PubMan™ PubPrep User Guide

Check out of entire titles or packages (anything > 1000 documents)
Check in of large amounts of data (> 1000 documents)
Automated preparation of data for check in to PubMan™
Automated publishing processes of selected titles or packages to prepare the information for internal or public consumption

Note: The last two items do require preconfiguration of processes. Contact your administrator if you have questions, or feel you have a process it would be good to have configured in PubPrep.

All requests are handled asynchronously, allowing multiple requests to be submitted without waiting for any of them to be fulfilled. A queue of requests is maintained and notification is given when they are complete. You can log into the application at any time to check on the progress of your request(s).

Housekeeping for PubPrep—the management of files prepared for requests—is automated. After a set period of time (determined by your institution in conjunction with dataformat.com) requests will expire, and the files associated with them will be purged from the server. This is of course, to keep the server clear of the “clutter” of temporary and redundant data.

2. Login

You get to PubPrep via the Utilities page in PubMan™. PubPrep is a standard utility available to Administrative users (Admins) only.

Figure 2.1: PubMan™ Utilities Page

Once you have navigated to PubPrep you will be presented with a login screen very similar to that of PubMan™. You will then proceed to login utilizing the same authentication information as you would with PubMan™.

Figure 2.2: PubPrep Log In Screen

After you have logged into PubPrep you will be interacting with your PubMan™ database. As such you will have the same rights and privileges and also be subject to application controls such as document locks.

3. Navigation

PubPrep main form is simple, with a small number of menu options in the left navigation panel.

Figure 3.1: PubPrep Main Form

You can choose:

Home returns you to the main page.
Check In takes you to the check in request page.
Check Out takes you to the check out request page.
Pub Prep takes you to your PubPrep processes page.
Help opens up this guide.
Log Out logs you out of PubPrep (and your PubMan™ session).
Return to PM returns you to your PubMan™ session.

4. Check Out

Title Check Out

PubPrep handles check out requests for entire Titles or Packages. It is assumed you have organized the documents you need as such within your normal PubMan™ CMS, and there are no options for defining sortkey ranges available. Large check out requests are broken down into multiple files, each containing the maximum count of documents entered into the request form. For example: A request to check out a Title with 10,500 documents, with the maximum count set to 1000, will result in 11 files being prepared—the first 10 with 1,000 documents each and the last containing 500 documents.

Note: Only one file will be prepared if the maximum count entered exceeds the number of documents in the Package or Title.

Note: maximum count is limited to 5,000.

Figure 4.1: PubPrep Check Out

To make a Title check out request:

Select Check Out from the left navigation bar.
Type in a name for the request you are preparing to run. Keep in mind this name will be useful to you in tracking down the results of your request in the future.
Select a Title or Package to check out from the dropdown.
Enter the number of documents you want per file in Max. Count File:.
If the files are going to be edited, select Lock.
Submit the request by clicking on the Check Out button.

The check out log will show an entry for each file that will be prepared as a result of your request. The Status column will initially show a value of REQUESTED.

Figure 4.2: PubPrep Check Out

The status will change to COMPLETED when a file is prepared. If you place your cursor over the word title a tooltip will appear.

Figure 4.3: PubPrep Check Out File Download

In addition, a download icon will appear in the File column. Right-click on the download link and use Save Target As to download the file.

Figure 4.4: PubPrep Check Out File Download

Note: In some cases there will be a large number of requests generated from a single Title or Package request. In this event not all of the requests may appear on the initial page. This also may be true if you are a frequent user of PubPrep. You will notice standard First, Previous, Next and Last arrows just above the column headings of the Request Progress Log for use in paging through your requests.

Package Check Out

Package check out works exactly the same as title check out. In order to select a package for check-out just click the Title link and it will toggle to packages and the list will populate with packages.

Lock Conflicts

If you make a request to lock a title or package that contains any documents that are already locked, your request will be denied and an error message shown. Return to the main CMS to resolve the conflict, and return to PubPrep to resubmit your request. Best practice, of course, is to ensure that all locks are cleared with a Title or Package prior to making a request to lock them via PubPrep.

Clear Requests

As stated earlier, housekeeping on requests and their files is performed automatically by the server. After a certain period (10 days by default) all completed requests will be expired from the system and related files will be deleted from the server. If for whatever reason you wish to remove your requests before the default expiration period you may do so by clicking the Clear Requests button. The request date will be back dated allowing for the expiration process to immediately kick off.

Note: After your requests have expired you can still see a record of them by selecting the Show Expired check box. However, the related files will not be available.

Error Processing

In the event that an error occurs during checkout the status will be changed to ERRORS instead of COMPLETED. In addition, an entry will be written in the log durring the process. This information will be available to determine what caused the error. Errors are logged at the request level. In order to view the errors for a request you will select the request via the check box on the left and then click the Show Errors button below the request log. A List of errors for the request(s) that you chose will appear below the button.

5. Check In

The asynchronous process allows for checking in of files containing large numbers of documents.

The check in a file form:

Figure 5.1: PubPrep Check In

Select Check In from the left navigation bar.
Type in a name for the request you are preparing to run. Keep in mind this name will be useful to you in tracking down the results of your request in the future.
Select the File To Upload by clicking on the Browse button. Use the file explorer to locate the file, select it, and hit Open. The filename should now show in the File to Upload text box.
Click on the Check In button.

Note: There is a 20mb size limit on the upload file. Please keep this in mind when preparing a mass check in.

Error Processing

In the event that an error occurs during the processing of your check in request, the request status will be changed to ERRORS instead of COMPLETED. In addition, an entry will be written in the log durring the process. This information will be available to determine what caused the error. Errors are logged at the request level.

Figure 5.2: PubPrep Check In, Showing Errors

In order to view the errors for a request you will select the request via the check box on the left and then click the Show Errors button below the request log. A List of errors for the request(s) that you chose will appear below the button. You may then right-click on the error message to download a file that will provide details on the errors encountered.

6. Pub Prep

The Pub Prep page is an interface for requesting preconfigured data processes that will run automatically. The underpinnings that process the requests are quite flexible, with very few limits on the capability or complexity of what you may require. All processes can be configured to have reporting and QA components as needed. Examples of such processes:

Data Import: data preparation processing and loading to the CMS.
External Data Publishing: export processing of data into any form suitable for public consumption. The processes can organize the data into any structures desired, and fed to fulfillment systems or web portals.
Internal Data Publishing: same as External Data Publishing, but for internal use
Reporting and QA processes: Execute any type of reporting, validation, cross-check, or QA check on selected data sets.

Once your process has been configured for use by Pub Prep it will appear in as a choice under Process Type. There will be a helpful description to the right of the process name. When you click the Prep button a request for your process will be sent to the server for asynchronous processing. The time it takes to process your request will vary depending on your request's place in the queue, the amount of data being processsed, and the complexity of the process. When it is complete, the request status will change to COMPLETED (also color coded green). If the process is one that generates output, a link to a compressed (zipped) version will appear to the left of the status.

Figure 6.1: Pub Prep Form

Requesting A Process Run

Note: This document describes how to request a process in PubPrep. It does not describe what the processes do. In order to ascertain what a process does you can read the process description and/or contact your data administrator for more information.

Note: The steps for requesting a Process Run described here are somewhat generic. Processes specific to your PubMan™ system may vary slightly.

Select Pub Prep from the Left Navigation bar.
Type in a name for the request you are preparing to run. This name will be used in the request process log, allowing you to track the results of your request(s).
Select theTitle or Package to process from the dropdown.
Select the process that you wish to run from Process Type. Be sure to read the process description and verify you have selected the correct process.
Click the Prepbutton.

Error Reporting

If an error occurs during the attempt to run your process the status will be changed to ERRORS (also color coded red). This indicates only that the asynchronous processor could not run the process. In order to view the errors for a given process, select the process by clicking the check box on the left side of the grid and click the Show Errorsbutton.

Note: Error processing for is of course, specific to the process. For example, if your process includes the Check In of transformed results, there will be a Check In Request that you can evaluate for errors. In addition, your process may create a report that will be included in the compressed output file. If you have further questions about error reporting for your process, please contact your Data Administrator.