17 July 2002

Public Documents

UPDATE: dcenas is no longer operational: Public Documents have been moved to the Web CMS and the DFS (Distributed File System). Contact ICT Services for information].

Divisional Executive at its meeting of 19 July 2002 requested that the Division's public documents (meeting agendas, minutes, policy documents, forms and so on) be made available to the Division's staff electronically through a shared drive.

A trial system is now in place: on the Division's Network Attached Storage device (DCENAS), there is a public_documents directory that everyone in the Division can access, to read or download the Division's public documents. Instructions for getting access to the share are included in detail below, for Windows and Macintosh users. You can also access the system using a Web browser [how?]. Please note that the system is still under development, and these instructions are subject to change as we trial the system.

If you aren't already logged on to UCSTAFF domain (if you are using a Macintosh, for example), you will need your staff ID (including the 's') and your proxy password (the domain is UCSTAFF).

If you have a UCSTAFF log on and password, you will be able to read documents from any directory or folder within the share. You can only add documents to directories or folders where you have permission: set depending on your location and job in the Division. All staff should be able to transfer documents to their School's directory and the general directory within the School's directory, but not to the hos directory: only Heads of School and their Administrative Assistants can write to the hos directory.

What files?

Documents in the Public documents drive can be read by anyone in the Division: therefore only documents that are appropriate for this audience should be put on the drive. Any draft or working documents should be clearly labelled as such on each page of the document.

Documents can be in any format you like: Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, Acrobat files, even html documents. Just make sure you follow the file naming conventions for the shared drive.

Using the drive

Put documents (like the minutes of meetings) in the appropriate folder or directory on the shared drive. Create additional folders or directories (if you have permission) to organise your documents logically. Try to keep directory names short but clear. Don't use spaces or strange characters in directory names: use the underscore character ("_", SHIFT-hyphen) instead of spaces. Once the document is in place, email the people who would normally get the document, telling them that the document is there.

You can include a link to the document in your email [how?]. People who receive the email and want to read the document can click the link in your email and either open the document from the shared drive, or download it to their own computer. This means that the document is not sent as an attachment to the email: reducing load on the network, and potentially reducing the amount of space used to store multiple copies of the same document on computers throughout the Division.

File naming conventions

There are a number of different computing platforms in use across the Division. While there is a high degree of interoperability between the platforms, some conventions have to be observed to ensure documents shared on the drive are accessible easily to all the staff in the Division.

For example, PC users need the ".doc" file extension on the end of a Word document file name so that their computer recognises the file as a Microsoft Word document. Macintosh users need file names no longer than 28 characters (not including the file extension). Spaces and other unusual characters in file names should be avoided because they aren't well supported when a web browser is used to access the document.

So, a few rules for file names for files stored on the shared drive:

  1. File names should have the proper DOS extension on the end (for example, ".doc" for Word files, ".xls" for Excel files, ".pdf" for Acrobat files). Most applications append these DOS extensions automatically, although you may need to set you computer up for the system to work properly. Contact the Help Desk for advice if you are unsure of the correct procedure.
  2. Use only alphabetical characters and numbers. Use the underscore character ("_", or SHIFT-hyphen) in place of spaces in file names.
  3. Limit filenames to 28 characters at most, or 32 including the file extension (for example .doc, .xls, .pdf).

Accessing the Shared Drive

Windows

  1. From the Start menu, choose "Run...".
  2. Enter "\\dcenas\", without the quotes, in the Open: field.

If you are logged on to the SLIE-DOMAIN, a directory listing should appear containing the shares on the Division's Network Attached Storage device that you have access to. If you are prompted to log on:

  • If there are two fields in the prompt:
    • your username should be in the form ucstaff\s123456. Note the backslash.
  • If there are three fields in the prompt:
    • your username is s123456
    • the domain is UCSTAFF

where 123456 is your staff id. Note the 's'.

Your password is your proxy password.

Public documents are contained in the public_documents directory.

You can map the public_documents directory as a network drive that is available every time you log on to UCSTAFF.

  1. Right-click the public_documents directory
  2. Choose Map Network Drive....
  3. Click Finish in the resulting dialogue box to complete the mapping.

Macintosh

OS 9

  1. Select Chooser from the Apple menu.
  2. Click the AppleShare icon in the Chooser's left-hand pane.
  3. Select Building20 in the list of AppleTalk zones on the bottom left.
  4. Double click dcenas in the right hand list under Select a file server:.
  5. A dialogue box prompting you for a user name and password appears. Enter your user name in the Name: field, and your password in the Password: field.
  6. A list of shares on dcenas appears. Double click public_documents in the list of items you want to use.

Once it appears on the Desktop, you can create an alias to the share by clicking its icon once to select it, then choosing Make Alias from the Finder's File menu.

OS X

  1. Choose Connect to Server from the Finder's Go menu.
  2. Type "dcenas" [without the quotes] in the Address field.
  3. Double click public_documents from the list of shares that appears.

You can make an alias to the share:

  1. control-click the public_documents icon on the Desktop [hold down the Control key on the keyboard while clicking the public_documents icon].
  2. Choose Make Alias from the pop-up menu.

Accessing Public Documents from the Internet

Authenticated users can access the documents using a web browser from anywhere on the Internet. Go to http://dcenas.canberra.edu.au/public_documents/

You may be prompted for a username, password and domain. Use your UCSTAFF id (with the 's') and proxy password. UCSTAFF is the domain. If there isn't a field to enter a domain separately, enter ucstaff\s123456 [where 123456 is your user name] in the user name field. See Logging on to secured services - Staff for more detailed instructions.

The interface is a bit primitive, but click the links until you find what you want. Depending on your platform and browser, you should be able to view or download the documents fairly easily. Contact the comedu helpdesk if you need assistance with viewing documents from the system.

What the abbreviations mean

Abbreviations have been used to shorten the links needed to link users to the documents via email messages.

Abbreviation Meaning
cc School of Creative Communication
dec Divisional Education Committee
div-exec Divisional Executive Committee
imt School of Information Management and Tourism
itic Information Technology and Infrastructure Committee
marketing Marketing Committee
pace School of Professional and Community Education
pc School of Professional Communication
slie School of Languages and International Education
sted School of Teacher Education
tsu Technical Services Unit
hos Head of School

Emailing links to documents to other users

If you have a valid user name and password, the documents in public_documents can be accessed from anywhere on the Internet using a browser. The address of the service is http://dcenas.canberra.edu.au/public_documents/.

Each document has its own address, for example the minutes of the IT and Infrastructure Committee held on 11 June 2002 can be viewed or downloaded (depending on your browser) at http://dcenas.canberra.edu.au/public_documents/executive/itic/Minutes_11_June_2002.doc.

To copy a link to an email message:

  1. Locate the link to the document via the Web (http://dcenas.canberra.edu.au/public_documents/).
  2. Copy the link to your email. How you do this varies depending on your computer and browser. Try these techniques:
    1. In Windows, right-click the link, and choose Copy shortcut from the menu that appears.
    2. On a Macintosh, hold down the Control key and click the link. Choose Copy link to clipboard from the menu that appears.
  3. Go to the body of the email message you wish to send out, and paste the link into the email. the link should appear in the form http://dcenas.canberra.edu.au/public_documents/executive/itic/Minutes_11_June_2002.doc. If the link does not appear in this form, contact cehelpdesk and we will show you a way that works properly for your computer and browser.

Contact the cehelpdesk to organise a demonstration if you are not sure what to do.