Workflow that crosses vaults possible?

Question

Hey guys, 
 We are currently using one big vault for our entire company. We're considering splitting this up into several smaller vaults that basically depict our departments. 
 However, in the future we also want to implement some M-Files workflows where documents would have to cross vaults (i.e. move from one to another). 
 I have read the documentation on using several vaults, but I did not find anything related to workflows . 
 Within M-Files Admin, when configuring a workflow action that is triggered through a given state, I do not see the option to move the document into another vault (apart from "archiving"). 
 Would a script be necessary to achieve this? And, more importantly: does it even make sense to have several vaults when there are workflows that span several departments, or should we stay with our existing one-vault-concept? 
 
 Any hints highly welcomed 
 BR 
 Pascal

bright-ideas.dk · Accepted Answer

It is possible to replicate a document from one vault to another by setting a property such as "replicate to x-vault" in a given workflow state and then use this property as a filter criteria for automated replication. If you have the same workflow (at least the same Alias for workflow and state) in the receiving vault then the process can continue there. The document will not be removed from the original vault unless you add another workflow state with a Delete action after you have ascertained that the document has been included in a replication package. 
 There can be valid reasons for splitting things up in different vaults, but it is not something I would recommend just for the fun of it.

Craig Hawker · Answer

I would reiterate bright-ideas.dk : this doesn't sound like a use-case for splitting the vault up. 
 I think it would be possible via replication, but it sounds like a potential mess. From experience I'd not be surprised to find that there are one or two future edge-cases where the object needs to be "in both vaults at once", or it goes from one department to another, then back again, and then this becomes a real nightmare to maintain. 
 Splitting a vault into smaller vaults does make sense in some situations. You might choose to do it because you want to explicitly control who can access the content (e.g. "HR" has a separate vault to the main one). You might choose to do it for performance reasons (push archived content to a separate vault, for example). You might choose to do it for a few other reasons. But I haven't yet seen a good case for "per department" vaults. I'm willing to be convinced, though. 
 It might be worth contacting your partner to see whether they have any guidance. They can also pull in our Sales Engineers to assist if this is something which is outside of the partner's expertise. 
 Regards, 
 Craig.

Workflow that crosses vaults possible?

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