How to Add Portal Documentation to the Equipment / Model

Portal Documentation lets you attach manuals, risk assessments and certificates to an equipment model or to a single unit, so customers can open them straight from the equipment's public portal.

Overview

Most of what an operator needs to know about a machine is true of every machine like it, and only some of it is true of the one sitting on their site. Portal Documentation handles both: attach the operators manual once to the model, and attach the certificate that belongs to a single serial number to that unit.

Every document is filed against a document type - Operators Manual, Risk Assessment, Certification and so on - configured under Equipment › Configuration › Portal Documentation.
Attach at the equipment model level for anything that applies to every unit of that model, and at the equipment level for anything specific to one machine.
You can attach one file per document type on each record. Uploading again replaces what is there.
PDF, JPG and PNG files are accepted.
Customers see the documents on the Documentation tab of the equipment's Public Portal URL - they do not need a login.
Where a unit and its model both have a document of the same type, the customer is served the unit's file.

Before You Begin

Check the following before you start uploading.

Requirement	Where to Find It
Equipment Portal - Visible Tabs includes Documentation (or is left empty)	Security › Settings › Equipment
Equipment Portal Documentation Type permission - to open the document type list and add types	Security › Configuration › Permission Groups › Equipment › Configuration
Equipment Model permission - to open an equipment model	Security › Configuration › Permission Groups › Equipment › Configuration
Equipment permission - to open an equipment record	Security › Configuration › Permission Groups › Equipment › Screen

Security › Settings › Equipment. Leaving Visible Tabs empty is the same as ticking every tab, so Documentation is shown by default

If Equipment Portal - Visible Tabs has been set and Documentation is not one of the selected tabs, the documents you attach are stored correctly but customers never see them. Clear the setting or add Documentation back to it.

Setting Up Document Types

Step 1 - Review the document types

Go to Equipment › Configuration › Portal Documentation Types. Latner ships with seven types, all Active. These types are shared across the whole system - every equipment model and every equipment record offers the same list.

The seven document types supplied out of the box. Only Active types are offered when you attach a file

Step 2 - Add a type if you need one

If the document you want to publish does not fit an existing type, choose Options › Create Portal Documentation Type.

Type Name - required, and must be unique. This is the heading customers see in the portal, so name it the way they would ask for it.
Status - required. Active types appear everywhere; Inactive types are hidden from the equipment and model screens and from the portal.

Creating a type needs only a name; it becomes available on every equipment and model immediately

To rename a type or change its status later, tick its row on the list and use the edit pencil.

Attaching a Document to an Equipment Model

Start at the model, because a document attached here covers every unit of that model without any further work.

Step 3 - Open the model's Portal Documentation tab

Go to Equipment › Configuration › Models and open the model. The Portal Documentation tab lists every active document type, whether or not a file has been attached to it, so the tab count is the number of types rather than the number of documents.

The Portal Documentation tab on model 3394RT. Every active type is listed, waiting for a file

Step 4 - Select the document type

Tick the checkbox on the row for the type you are uploading. An edit pencil appears at the top right of the table. Click it.

Ticking a row reveals the edit pencil; only one row can be actioned at a time

Step 5 - Attach the file

The Update Document dialog opens. Document Type is fixed to the row you selected and cannot be changed here - if you picked the wrong one, cancel and start again.

The Update Document dialog, with the drop zone waiting for a file

Click Click to add Photos & Documents and choose the file, or drag it onto the drop zone. A thumbnail of the file appears once it is attached.

One file per document type - adding a second replaces the first, it does not sit alongside it

Step 6 - Save and check the result

Click Save. The document uploads and the tab refreshes. Click the arrow at the left of the row to expand it and see the file name, which is a link - click it to open the document exactly as a customer would.

The expanded Operators Manual row on the model, showing the attached file

Attaching a Document to a Single Equipment

Step 7 - Repeat on the equipment record

Open the unit from Equipment › Equipment and use the same Portal Documentation tab. The tab, the pencil and the Update Document dialog all behave exactly as they do on the model - the only difference is who the document belongs to.

Use this level for anything tied to the individual machine: its compliance certificate, its log book, a photo of its plant risk assessment.

A Certification attached to unit DS39003 alone; other units of the same model are unaffected

Replacing or Removing a Document

Open the same row and dialog you used to attach the file.

To replace it - drop the new file on and click Save. The old file is replaced.
To remove it - click the x on the thumbnail, confirm Delete on the Delete File prompt, then click Save.

Confirming the removal only clears the thumbnail; nothing is deleted until you click Save on the dialog behind it

Closing the dialog with Cancel after removing the thumbnail leaves the document in place, which is the behaviour you want when you change your mind. The reverse is also true: once you click Save the file is gone and has to be uploaded again.

What the Customer Sees

Customers reach the documents through the equipment's Public Portal URL, shown on the equipment's General Details and encoded in its QR code. On that page, the Documentation tab lists only the types that actually have a document for this machine, so a customer is never shown an empty heading.

Documents attached to the model and documents attached to the unit are merged into one list.
Where both levels hold the same type, the unit's file is the one served.
Types set to Inactive disappear from the portal, along with anything filed under them.

The customer's view of DS39003. Operators Manual serves the unit's own file rather than the model's 3394RT-Operators-Manual.pdf, while Risk Assessment comes from the model

The portal is public to anyone holding the link or scanning the QR code. Only publish documents you are happy for a customer, an operator or a site supervisor to read - certificates and manuals rather than internal costing or service notes.

FAQs

Can I attach more than one file to the same document type?

Not at the moment. Each document type holds one file per equipment model and one file per equipment, and a new upload replaces the previous file. If you have two manuals to publish, either combine them into one PDF or create a second document type for the other one.

Which file types can I upload?

PDF, JPG and PNG. A photo of a certificate is perfectly acceptable, though a PDF prints better for the customer.

I attached a document to the model, so why can't I see it on the equipment's Portal Documentation tab?

That tab shows only what is attached to the record you are looking at, so a model document does not appear on the unit. The two levels are only merged for the customer, on the portal - open the portal link for the unit if you want to confirm what they will see.

A document type is missing from the Portal Documentation tab. Where has it gone?

It has most likely been set to Inactive. Check Equipment › Configuration › Portal Documentation Types and set it back to Active. Files already filed under an inactive type are not deleted - they reappear, on the tab and in the portal, as soon as the type is active again.

The Documentation tab is missing from the customer portal.

Check Equipment Portal - Visible Tabs under Security › Settings › Equipment. If the setting lists tabs and Documentation is not among them, the tab is hidden. Also note the tab only appears when the machine actually has at least one document, through its own record or its model.

I can't find Portal Documentation Types in the menu.

The menu entry is controlled by the Equipment Portal Documentation Type permission. Ask an administrator to add it to your permission group under Equipment › Configuration. You do not need it to attach files to an equipment or model - only to manage the list of types.

Should I attach documents to the equipment class instead?

Portal Documentation is offered on the model and on the equipment only. If a document applies to a whole class, attach it to each model in that class.

Watch the Demo

Prefer to watch it? Step through the same flow here.