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Pathagoras contains both Document Assembly and Document Management modules. It is important to distinguish between these two concepts.
| • | The two modules are not mutually exclusive. Rather, complement each other quite nicely, and sometimes seem to overlap. But they are distinct modules nevertheless. |
| • | Typically a user will create a new document by using the Document Assembly module. Storing the new, personalized document, and recalling it for later editing or printing, is done through the PathSmart/SaveSmart (document management) tools. |
| • | A folder mapped in to a PathSmart profile can be the same folder as a book mapped in the Document Assembly library. For example, the path to ‘Office Forms’ might be in both a book in a library and a SmartPath in profile. |
| • | However, a folder containing personalized client matters (mailed letters, completed contracts) would never be part of a Document Assembly library. Why? Because personal client matters would never be directly used to create future documents. (At least we hope that you never directly use a form created for one person as the source of one you intend to create for another. Doing so can lead to embarrassing, if not disastrous, consequences. 'Pathagorize' it and save it to a forms book.) |
| • | A folder containing personal client letters, contracts, pleadings and other documents is precisely the kind that would be mapped within a PathSmart profile. |
| • | There are other differences among the modules, some subtle, some more blatant. Only actual use of the program will bring into sharp focus the differences between them. Just take comfort in knowing that both systems work seamlessly together. |
The following further illustrates the differences between document assembly and document management. We will stick with the libraries and books metaphor described in previous sections.
| • | Let’s assume that you have been assigned to research and prepare a report on flying buttresses for an architecture project. To accomplish your task, you would go to the appropriate architecture library to find the information you need. You would look in the various books there, extract text and copy other source materials for the final project. And you would compile your research into what ultimately becomes the final report. |
| • | After you have completed the report, you would not return to the library to store your final composition. Rather, you would store your work in a location appropriate to completed projects. And you would use a different concept for storing client/customer projects than what the library might have used. In all likelihood, you would place your final research product inside the customer’s folder or a client’s file, organized by customer/client name. (If it is a general office project, you might place it in a general purpose filing cabinet.) But one place you don’t store it is back in the library. |
The same concepts pertain to the primary systems that make up Pathagoras. The document assembly system provides the tools needed to create documents from source clauses. But once created, the document management system provides the tools by which you can store and easily retrieve the completed documents.
'Nuff said?
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