[en] New in Managed Design & Controlled Print

[en] One of the most important aspects of LMS is that customers can clearly see what was printed, when and by whom. This allows them to monitor their complete printing operations. Printing history provides a centralized, secure, and searchable repository for all relevant printing operations. It is now positioned as the first information item you see when opening the History tab.

[en] Printing history now includes a comprehensive full-text search for every parameter, including all of the data printed on the labels.

[en] Figure 26: Full-text search options in the filter dialog box.

[en] Label preview for each printed label is now available for every print job. For serialized print jobs, users can use navigation control in order to visualize every printed label variation. This allows for the easy visualization of what was printed and provides a comprehensive electronic audit trail of printing history.

[en] Details section additionally contains information about the time of printing, label revision, custom metadata, etc.

[en] Figure 27: New updated navigation and label preview in printing events History.

[en] Starting with release 2017.1, the history data for each label print can contain an additional customer configurable metadata field. This field is saved into the history event along with other data provided by the system and is also fully indexed and searchable.

[en] Metadata content can be a custom string of any structure. The main purpose of the metadata is to link non-printing data with the print event and to provide the ability to search for logged events for that specific piece of data. For example, SAP users might choose to log the sap user who initiated the printing through the Automation integration platform. Metadata is logged in a separate field in the database and is shown as a column on the Printing activities page.

[en] The metadata is configurable as a new parameter of the “Print Label” action in the PowerForms application or Automation configuration. It can be configured to include various combinations of fixed and variable data.

[en] Figure 28: Metadata provided at a print time is stored with the print event data in the Control Center.

[en] The new System group in the History tab provides a consolidated overview of all the relevant system security events.

[en] Figure 29: Log of system events in the Control Center

[en] The following activities are logged:

[en] The new action Log Event that is available for Forms and Automation is used for logging the custom events into the Control Center history. The History tab shows such custom events inside the All Activities view.

[en] Figure 30: Custom log event defined with Log event action

[en] Figure 31: Custom log event sent from PowerForms application or Automation trigger.

[en] The event logs the origin (workstation name, user name) and custom Info and Details fields.

[en] The revision control system in the Control Center is designed for multi-user environments and supports concurrent operations on the files inside the Document Storage. While a certain file revision is in use in the production environment, the changes can already be applied to the next revision.

[en] To prevent changes on a file that is done by more than one designer at the same time, the file locking system is in place. When a designer needs to update the design of the existing label or update the print application, they have to reserve the file for themselves. The file is checked out. During this time, the currently approved file revision can still be used uninterruptedly on the shop floor. When the designer is finished with the updates, they must submit the new file version back to Document Storage. The file is checked-in.

[en] Figure 32: Document management controls in NiceLabel Designer.

[en] With release 2017.1, the check-in and check-out operations can be accomplished directly from Designer. Designer introduces a new ribbon named “Document Storage”. It allows you to quickly manage check-in and check-out operations and to access this particular document in the Document Storage.

[en] A new shortcut to the Document Storage is also available when selecting the File > Open command.

[en] Figure 33: Quick Document Storage access from Designer.

[en] When opening a document from Document Storage without checking it out, the document remains in the locked read-only state and modification is not possible. For each check-in, a mandatory comment must be provided.

[en] When the workflow step for a particular file is changed, the Control Center can be configured to send out email alerts notifying the relevant users regarding the next action needed.

[en] In this release, the notification email contains the comment of the user that changed the last workflow step. For example, if the approver has rejected the label change, the designer will receive the notification email and will learn about the necessary changes while reading the email. Of course, the same information is logged into the system, but the designer does not have to look for it and that saves time.

[en] The email also contains a link directly to the file in Document Storage for easier access.

[en] Figure 34: The email contains a link to the file in the Document Storage

[en] When you generate a label report, it also contains the complete workflow log for the current file revision. The workflow step log information is added before the label content information.

[en] This helps customers easily understand the state of the label and who was involved in the label design and approval process.

[en] Figure 35: Label Report additionally contains information about the current workflow status.

[en] The Control Center ships with a few predefined approval workflows that are typically used in regulated environments. In this release, the configuration page shows the definition of available workflows.

[en] Each workflow process shows the available steps as well as:

[en] Figure 36: The structure of each workflow process is available.

[en] The Control Center supports the CTS (Change and Transport System), which allows you to synchronize the changes from master Document Storage with subordinate Document Storage. The CTS is used to synchronize the approved centrally managed files from HQ to the remote offices/shop floors/packaging environments, or to promote files in multi-tier environments (development > quality assurance > production).

[en] You might not want to synchronize the entire Document Storage. In this release, you can select the individual folders on the root level or deeper in the folder structure. The synchronization will only transfer changes from the selected folders.

[en] Figure 37: Synchronization can include only specified folders.

[en] In the previous version of NiceLabel 2017, when Document Storage synchronization was enabled, the approved files were synchronized to the destination Document Storage. This in turn made them accessible in read-only mode. No design changes were permitted in the destination Document Storage.

[en] This release adds the possibility to disable read-only access in the destination Document Storage in order to be able to manage the available content both Locally and Globally. The folders selected for synchronization are still subject to the synchronization rules, but you can use other folders to manage the additional local content. The access type to the Document Storage is configurable per user and per folder using the role based access control (RBAC).

[en] For example, if a customer has multiple locations where they produce equal products, but each site also produces some site specific products, the new setup allows them to centrally control and use the same assets for labeling the shared product, and to use the same system to effectively manage assets for labeling the locally produced products.

[en] The web printing platform now allows configuring users that are allowed to access and print the non-published files. This streamlines the label and solution design and deployment since a designer can test the solution with a test account before it is actually submitted for approval, or is approved for production.

[en] Figure 38: The web printing client used for development/testing may be granted access to non-published files.

[en] The search functionality inside Document Storage has been expanded to include labels that are stored in solution files.

[en] With the previous release, you could already search for labels stored as stand-alone .LBL or .NLBL files. In this release, the labels that are saved inside .NSLN solution files are also indexed by their metadata and structure and are included in the overall search.

[en] Document management system provided by the Document Storage in the Control Center is a web based repository. The files are accessible over standard WebDAV technology using two different syntaxes.

[en] You can use:

[en] The majority of actions in NiceLabel 2017 have been reconfigured to support HTTP syntax. This is a default access type that is used in the software.

[en] There are only a handful of actions that require UNC syntax. These are Open document/program, Redirect printing to file, and Redirect printing to PDF. Form objects that require UNC syntax are Combo Box, List Box, and Radio Button Group.