What are Relational Libraries?

Relational Libraries allow users to navigate critical relationships between documents based on the applied metadata in facts. Documents can be related to one or many documents in many different ways, creating complexity when storing them in folders.

Relational Libraries enable the viewing of documents by their related data. Instead of a complicated folder structure, documents can be viewed in a number of different contexts such as Agreements, Wells, Buildings, Owners, Contract Family, Lessor, etc.

Additionally, Libraries allow you to assert data on all of the documents that are a part of any given library item. This makes it easy to establish operative language, keep track of changing variables like subscription cost, due dates, etc., and the list goes on. All data points are customizable by your system admin.

How do I create a Relational Library?

Workspace Administrators can configure Relational Libraries that will then be made available to all users. A Library will be created around a 'Key Fact' that you can select from a list of existing Facts. No need to add in new data to create relationships between documents, use your existing facts such as Agreement Numbers, Owner IDs, Lessors, and other unique identifiers to relate your documents.

How do I navigate to Relational Libraries?

When a Relational Library is set up, an indicator will be shown next to the fact values allowing navigation to see all of the documents with the same Fact value. Additionally, Libraries can be searched by selecting one of the Libraries in the left-hand navigation pane above Bookmarks.

Navigate to a Library by Fact Value:

From search results:

From a document:

Search in a Library:

Additional information on Library Search is available here. Select which Library to search in on the left, then enter a value to search by in the Search field. This will return all results that contain the searched string and can be navigated to by selecting one of the results.

The relational library view reflects the library item name, the types of documents included in the library item, and the total number of documents. The relational library can be filtered by document type, so a user will be able to filter based on what documents exist or do not exist within the library.

For example, a user may be interested to know where an Amendment to an agreement exists, but where the Original Agreement does not exist. Select the document type search parameters to be used, toggle between "exists" or "not exist" by clicking on the blue word and click Apply. 

What information can I see in a Library Item view?

About: This contains all of the Library Facts associated with this Library Item. Here we can populate Facts that will be asserted across all the documents associated with this Library Item. 

Document Listing: Here you will see a list of documents associated with our key Fact. You can quickly navigate to the document by clicking its name or get a closer look at the document by clicking on one of its pages. If I want to go to the next document in this Library, I can use the navigation arrows here. 

Document Facts: This section contains a list of Document Facts that your admin has chosen to display for this Library Item. This can give you needed context as you assert Library Facts or view the individual documents.  

Document Type Selector: Next to the name of every document you will see a Document Type dropdown where you can quickly adjust the Document Type without having to navigate to the document itself. 

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Adding Library Facts to a Library Item

Facts can now be added at the library level. Library Facts are customizable and have varied uses depending on your needs. For example, you could use a library item fact to keep track of operative language across multiple agreements with potential amendments, keep track of current subscription cost, changing owners, the list goes on. Your administrator can set up the exact Facts and Fact groups that appear in the library.

If you have any questions or technical difficulties, you can reach out to support@thoughttrace.com