Management of Configurations

Question

Hi M-Files Forum, 
 As you are aware, M-Files is a highly configurable system and, I was wondering how other users have organized their configurations once they begin to become substantial in number. 
 Over time, I can see the configurations area becoming very large and tough to manage. Is there anything you can recommend to pre-empt the problem? And be more proactive about how these are managed? My concern is making sure configurations are organized in a way that ensures future administrators inherit a logical and organized system that allows them to do their job effectively and efficiently. 
 For example: Have you or your organizations used any specific groupings or categories to organize the various types of configurations? 
 e.g. "workflow" configs, "appearance" configs etc. 
 Many thanks in advance.

Joonas Linkola · Accepted Answer

One way to categorize is by following the vault structure for object types and classes: create top level rules for each object type ("Document", "Project", "Customer" etc.) where the object type is used as the rule filter and then sub-rules under that as needed. For the Document object type (and perhaps others, too, if they have multiple classes) you could have further sub-rules per document class, if the classes have their own specific metadata card configuration rules. 
 This structure should make it relatively easy for other admins to find out rules which affect a specific object. You could also add descriptions of these configurations to your other vault documentation.

Wesley Weir · Answer

This is something that will really vary based on your implementations as some rulesets and configurations work better with organization attempts than others. The biggest issue you will likely see with grouping them is if you have rules that take advantage of the way rules are executed which is top to bottom. If your configuration uses the order it somewhat limits how you can group them. 
 One option is to use the sub-rules to group rules into broader parent groupings or rulesets. For instance if you have a lot of rules on how Contracts are handled in certain situations you can create a parent rule of 'Contract Rules' that uses broad filters and minimal to no actual behavior. Then you can use sub-rules under that parent rule to narrow down the specific ruleset. Such as having sub-rules like 'Signed Contracts', 'NDAs', etc. That could let you have just a few generic rules at the top level of your configuration that you can start to drill down to look for what you need to adjust. 
 Also, don't forget that you can use the Advanced tab to view and read the 'JSON' of your configuration which allows you to use 'CTRL-F' to search for specific elements to help find which rules affect that element. For instance searching for a class 'NDA' to see how many rules run on that class.

Management of Configurations

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