As I understand it, our general users who do not have their own DocStar license can view documents attached to transactions within Epicor (not going into DocStar) only if they download the document to their system first, or if they have a view-only license. Is that correct?
I don’t necessarily want to have every user downloading locally every document they want to view, but the only alternative I see is obtaining a ‘view only’ license for all of my users. Any feedback or guidance is appreciated!
That was my understanding Grant. Users who just viewed or even attached documents from Epicor/Kinetic did not consume a license. If one went to the ECM interface and logged in, then they needed either a named (reserved for them) or standard license (shared). A read-only license gave users the ability to log into the ECM interface but not make ANY changes.
@MikeGross or @gpayne can (and will) correct me if I muffed this answer.
4 Likes
I can confirm this. Access from ERP is covered without additional license as I understand it as well.
As for downloading - it’s more of a temporary download - the document lands in the users AppData\Local\Temp\ directory as a file named something like 1b3d1a31-f759-ec11-80ea-005056a198f3.pdf.
There are some special settings in Attachment Type Maintenance or Document Association which may alter this behavior.
2 Likes
Thank you @MikeGross ! Do you have any special rules set up for that download folder on your computer to make those files automatically delete after a certain number of days? Without that, I assume the folder becomes massive over time.
I believe that c:\users{user}\AppData\Local\Temp is used by many software companies to store temporary files - including Microsoft. The Windows Disk Cleanup Utility will clear it out.
3 Likes
@Mark_Wonsil is correct. Assuming you do not change the way windows handles these kinds of downloads, then Windows should manage the Temp files location fairly well, and it can be cleaned up using the Windows tools.
If you are viewing hundreds of files a day, then I might look at changing the location and creating a Windows Task Scheduler task that empties that directory every time the computer boots/logs in/something.
4 Likes
Thank you @Mark_Wonsil and @MikeGross ! Do you guys happen to know the Docstar license requirements for users who are scanning and attaching documents to transactions (vendor invoices, customer PO’s, etc) in Epicor?
1 Like
@grant-rb If they are using Epicor to do the attaching there is not a license needed. The licenses are used by people doing workflows or lookups in the ECM web UX.
2 Likes
@gpayne is correct (and another great resource here for ECM info!!)
Just to add a bit - there is an APR license that is practically free and extends the ECM attachment piece by allowing attachment access during the printing process (both put and get). The license is super cheap and my help in limiting the need to view/download/print/attach by your users.
2 Likes
@Mark_Wonsil Thank you. Just to clarify, are you saying that a ‘view only’ ECM license gives the user read-only access to ECM itself? Or are ‘view only’ and ‘read only’ two different things? In my case, my general users will just need to view/download/attach the documents within Kinetic.
Then you only need the Document Management License for DocStar (ECM) in Kinetic for those users. It’s only when one uses the ECM portal does it require an extra license.
@Mark_Wonsil @gpayne @MikeGross To clarify, we are on SaaS and using Kinetic on a browser (not on-prem). Does that affect any of this?
Nope. I was SaaS AND ECM in the cloud and that was the case.
1 Like
Mark - I believe that it works as you have stated only if the user is using CLASSIC forms. Were you using CLASSIC or were you using KINETIC?
With the Kinetic interface, when the user chooses to view the attachment directly rather than download attachment, they will be required to log into ECM (or not if the ECM credentials are saved). If the file is downloaded and then viewed locally, no ECM account / short term licensing is required. If the user is using classic, they simply get to view the attachment directly without needing a separate ECM account.
3 Likes
And that set of credentials is what is entered in Attachment Type Maintenance - and you select if it used for all users or each individual user requires credentials. You can specify different settings in Doc Type Maintenance as well.
In the Applicaiton Help, there is an explanation of how the authentication, file transfer, and “View in Provider” settings work together. If you are not accessing ECM directly via one or more of these settings, then you do not need additional ECM licenses for your user.
At this point though, I highly suggest you bring your exact situation to your CAM and the ECM product manager to discuss license specifics. We are not the final word on this by any means, and you do not want to be in violation of the licensing due to some stuff we’ve told you. 
Kinetic wasn’t born yet. But the classic had two buttons: View and View in DocStar and the rest of the logic is as you stated above.
Mike - I believe that the account to which you are referring works in many situations, but the view button requires user credentials and does not use that generic connection account. We have been working with Epicor to hopefully correct this behavior given its significant operational and licensing implications.
Same in Public Cloud prior to Kinetic. We could not use a service, had to be passed by the client. If the browser has changed this, then it does need to be addressed.