Simple Document Sharing Solution

The Problem

A construction company executive organizes the computer files by project. Each project contains building specification files, which the executive needs to share with the engineers. Each project also contains sensitive financial information the engineers should not have access to. Because the project directories contain information the engineers should not have access to, the specification files must be copied to another directory. However, as changes are made to the specifications by customers, the copy available to the engineers must be updated.

The Solution

Because the project directories contain information the engineers should not have access to, the specification files are copied to the publishing directory. The engineers have the same software on their computers to view the files as the executive used to create the files; therefore, the documents do not need to be converted to HTML to be shared.

The executive installs PWS, and then creates a simple home page by using the PWS home page wizard. He uses the publishing wizard to place copies of the files in the publishing directory. The wizard automatically adds links to the documents to the home page. The files can be easily updated by using the file refresh feature built into the wizard. The executive sends the Web site address in an e-mail message to the engineers.

By using browsers, such as Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0 or later, the engineers are now able to view the specification files. The files are viewed in their native formats. The engineers are not able to view other documents in the project directories because the project directories are not shared. Because the publishing directory folder has read permissions only, the files cannot be changed by the engineers.

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