FOIAXpress Sharepoint Integration

1 Introduction

1.1 About SharePoint Integration

Users must configure their application settings prior to integrating FOIAXpress with SharePoint. This manual outlines the requirements and steps for configuring FOIAXpress for SharePoint integration.  

1.2 SharePoint Integration Prerequisites

Complete the following steps to ensure your FOIAXpress application is ready to be configured for SharePoint integration:

1. If you are not on FOIAXpress version 11.3.0 or higher, upgrade the application first.

   Follow the steps in the FOIAXpress Deployment Manual to upgrade your application.

2. If using custom document preprocessing and/or file cabinet mapping, copy the provided

DLL to the Scheduler. The path that you choose will be configured in the database in Section 2.6. It is recommended to place the DLL in C:\Program Files\FOIAXpress\Scheduler\bin.

3. Upgrade the application license in the Administration settings.

Note: The SharePoint feature is tied to your application license, and the feature is automatically enabled with the appropriate license. Please upgrade your license to include the SharePoint integration.

4. Ensure that the SharePoint integration is enabled in the Application Features menu (Administration > Features and Licenses > Application Features). It should be enabled automatically after upgrading your license.

5. The SharePoint Connector Settings menu should be visible when accessing Administration > Document Management. If the menu is not visible, log out of the application and log back in.

Once these prerequisites have been met, you can set configurations within the application to enable SharePoint.

2 Configuring SharePoint Integration

The following subsections outline each step necessary to successfully enable SharePoint.

2.1 Set Scheduler Service Account

You will also need to configure the appropriate settings for the Scheduler service account.

1. In Services.msc, right-click the FOIAXpress/ATIPXpress Scheduler service and click Properties.

2. In the Log On tab, configure the service to the desired account.

Note: The account chosen must have proper permissions configured in the SharePoint site.

Note: The configured identity of the FXAppPool account must also be an authenticated SharePoint site user.

2.2 Set “Full Control” Permissions

As the Scheduler service is configured to use a domain user account, that domain user should have permissions for any files and directories it may need to access. Ensure that “Full Control” permissions are granted to the service account for the following locations:

2.3 Configure Scheduler for SharePoint Document Import

Lastly, you’ll need to configure the Scheduler to run the SharePoint Document Import job.  

1. Navigate to the Scheduler Configuration screen in Administration > System Administration.  

2. The default frequency is set to 10, but you can change the frequency if desired.

   Note: It is not recommended to set RowLimit to a value greater than 50 if the default frequency of 10 minutes is kept. The frequency should be decreased accordingly when testing higher RowLimit Values.

3 SharePoint Administration Settings

There are options to configure the overall settings for the SharePoint connector under Administration > Document Management > SharePoint Connector Settings as shown below:

The settings on this screen are described in the following sections.

3.1 SharePoint Connector Settings

Use the SharePoint Connector Settings section to configure the connection to your SharePoint site.

Fields in this section include:

3.2 Document Import Settings

The Document Import Setting section provides configuration options for documents imported from SharePoint into Document Management.

NOTE: If this option is unselected, the job will still run, however documents will not be imported.

3.3 Search Settings

Use the Search Settings section to control the documents that are imported from your SharePoint library. These settings mirror the settings used in the API. See the link below for more details:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/dev/general-development/sharepoint-searchrest-api-overview

3.4 SharePoint Property to Custom Field Mappings

3.4.1 Using This Configuration

Use this section to map your defined SharePoint properties to the Document Custom Fields configured in your application.

To configure these mappings, first select a SharePoint Property from the dropdown list on the left, then select a corresponding Document Custom Field from the dropdown on the right and click Add to add the mapping. You can also select a mapping from the list and click Delete to remove it from this list as needed.

Note: The Document Custom Fields in the drop-down include all fields configured in the application. Please ensure these fields are available in the File Cabinet Drawer you have selected.

3.4.2 Configure Boolean Metadata

Boolean SharePoint properties must be configured to use Single Select custom fields with two options.

1. Open the Document Custom Fields configuration menu (Administration > Document Management > Document Custom Fields).

2. Open the Document Custom Field configuration screen for the applicable type fields.

3. Use the Type drop-down menu to select List Option – Single. Then, configure the remaining fields as shown below.

4. Add custom list options by click the List Options expander button.

5. The Yes/No – Custom List Values menu opens. Here, you can configure custom list values as needed.  

Note: Boolean true values can be mapped to list values of “True” or “Yes” with any variation of capitalization. Boolean false values can be mapped to list values of “False” or “No” with any variation of capitalization.

3.5 Document Custom Field to Reading Room Custom Field Mappings

Use this section to map Document Custom Fields to Reading Room Custom Fields. This populates the Document Custom Field data in the corresponding New Reading Room folder page automatically when documents are added to the Reading Room.

To configure these mappings, first select a Document Custom Field from the dropdown list on the left, then select a corresponding Reading Room Custom Field from the dropdown on the right and click Add to add the mapping. You can also select a mapping from the list and click Delete to remove it from this list as needed.

3.6 Custom DLL Settings

You can configure your custom Dynamic Link Library (DLL) using the fields in this section.