integration would be bi-directional, always synchronized with the files stored on the CFS ... essential to agile busines
Integrating Cloud File Sharing Platforms with Enterprise Applications & Intelligent Workflow Nuxeo Technology Brief
Going Beyond Simple File Sharing in the Enterprise Adoption of collaborative technology in the workplace has skyrocketed over the last two years, driven to a large degree by the capabilities of cloud-based storage and file-sharing platforms. Gartner projected that by 2016 approximately 50 percent of large organizations will have deployed internal collaboration networks with shared storage repositories and 30 percent of these networks will be considered as valuable as email and telephones are today. As this trend continues, resulting in greater productivity for workgroups, IT leaders are seeking ways to take advantage of functionality offered by collaborative tools. One promising technique is to integrate cloud filesharing (CFS) platforms more deeply into business processes by means of enterprise content management (ECM) systems, digital asset management (DAM) systems, and other business systems. File-sharing tools do make the cloud as useful for storage, if not more useful, as a local hard drive. But, on the negative side, the shared file content contains minimal metadata and no built-in functionality for integration with other business applications. Enterprise application developers recognize that cloud file-sharing alone can’t deliver the full business value of collaboration and they also realize that strategies that integrate CFS platforms deeply into company processes can more effectively meet business objectives and empower work teams.
Integrating Cloud File-Sharing Platforms to Enable Intelligent Workflow Cloud file-sharing (CFS) platforms have soared in popularity by making it easy for business teams to collaborate on everyday work files—spreadsheets, procedure manuals, press releases, presentations, and so on. The largest drawback is that they typically don’t integrate well with mainstream business processes or ECM systems. Sometimes classed under the category “file sync and share," leading CFS platforms include Google Drive, Dropbox, Box, and Microsoft Office Online. Many offer cloud-based productivity apps, such as Google Docs and Sheets, and Microsoft Word Online. In comparison, ECM platforms are ideal for architecting business applications that automate workflow and support vital business operations, but many of them are closed systems without native support for CFS platforms. Establishing native connections between CFS and ECM platforms unlocks the benefits and strengths of each approach and makes it possible to architect applications that automate workflow, enhance business operations, and improve collaboration across production pipelines, as explained in this paper.
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The Widening Range of CFS Solutions The availability of enterprise-strength CFS solutions gives companies new opportunities for collaboration and extended file sharing, and also opens the potential for linking shared assets to existing business processes and deepening their value with embedded metadata. Gartner identified over 100 enterprise file sync and share (EFSS) vendors with product offerings in their EFSS solutions Magic Quadrant report on the EFSS market. Despite the growing popularity of this technology, more than three-quarters of companies have yet to choose a solution. One factor that may be slowing adoption—despite the clear advantages of the technology—is that without a means to integrate these shared file assets into other corporate systems and processes, the value of the solution is diminished for enterprises with the intent to build business applications. The basic mechanism for this type of collaboration is simple, consisting of a local folder that resides on the desktop that is synchronized with a cloud-based folder that incorporates comments and revisions for those users with appropriate permissions. To increase productivity of the approach, Nuxeo provides native access to CFS platforms, such as Google Drive and Dropbox, and makes it possible to create intelligent workflows and workgroup operations that utilize shared files and folders. This additional layer of automation and coordination, as well as the metadata that can be associated with assets, can boost productivity and improve communication. Automated conversion of file types using built-in conversion tools available also extends the range of the collaborative opportunities and integration into business processes.
Integrated File Handling The traditional method of accessing and handling files has been to use simple conversion. For example, this could involve taking a Google Sheets file in a Google Drive folder, and downloading it as a Microsoft Excel file. Or, it could involve changing a Google Docs file to Microsoft Word format or PDF on download. These conversions take advantage of the editing capabilities of Google Drive, but—because they do not operate natively with CFS applications—the approach falls short of combining the power of ECM with the flexibility of CFS. To this collaborative environment, Nuxeo has added in-place support for shared files. This makes it possible to build application logic that links to the files being used for the CFS collaboration. Google’s core collaboration tools—Docs, Slides, and Sheets—can be viewed and accessed natively within the Nuxeo environment, providing free and open collaboration without having to recopy files and store them locally. Two or more users can collaborate on a given file—for example, a document that outlines personnel hiring practices or a press release being readied for distribution—within the Nuxeo environment or outside of it. In this manner, a wide variety of business processes can be integrated with the file storage capabilities of the CFS platform and made more useful through intelligent automation.
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Other possible use cases include: •
A contract approval process that stores the actual contract on Dropbox and progressively walks through each stage of the sign-off
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An application manages the archiving and recovery of important files stored on Google Drive to meet business continuity needs or comply with corporate best practices
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A systematic method of maintaining version control on a procedure manual created on Box where different groups—perhaps legal, marketing, engineering, and documentation—all require access to the evolving version of the release
In all of these cases, the master file or files would perpetually reside on the CFS platform, but these assets would be enhanced and further defined by metadata associations from Nuxeo—as a part of the Deep Content philosophy central to Nuxeo’s approach to document handling. Once incorporated into the Nuxeo environment in this manner, the document can be tracked, managed, modified, and re-purposed within all defined workflows and automation that exist within a Nuxeo process. The integration would be bi-directional, always synchronized with the files stored on the CFS platform—even as changes to those original files occur. While these integration and synchronization capabilities are very useful for enhance team projects, the capabilities can also be extended to work with other file formats and editors that are supported by platform additions to Google Drive, Dropbox, or OneDrive. Any supported document format can be turned into a document as software through the addition of metadata and incorporated into workflow processes defined within the Nuxeo framework. This approach also applies to much more than document or image files. For example, you may have a video stored on Dropbox or OneDrive, or have an audio file that needs to be edited, you can edit and save changes—in place—from within the Nuxeo environment and the link to the original file is maintained. An example of the ways in which this workflow feature can be used is provided later in this document.
The Problem with Classic ECM File Handling The traditional ECM system is heavily dependent on copying files from one location to another to use them as a part of a rigidly defined process. Legacy ECM systems were developed before cloud-based shared workspaces were common. Because of this, most ECM systems have lagged behind the more recent technologies that can merge local and cloud-based content within a single addressable framework. The trend across the industry is moving away from locked, proprietary handling of data and content toward a more open, accessible, standards-based model, and made more function through metadata. Earlier ECM models fail to provide the collaborative tools that are becoming increasingly essential to agile business operations and projects that often span multiple geographies and involve worldwide teams.
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Example: Product Launch using Google Drive and Nuxeo This example—based on a product launch—shows how the collaborative process can be managed using Google Drive and the business applications management capabilities of Nuxeo. As a part of the launch, multiple assets move through different stages of life, depending on the timing and approvals, as follows: •
•
The person responsible for coordinating the product
documents, spreadsheets, flowcharts, process diagrams, and so on). In doing so, they ignore the much richer possibilities available when modeling processes and information according to the requirements of the work that needs to be accomplished. Business
This workflow creates a number of objects typical of a
determine workflow, drive processes,
release file is created on Google Drive using Google Docs and added to the launch collection, assigned to the marketing communications manager. The marking communications manager outlines the press release in the Docs file and shares it with the PR agency, product manager, and others who will be collaborating on it. Once the press release is ready for review, reviewers are alerted. Any of them with appropriate permissions can view the live version in real time, make revisions, offers suggestions, and see changes being made by other reviewers. •
replicas of physical objects (forms,
information can take whatever shape
datasheet, and art files. For quick collaboration, a press
•
been around building electronic
launch begins a workflow in Nuxeo.
product launch, including a press release, blog post,
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Much of the effort in the ECM realm has
The author accepts valid revisions, resolves any comments, and automatically updates the draft based on the input -
necessary to meet challenges, and inform decision-making. Files are still part of the process, as they are where the work gets done, but they are described more elaborately and accurately with metadata, made more universally available through platform links and channels, and integrated into other related processes wherever appropriate. Collaboration stems from shared resources. Freed from the constraints of a proprietary system —which essentially becomes a hard drive attached to each user’s local system—developers can build Nuxeo applications that solve immediate business needs. The end customer is then able to work with
revisions are stored with the file.
familiar editors in a shared workspace
•
The new draft is staged for the PR approval process.
processes and workflow engineered by
•
Once approved, the press release is formally published and exported for posting to the corporate website, maintaining the link to the original source file.
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accessible to team members with Nuxeo application logic. Collaboration is elevated to a manageable, visible, structured part of everyday business processes.
The author or designated team members can continue to make later corrections or changes. These are then automatically incorporated and posted to the company site using the workflow process defined within Nuxeo. Page 5 of 8
•
This process would run in parallel with all of the other product launch process and assets.
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After launch, everything can be neatly packaged in Nuxeo and used as a starting point for the next product launch.
In this example, the file becomes a linked object in a workflow, located in a shared repository (Google Drive), accessible by team members and managed—through Nuxeo—as part of the production process. While this is a simple example, the concept can be extended to any type of production process or development effort where a collaborative team is working with shared resources that are then enabled as part of a workflow. The linked objects may be transformed or converted as a part of the workflow, but the original shared source files are readily available to the team. Nuxeo provides the bridge to integrate the content (using the same document as software philosophy) as needed into the organization’s processes. Nuxeo’s role in the collaboration is not to recreate or copy the files, but to provide the layer of management (through metadata and workflow) that can deliver anything from management of business concepts or business information to sophisticated publishing, development, or global information management operations.
Documents as Living Content Repositories The classic ECM approach to document management is to view them as individual files: one file per document. The Nuxeo approach to document management is more expansive and aligns much better to the way that files are actually used in business. A document serves as a container that can store one or more files (anything that can be digitized), business logic, metadata, other objects, and process-control functions. This view of documents and their behaviors is central to the Nuxeo model and the features that open up much of the functionality available on the Nuxeo platform. For application creation, this flexibility in creating and defining documents gives developers a means to construct business-ready functions tailored to the requirements of an organization’s policies, including security, permissions, approval processes, development workflow, daily task management, schedules, and so on. To this environment, the addition of file sharing and collaboration platforms—through Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, and so on—available to the Nuxeo platform adds extra richness and flexibility to the developer’s toolbox, providing a way to shape and work with assets and information stored in files that are created everyday in the course of doing business.
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Building on the Synergies Between CFS and ECM With intelligent enterprise application design, the strengths of CFS and ECM platforms can be combined, building hybrid solutions that follow business workflow and rely on collaboration across shared repositories based in the cloud. The process for accomplishing this follows a different path from the legacy ECM system, in which files are central to the approach and metadata and relationships are tacked on almost as afterthoughts. Using the Deep Content philosophy that is central to Nuxeo’s approach, the model focuses on metadata as the way to add meaning and value to business information and it follows these stages: •
Define the processes and object relationships: Starting with the business domain, create objects mapped to the key business processes, building out from the information required to define the workflow and the objects that will be manipulated as a part of this. Within this approach, files exist as a simple data type.
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Identify data types: Next, identify the data types that will characterize the processes. This might include addresses, opening times, IP rights, and similar types of data. Having well-defined, custom data mapped to business tasks provides a manageable model of business activities that can than be manipulated and assembled into a structural framework.
Establish relationships between objects: Finally, identify and define the relationships that exist among the objects, such as containment, dependencies, and so on. This is the level at which files are defined and handled as elements that contain particular information, inextricably linked to the business operation model, which is a core principle of the Deep Content philosophy.
Summary Business information sharing in conventional ECM systems has been hampered by an over reliance on files as the primary units of information exchange, locked into proprietary systems, and resistant to open collaboration. The model for collaboration discussed in this paper uses a different approach that maximizes the benefits of a cloud-based shared workspace. By integrating assets residing in a CFS platform with Nuxeo’s fluid, metadata-based workflow system, the business value of the assets is multiplied, adding context to data in relation to company processes and daily tasks, informing decision-making, and driving more productive business operations.
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About Nuxeo Nuxeo provides an extensible and modular Open Source Content Management Platform enabling architects and developers to easily build and run business applications. Designed by developers for developers, the Nuxeo Platform offers modern technologies, a powerful plug-in model, and extensive packaging capabilities. It comes with ready-to-use Document Management, Digital Asset Management and Case Management packages. 1000+ organizations rely on Nuxeo to run business-critical applications, including Electronic Arts, Netflix, Sharp, FICO, the U.S. Navy, and Jeppesen, a Boeing Company. Nuxeo is dual-headquartered in New York and Paris. For more information about Nuxeo, visit www.nuxeo.com.
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