Certificate - Available Signers
      • User Who Added Files
      • Approver
      • User type form data (grouped under Form Data option)
    • Supply Information - Who supplies the information
      • User Who Added Files
      • Approver
      • User type form data (grouped under Form Data option)
    • External Data - Who supplies the information
      • User Who Added Files
      • Approver
      • User type form data (grouped under Form Data option)
    • AI Data - Who supplies the information
      • User Who Added Files
      • Approver
      • User type form data (grouped under AI Data option)
    • Export Data to CSV
      • File Name
      • CSV Columns
      • Subfolder path of the Upload Location
        • File Name metadata isn't offered because it makes no sense as the folder name
    • Compliance Report
      • File Name
      • Subfolder path of the Upload Location
        • File Name metadata isn't offered because it makes no sense as the folder name
    • Conditions
      • Left operand
      • Right operand
  • For Form Data, AI Data and External XML Data submenus, there is “Add all” option (as the first one) when there is more than one item in that submenu. This is a way to add all options from that menu just by clicking on it. Default values will be selected for inner submenus - Full Date (long format) for dates and Name for users. “Add all” is available for the following actions:
  • It's possible that some actions using metadata produce text longer than their maximum allowed length. In this case, to prevent action from failing, we truncate the metadata text to the allowed limit.
  • In case the metadata variable is missing (e.g. it's provided in the action that is skipped due to the condition), the action just fails (without retry) with the “missing required data” message and the info about which metadata is missing
  • When counting a text field's length for validation purposes, each metadata token counts as a single character toward this limit, regardless of the value it resolves to.

 

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