Document Versions – Kuali

Versions Overview

Often documents need to be able to go through multiple review cycles over the course of their history. Using Document Versions at the app or product level will allow users to create versions of completed documents to make edits and route again for approval. Some examples where versions may be utilized:

(CM) Faculty members need to be able to propose changes for a program for the next year.
(Research Compliance) Faculty need to be able to propose amendments to their protocols
(Research Sponsored Programs) OSP Admins need to be able to create versions of an award or proposal to register actions taken on the record, while maintaining the historic state of the award when prior actions were taken.

Please be aware that Versioning will only be available to customers that have purchased either Next-Gen Kuali Ready, Kuali Research, or Kuali Student. If you've purchased one of these Next-Gen products then document versions can be enabled in any product or app (including Kuali Build).

Note: Lets clarify the difference between simply editing the existing documents vs. creating a new version. Users with Edit documents in this app permission have the ability to go into any document (in any state) and make updates. However, there is no history of these edits and we highly encourage not granting edit rights where documents require an audit history of changes. Versions are different in that they initiate a whole new version of the document where changes can be tracked/compared to prior versions to see what updates occurred.

How to Enable/Configure Versions

Enabling in the App/Form

Once versioning has been enabled in your instance by Kuali you will have the Allow resubmission of documents to workflow option in the Workflow Settings of any form.

Screenshot indicating the workflow settings to allow resubmissions

Once enabled any System or App Admin will have the ability to create versions in a given form or app. You can also grant access to other users via either the Permissions on the form or via Conditional Permissions. More details on methods of granting the version permission are found below.

Version Title

Within the Form Settings there is an option for Version Title Field where you can configure what information from the form will display in the version dropdown. The versions dropdown will always display the document status (i.e. IN PROGRESS, COMPLETE, etc) along with the data configured in the Version Title Field.

Screenshot indicating where to change the Version Title

By default, this will be 'Action date and time' so it will display the last action date/time for the given version.

Screenshot showing the action date and time on a version

However, if desired you can update it to display different information in this dropdown (i.e. Number, Created By - Display Name, etc). This can be changed/updated at any time via the Form Settings for the app.

Using Document Versions

In order to create a version in a document you would follow the below steps:

Access a document in the Document List
Select the Version Dropdown in the upper left hand corner (to the right of the title of the document)
At the bottom of the dropdown select +Create New Version

Screenshot showing how to create a new version

This will create a draft of the new version of the document. The document will copy all information created on the previous version of the document. Users can make any updates that are required for the new version and submit it to the workflow. Every new version will be required to go through a workflow process. This process can be tracked using the Workflow Tracker tool on each version.

Once the document is approved in the workflow it becomes the latest active version of the document.

Note: You can only have one document version in progress at a time - if you already have an outstanding in progress version the +Create New Version option will be greyed out.

Granting Access to Version a Document

You can grant users access to create versions to all documents in an app/product via App Permissions. Or if you want to grant users access to versions in a subset of documents in an app/product you can utilize Conditional Permissions. More information about these two approaches are explained below.

App Permissions

Within the App Permissions you can select permission Create new versions of a document in this app permission to grant this right.

Select the menu to the right of the product name
Select Permissions in the menu
Create a role where users should have access to create permissions
Select the Create new versions of a document in this app permission

Screenshot showing the versions within app permissions

Note: Please be aware that granted the Create new versions of a document in this app will also allow these users to see all documents in the Document List of a given app/form.

Conditional Permissions

To grant a subset of users the ability to version a document based on users selected in the form itself you can utilize Conditional Permissions within Form Settings of an app or product.

Select the Form tab in the upper right of the product
Select Form Settings
At the bottom of the form settings tray select Conditional Permissions (note: in order to grant a user conditional permissions to a document they need the Access the Document List app level permission)
Select Add New Condition
Define which field on the form should drive this permission
Select Allow users to create new versions of a document
Save the permission

Screenshot showing the app permissions

Users granted this permission will be able to see all documents in the product that meet the condition of the permission (as long as they also have the Access the Document List app level permission). For these documents they will be able to view all versions of the document create a draft for a new version and submit that draft to workflow.

Data Lookup Filtering with Versions

In addition to the normal filtering options in data lookups, as explained in the Data Lookup (List) and Data Lookup (Multiselect) gadget articles, you also have additional filtering options when Versions is enabled in the product. The system needs to know which version of a document to point to in the lookup. Specifically, you will be asked Which documents can a user search for with this lookup? and have the below options in the gadget:

Only the latest version: returns the latest document version (any document status except withdrawn or denied version)
Only the latest submitted version: returns the latest submitted document version (either latest completed or submitted in progress document)
Only the latest completed version: returns the latest completed document version (final fully routed document)

How do I configure data lookup filters for data sets with versions?

Add an Advanced Data Lookup (List) or (Multiselect) gadget - point to Kuali Data data source
Select the fields you would like to be available for the filter
Select Advanced Settings
Select the version you would like to point at:
- Latest: Latest version including draft, in progress, complete
- Latest complete: Latest version that has completed the workflow
- Latest submitted: Latest version that has been submitted to workflow
Select Add a Filter to enable additional criteria on the version you are pointing to
Choose one of the following options
- All of the following are true: All listed conditions must be met
- One of the following is true: At least one listed condition must be met
Select Add a Filter
Choose a field you would like use as a filter
Select the value you would like to filter on

The data lookup will point to the version indicated (latest, latest complete etc.) and then apply the filter criteria to this version. If the version does not meet the filter criteria defined then the whole document will be filtered out.

Screenshot showing filters documents a user can search for data lookup

FAQs

Can users with version permissions see office use only fields?

Yes. Any user that is granted access to documents in the Document List will have access to office use only fields.

What views can versions be created from?

Versions can only be created from the Document List of the app or product.

Will approvers have access to see old versions?

Yes. Approvers are able to access old versions but will only be able to access the sections that were available to their workflow step when they went through the workflow.

The system will try to pull the section visibility settings from the appropriate workflow stop on the version being viewed.
If a workflow stop didn't exist when a prior version was created (Example: It's a new stop in the workflow that was added right before the most recent version was submitted to workflow) then it will use the section visibility configuration from the current form.
If an office use only section is removed from the form, and new workflow stops are added it is possible to end up with a situation where there is no configuration setup to hide an important section. As a result deleting sections that hold confidential data should be done very carefully. Our recommendation is to not remove sections that hold confidential data in apps that are using versions.

Will users be able to access old versions of documents from the Document List?

Yes. Users that have any kind of access to a document in the document list (whether it was granted from app permissions or conditional permissions) should be able to see old versions of that document.

Note: This only applies to documents that they do not have submit permission to.

Will users be able to access old versions of documents from My Documents?

No. Users that access a document from My Documents should not be able to see any old versions of that document.

Will users who have submit access to documents be able to access old versions?

No. Users that are accessing a draft that they have permission to from My Documents or the Document List should not be able to access old versions of the document.

What happens if I remove a user from a field that drives conditional permissions on the latest version?

Whatever permissions are active on the latest complete version of a record will apply to all prior versions. If a user is removed from a field that drives conditional permissions on the latest complete version of a record they will not be able to access any version of that document.

Draft and In Progress versions will respect the conditional permissions based on the data in that specific document, and then once it is completed those permissions will be applied to all prior documents.

How many drafts can I have created for a new version?

Each new version can have one draft created for it. That draft has to be approved in the workflow or deleted in order to create a new draft.

Can admins still edit documents without having to create a new version?

Yes. The Update Documents app level and conditional permission will still allow users to edit the document directly and not require that it creates another version and goes through workflow.

Which version of a record appears in the document list?

By default, the latest version of a record will appear in the document list. This includes drafts and proposals that are in progress.

Can I still filter the Document list to find all the completed documents when the latest version is a draft?

Yes. The document list will default to show only the latest version within the filters setup on the document list. If no filter is applied that could be a withdrawn, draft, or in progress version. If you apply a filter to the Workflow Status column to only show Complete, then the document list will show the most recent complete document, even if there are more recent documents in other statuses.

Add the Workflow Status column to the document list.
Select the title of the column to filter on it.
Select the workflow status you would like to filter by.

Which version of a document am I linking to when I use data lookups?

When linking to another document it will always show the latest version (this includes drafts or in progress documents).

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