Author: Clayton Dorrington
“We want everyone to save to one location and automatically file their documents in the correct location”. This has to be one of the most common requests we hear from clients when addressing their document management requirements.
“Sure, no problems” is the response Clayko is now able to give customers, thanks to the SharePoint 2010 Drop-off Library and Content Organiser feature.
What is a Drop-off Library?
The Drop-off Library is place where all documents are routed to before being sent to their final destination. When a new document is received, it checks what type of document it is, and depending on that, it invokes corresponding actions.
Take for example a project based company. Each project has a basic work breakdown structure that is common across all projects. This includes certain documents, such as Drawings. So wouldn’t it be nice, if say an engineer working for that company across several projects, only had to upload their drawings to one location and have the drawings saved to the relevant project location.
This is exactly what the Drop-off Library enables.
The Drop-off Library is a part of the SharePoint Content Organiser feature new to 2010. As the name suggests, the Content Organiser is there to help you manage SharePoint content. In the Drop-off Library, your documents are organised by routing rules, thereby ensuring documents are sent to the correct locations based on information about that document.
Going back to our engineer example, when an engineer uploads a document, they will be asked which project the drawing relates to, and possibly several other pieces of information. Based on this, the document will be routed to the correct project and stored in the correct location in the work breakdown structure.
So now, there is no need for your staff to have to remember where they are meant to save their documents. No folder hierarchy or navigating to specific sites and document libraries (as the case was for SharePoint 2007).
Planning the SharePoint 2010 Drop-off Library
Drop-off Library sounds too easy to be true? Well the good news is that it really is that easy based on the proviso that your SharePoint environment has been correctly planned for. This means correctly architecting Sites, Libraries and most importantly, Content Types. Do this, and it’s a breeze. If you don’t know what a Content Type is, assistance is recommended.