Auto Saving Files Tips

Update:  Please note that with the enhancements made to the Dashboard, there’s an easier way to set up Auto-Saving rather than in the BaseInfo Tab.  See File Auto-Saving in the Admin Guide for SDA Dashboard.

Here are some tips/recommendations when implementing file auto-saving within SDA:

• Use the same setting as the folder structure for quote and output files so that all project files are co-located.  To do this, first define LocalSaveFolder and set OutputLocalSaveFolder equal to it, then define NetworkSaveFolder and set OutputNetworkSaveFolder equal to it.
• Use the UNC path rather than a mapped drive letter when setting up the network save folder path, for two reasons:
  • The UNC path is persistent for VPN users with regard to connection, whereas the AM physically has to click on a mapped drive in order for it to be available for a VPN user.
  • There is no need to set up a mapped drive on each user’s machine.
• For WebDAV, assigning a mapped drive letter to simplify the path in the folder path scheme. In addition, for WebDAV one MUST use the offline/online functionality (which requires installation of the SDA Cloud Services application on all user machines) so that files are saved first to the local drive, and then later moved to the shared folder location. Saving directly to the WebDAV location is unreliable and might result in error conditions.
• Programming the local save folder calculation so that it’s parallel with that of the network save folder, perhaps by defining a core folder calculation that feeds into the local and network save folder calculations.  For example, the core folder calculation might include all of the elements EXCEPT FOR the drive letter or UNC path.  The local and network folder calculations would then start with the drive letter or UNC path, followed by a reference to the core folder calculation cell.
• To incorporate the TYPE of output in OutputFileSaveName, reference the OutputInfo named range data that is passed to the quote file at the point in time when the output is generated. If the OutputInfo values (found in outputs.xls) are not sufficient, create a table to look up (using Excel’s VLOOKUP function) the OutputInfo value and return a more descriptive value for use in the OutputFileSaveName named range calculation.
• For multi-quote outputs, OutputFileSaveName, OutputLocalSaveFolder and OutputNetworkSaveFolder are pulled from the PRIMARY quote file (generally the headquarters location) designated by the user during the output process.
• Set up a “File Auto-Saving on?” drop-down whereby if the user selects “No”, then the values in the FileSaveName and/or OutputFileSaveName named ranges are blanked out, which has the effect of turning off the auto file saving functionality.
• Do NOT include SiteDescription as one of the elements in the folder save path scheme, as that will create separate folders for each site. SDA’s multi-site/quote functionalityrequires that all quotes for all sites (for a single sales opportunity) be in the same folder.
• Set up MyDocumentsPath as a named range on the Base Info tab (and unprotect the cell) to calculate a user’s My Documents path for use in the LocalSaveFolder calculation.
• To incorporate the date/time that a quote was first created into the file naming scheme, reference the CreationDateTime system named range. Use Excel’s TEXT function to format this date/time, for example:

=TEXT(CreationDateTime,”yymmddhhmm”

• When referencing this named range in the raw Base Info tab, add this named range to the Scratch or Temp Rangenames tab so that users don’t get the #NAME? error message when manipulating the raw Base Info tab file.

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