Controls over online documents

Controls over online documents

1. Version control

   • Version control is important when users are sharing documents online, as all users need to be working from the most up-to-date version of the same document
   • One of the simplest ways of implementing version control is to allow just one user to open a document , or part of the document, for update at any one time
   • When one user has the document open and someone else tries to access it, the document will be locked. It is only unlocked when the original user has completed updating the file and has closed it again
   • Other methods of version control include the software allocating the latest version number showing the time and identity of the person making the change
   • If, for any reason, a document does become corrupt (damaged) or is missing important updates , it is possible to roll back to a commonly agreed version number

2. Levels of access and file permissions

   • The system administrator within an organisation can control the levels of access users have to a particular document
   • They can allocate access to individuals or particular groups of documents by using file permissions
   • Some users may only be able to read documents but not edit them
   • Other users may be allowed to read and edit documents some may be allowed to add new documents and some will be allowed to delete documents
   • File permissions can be used to restrict access to certain documents and to restrict what can be done to them

3. Read-only access

   • This allows a user to look at and read a document but not change it.
   • A university lecturer could use a word document to create a test for their class, if the document was set as read-only then the class would not be able to make any changes to the wording

4. Read/write access

   • This allows a user to look at and read a document, but also to make changes to it

5. Full control

   • This allows users to retrieve a document , read it, edit it, add a new document or delete or archive an existing document
   • Full control is usually given to people who administer the system
   • They may be senior people within the organisation or senior administrators who report directly to senior management