2021

User Guide – Portal

iServer 2021 User Guide – Portal

Product Release Information

Product: iServer
Document Release Number: 2.0
Document Release Date: 6 Aug 2021
Copyright © 2021 by Orbus Software

All Rights Reserved

No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by
any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods,
without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations
embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by
copyright law.

If you have any queries, you can contact the Orbus Software by email:
enquiries@orbussoftware.com

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iServer 2021 User Guide – Portal

Contents
1 Portal 2020 .....................................................................................................................................................................................4
1.1 Introduction to Portal 2020.......................................................................................................................................................................4

1.2 Accessing Portal................................................................................................................................................................................................4

1.3 Introducing Portal interface ......................................................................................................................................................................6

1.4 The Welcome page .........................................................................................................................................................................................6

2 Navigating areas .......................................................................................................................................................................... 7

2.1 The Portal dashboard ....................................................................................................................................................................................8

2.2 Search ...............................................................................................................................................................................................................9

2.3 Changing profiles and logout .............................................................................................................................................................9

3 Navigating and editing repository content ................................................................................................................. 10

3.1 Navigating folders and libraries ............................................................................................................................................................ 10

3.2 Diagram-based navigation ................................................................................................................................................................... 11

3.3 Navigating Views ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 12

3.4 Searching repository content ........................................................................................................................................................... 14

3.5 Viewing and editing details ............................................................................................................................................................... 15

3.5.1 Details....................................................................................................................................................................................................... 15

3.5.2 Related Items ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 16

3.5.3 Where Used .......................................................................................................................................................................................... 17

3.5.4 Feedback................................................................................................................................................................................................. 18

3.5.5 Workflows.............................................................................................................................................................................................. 18

3.6 Adding and responding to feedback ............................................................................................................................................ 19

4 Managing workflows ..............................................................................................................................................................22

4.1 Initiating a workflow ...................................................................................................................................................................................23

4.2 Responding to a workflow ............................................................................................................................................................... 24

4.3 Providing attribute values ................................................................................................................................................................ 25

4.4 Previewing draft objects and documents ............................................................................................................................... 26

5 Adding a favorite ...................................................................................................................................................................... 27

6 User options................................................................................................................................................................................ 27

7 Appendix A: keyboard shortcuts..................................................................................................................................... 29

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iServer 2021 User Guide – Portal

1 Portal 2021
This document guides how to navigate, collaborate, and edit repository content in
the iServer Portal.

1.1 Introduction to Portal 2021

Publishing repository content via a non-technical web-based interface is a key capability
for communicating architecture, process, and governance information to stakeholders
within the organization. The iServer Portal provides a real-time, web-based view into
the iServer repository where all checked in repository content is immediately available
to Portal users.

The Portal is also optimized for mobile devices meaning you can easily view and edit
content, manage workflows, and provide feedback via tablet and smartphone devices.

1.2 Accessing Portal

You can access Portal using a link provided by your system administrator, or you can
launch it from the iServer start page in Explore.

Figure 1 - Accessing Portal from the iServer start page

Depending on how your organization configures Portal, there may be three ways to sign in
to Portal:

• You may be automatically signed into Portal using your windows domain user account.
• You may need to provide a username and password, provided by your system
administrator.

Note: You may be asked to change the password when you sign in to Portal
for the first time if your system administrator configures this.

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• You may be able to login with your Corporate Credentials by selecting the hyperlink
below the Login button. This option redirects you to a login page provided by your
organization.

Figure 2 - Portal login screen

When you sign into Portal on another device, the first Portal session ends. You can then
resume your session on the previous device from the last accessed page or view by
selecting Resume session here.

Figure 3 - Portal resume session

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1.3 Introducing Portal interface

Portal contains several areas for viewing, editing, navigating, and providing feedback on
repository content.

1.4 The Welcome page

On your first visit, you view the Portal Welcome Page that overlays the Dashboard or any
default landing pages configured by your administrator.

Note: Certain Welcome Page tiles may not appear if you do not have access
to them, or if no default library or landing page is configured.

On the Welcome page, you can do the following:

• Use the Search field to run a search for repository content in your library;
• In the Recent activity list, view and navigate back to the last five objects, documents, or
views accessed in Portal by you.
• Use the Quick Access options to browse documents, objects, and views in your library.
• Under Your Content, use shortcuts to Pending Actions (Workflows requiring your
action), your Home Page, a list of all content in My Library, and Reporting services, if
configured, and to Favorites, if any items have been marked as favorites.

Figure 4 - The Portal Welcome page

To view the landing page, close the Welcome Page by selecting ‘X’ in the upper-right
corner. To load the Welcome Page again, select the Portal Logo in the upper-left corner.

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2 Navigating areas
Use the navigation panel to go to different areas of Portal. In desktop mode, you can find
the navigation panel on the left side. Navigation using Portal Mobile and Portal Embedded
appears as a drop-down list.

You can expand or collapse the navigation menu by selecting the burger icon under
the Portal logo.

Figure 5 - Portal navigation on desktop, mobile, and embedded

The following menus in Portal may be available depending on your Portal configuration,
your license, and permissions:

• Dashboard—quick access to specific types of repository content.

• Browse—navigate the contents of Libraries and Folders in the repository.
• Views—run saved Views of predefined repository content.
• Search—search advanced filtering of repository content.
• Workflows—view workflows pending your action.
• Orbus BI—access report that is provisioned for your organization by the Orbus Solutions
Hub.

Note: The Orbus Solutions Hub is a cloud service that offers a broad range of
“ready-to-use” solutions via a subscription service. For more details, contact
your Orbus account manager.

• Reporting—access the embedded dashboards and reports configured by your system

administrator.
• iServer Reports—access the iServer reports.

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iServer 2021 User Guide – Portal

• iServer—launch the iServer desktop application if it is installed.

• Ecosystem—access to user guides, training, and support in the Orbus Ecosystem.

2.1 The Portal dashboard

Use Portal Dashboard to quickly access Portal content based on the types of objects,
documents, or views in the repository. To filter lists, select the search icons, and type a
search term.

The content appears on the Dashboard and all other Portal areas depending on
the selected library in the library list box in the Portal header.

Figure 6 - Portal library list box

The dashboard tiles display the number of items of the type in the selected library, as well
as the name and icons. Selecting any of the tiles displays a list of all items of the selected
type.

Figure 7 - Portal dashboard

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iServer 2021 User Guide – Portal

2.2 Search
The global Search option is available in the upper-right corner of the Portal, as well as on
Welcome Page. To search in Portal, select the search icon and in the expended search box,
enter a search term. Matched terms are highlighted in the search results.

Figure 8 - Portal search

Note: By default, search results are filtered by the library selected in the Library
list box.

2.3 Changing profiles and logout

Depending on your Portal authentication setup, you can sign out of Portal:

• If Windows Domain authentication is configured, to exit Portal, close the browser

window.
• With other configurations, in the upper-right menu, select Logout.

If you have access to multiple profiles, you can also view the Change Profile option in
the user menu.

Figure 9 – User menu

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iServer 2021 User Guide – Portal

3 Navigating and editing repository

content
3.1 Navigating folders and libraries
Use Portal Browse mode to navigate library and folder structures within a repository, and
view the content within them. You can navigate back to the folder hierarchy by selecting
the folder name in the Portal header.

Figure 10 - Portal folder navigation

To navigate to the root folder of a library that you are browsing, select the Library icon.

Figure 11 - Navigate to a library’s root folder

To restore your default library, in the upper-left corner, select the Portal home icon.
The default library is set in the Administration section per each profile by an administrator.
For more information, see the Administrator Guide Portal.

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iServer 2021 User Guide – Portal

3.2 Diagram-based navigation

Use navigation links on objects to navigate from a diagram to a diagram.

On the diagram, you can view the link icon when you point to objects that contain
navigation links:

• If an object has only one navigation link, selecting the link icon automatically navigates
to the linked diagram.
• If an object has multiple navigation links, selecting the link icon displays the navigation
dialog box with linked documents, sorted by document type. You can manually expand
the navigation dialog box by dragging the lower-right corner of the dialog box.

Figure 122 - Diagram-based navigation

• A shortcut to Related Items appears on the lower-left side of the navigation dialog box,
displaying a list of related objects in the Information Panel.

You can view the link icon without pointing to shapes, by selecting the link icon (Toggle
Relationship Indicator Mode) on the toolbar.

Note: Any Visio shape hyperlinks associated with an object also appears in
the navigation dialog box.

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iServer 2021 User Guide – Portal

Navigation breadcrumbs also expand when you navigate between diagrams using
navigation links. To navigate back to the previous diagram or folder, select a previous
breadcrumb.

Figure 133 - Portal diagram navigation

3.3 Navigating Views

Portal displays List Views and Hierarchy Views in Views Collections. You can also run saved
Views in Portal by selecting a View from the Dashboard or navigating to one from
the Views area.

Figure 144 - Views

Note: Only iServer List Views and Hierarchy Views are currently supported in
Portal. Matrix Views are not displayed in the Portal Views.

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iServer 2021 User Guide – Portal

To filter the contents of the List View, on the toolbar, in the Quick Find box, type a term and
select the Search icon or press Enter.

Figure 155 - View navigation and quick find

You can export the search results if the List View in the CSV file format by selecting Export
on the toolbar.

To view item details of the Hierarchy View, select the object, and in the upper-right corner,
select Information Panel.

You can collapse levels in the Hierarchy View by selecting the icon in the upper-right
corner of the column.

Figure 166 – Hierarchy View

To navigate back to a View or the list of Views, use the navigation breadcrumbs in
the Portal header.

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iServer 2021 User Guide – Portal

3.4 Searching repository content

You can access the Search area in two ways:

• Entering a search term in the Global Search from the Portal header.
• Navigating to the Search area using the navigation panel.

To refine your search results, you can use the following search filters:

• Libraries—filter the results to only those within a selected library.

• Types—filter results based on a type of object or document, including other file types
such as images, videos, or PDFs.
• Content—filter the results to include only objects, documents, folders, or views.
• Search In—filter results by matching the search terms in the Name, Description, Tags,
Attributes, Contents, or Favorites.

Figure 177 - Portal Search

Note: Searching in Contents (Search In = Contents) returns diagrams by

matching the object names on the diagram, or Office documents by
matching the text within the document (if document content indexing is
enabled).

You can select any tags in Portal and automatically start a search for other content with
the same tag.

If iServer Item Approval is enabled, users with the Portal Contributor role can see an
additional column in the list of search results– the Approval Status column. However, you
can see only checked in and approved content in Portal.

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iServer 2021 User Guide – Portal

3.5 Viewing and editing details

To view details of the model item, select an item in a list (using the left selection box, not
selecting the items name) and Information Panel displays different details depending on
the type of item. You can resize the Information panel for your convenience.

You can open any section of the Information panel in a new tab by selecting the icon in
the upper-right corner of the Information Panel.

Figure 188 – Open in a new tab

Note: If you select multiple items in a list, the Information Panel displays
information for the last selected item.

3.5.1 Details
This section is available for all repository items and contains description, tags, and attribute
information about the item. To edit the attributes or tags of an object:

1. On the toolbar, select Edit.

2. In Edit Mode, update attribute values and add or remove tags for the item.

Figure 199 - Object editing in Portal

Note: You need to have the iServer or Portal Contributor license assigned to
edit content in Portal. Please contact your System Administrator for more
information.

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iServer 2021 User Guide – Portal

3. To commit your changes to the repository, on the toolbar, select Save.

If Item Approval is enabled by your System Administrator, your changes may need to
be submitted for approval. In this case, instead of the Save button, select Submit and
select a Workflow Type to submit your changes to.

3.5.2 Related Items

This section displays all related items. By default, you can view related items in
the interactive graphical mode. You can expand nodes to trace through related items at
multiple levels by pointing to the item and selecting the plus sign.

Figure 20 - Graphical mode

You can change graphical layouts to a hierarchical, radial, or nested layout by selecting
the Change layout option in the upper-right corner.

Figure 201 - Change layout

To switch back to a list mode, use the Toggle view mode option in the upper-right corner.

To download an image of the graphically displayed related items, on the toolbar, select
Download > Download Graphic.

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iServer 2021 User Guide – Portal

You can filter nodes shown in the graphical mode of the related items. To do this, open the
Related Items section in a new tab, and in the upper-left corner, select the filter panel. You
can filter by object type and relationship type.

Figure 212 – Object Type and Relationship Type filters

3.5.3 Where Used

Information on where the selected item is used (including folders and diagrams).

Figure 223 - Where Used

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3.5.4 Feedback
This section lists feedback, comments, and attachments for the selected item. You can
raise new feedback for the item from the bottom section of the panel and post replies to
existing feedback.

Figure 234

For more information, see Adding and responding to feedback.

3.5.5 Workflows
This section lists active and completed workflows associated with the item. You can initiate
new workflows from the bottom section of the panel. For more information, see Managing
Workflows.

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3.6 Adding and responding to feedback

You can submit feedback on repository items via Portal using predefined Feedback Types.
The types available may differ depending on the type of repository content you are
providing feedback for.

To open the Feedback section of the Information Panel, select the feedback icon.

Figure 245 - Feedback in lists

You can view a Feedback Icon in all Portal lists for selected content:

• A blue icon indicates feedback is available for the item.

• A grey icon indicates no feedback is logged.

You can also view a feedback icon next to objects on the diagram. To enable this, on the
toolbar, select the feedback icon.

Figure 256 - Feedback on diagrams

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iServer 2021 User Guide – Portal

You can add new feedback from the Feedback section of the Information Panel, or on
the Feedback tab of an item’s Details page.

For a document and diagram, you can select the Feedback option on the toolbar. You can
select Feedback Type, provide the feedback comments, and optionally attach an Office
file.

Figure 267 - Adding Feedback from Information Panel

Note: If you don’t see an option to add feedback, there are no feedback
templates available for a selected item.

For more information, contact your System Administrator.

You can delete your feedback using the Delete icon on the right side of the feedback entry.
Deleting feedback also removes all replies to the feedback.

To respond to feedback, below the feedback entry, select Reply.

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iServer 2021 User Guide – Portal

To mention a user in the feedback, use the @-sign with the user name. If the mentioned
users have valid email addresses configured in iServer, they receive a notification.

Figure 278 - Feedback reply

Note: Feedback Types are preconfigured by your System Administration and

may be configured to send email notifications.

Please contact your System Administrator for information on different

Feedback Types.

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4 Managing workflows
Note: You need to have the iServer or Portal Contributor license assigned to
view and manage Workflows in Portal. For more information, contact your
System Administrator.

To view a list of all active workflows assigned to you, select the Workflow menu, or select
Actions Pending on the Welcome page. If configured, iServer workflow email notifications
may also contain a hyperlink directing you to a workflow in Portal.

The Workflow details page contains the following sections:

• Properties—displays any submission comments, tags, and initiating user information.

• Overview—displays a list of repository items in the workflow. You can view information
about these items in the Information Panel, download documents, or open the items
details page in a new tab by selecting the name.
• Workflow steps—listed in a workflow ‘timeline’. Decision steps that require your input are
highlighted.

Figure 289 - Workflow details page: properties

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iServer 2021 User Guide – Portal

4.1 Initiating a workflow

Depending on the Workflow Types configured by your system administrator, you can
initiate certain workflows from Portal in one of the following ways:

• In the Information Panel, in the Workflows section, select workflow type, enter
the workflow name and comments, and select Submit.

Note: Depending on the workflow template configuration, you might be able to

select the decision makers for the workflow too.

• In the List View of items, select an item and to view a list of available Workflow Types for
the item, on the toolbar, select Workflow.
• In the document or diagram view mode, on the toolbar, select Workflow >
Workflow Type.

Figure 30 - Initiating a workflow

Note: Workflow Types that require documents to be checked out or that

contain document check in actions are not supported from Portal. These need
to be initiated from iServer.

Approval workflows require the document to be checked in; these can be

initiated from Portal if the document has already been checked in using
iServer.

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4.2 Responding to a workflow

To view the workflow decision and available outcomes, select the active Decision Step.
To progress the workflow, select a decision outcome, enter a comment, and attach a
supporting document, if necessary, and then select Submit.

Figure 291 - Activating a workflow

Depending on the workflow template configuration, you might select the decision makers
for the current or next step in the workflow. For more information, see the Administrator
guide – Workflows.

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4.3 Providing attribute values

Depending on the workflow and your selected outcome, you may be required to populate
attribute values for workflow items as part of a Decision Step. If there are multiple items
associated with the workflow, you can view the following options:

• Apply value to all—provide one attribute value and apply it to all items in the workflows
(if all items support the attribute).
• Apply individual values—provide individual attribute values for each workflow item.

Figure 302 - Provide attribute information in a Workflow

Note: Grey ‘placeholder’ values in the Apply individual values option indicates
the current attribute value for the workflow item. Red indicators are displayed
for mandatory fields.

Once mandatory values have been provided, you can enter a comment, attach a file, and
select Submit to progress the workflow.

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4.4 Previewing draft objects and documents

You can view and compare the last approved version of an object and the draft version
opened from the workflow. To do this, in the Overview section, under Workflow Items,
select an object. The details page appears for the selected object in a new tab displaying
the draft version of the object. To view the previously approved version of the object,
on the toolbar, select Open Approved Version.

Figure 313 – Open approved version of an object

If the approval workflow contains documents, you can open the last approved version of a
document and the draft version of the document to make a better decision.
To do this, in the Overview section, under Workflow Items, and select the document name.
The document appears in a new browser tab and displays the last checked in content in
the draft state. To view the previously approved version of the document, on the toolbar,
select Open Approved Version.

Figure 324 - Open approved version of a document

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5 Adding a favorite
You can mark objects, documents, and views as favorites by selecting the star icon in the
lists, or the Favorite option in the toolbar. You can access a list of favorite items from a
shortcut on the Welcome page, or from within search by using the Favorites filter.

Figure 35– Mark as Favorite

6 User options
You can change your image or hide the welcome page using the user menu:

• To permanently hide the welcome page, in the user menu, select Options > Hide
Welcome Page.
• If your system administrator has enabled more than one language for Portal, you can
choose your language by selecting Options in the user menu.

Figure 336 – Setting Portal language

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• To upload a personal user image:

a. Point to the user image and select the Edit icon.

b. To upload your image, select Choose file, select an image of the following format:
JPG, PNG, BMP, GIF, and then select Save.

Your user image appears in all your feedback and replies in Portal.

Figure 347 - Upload User Image

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7 Appendix A: keyboard shortcuts

Keyboard Shortcut Description

Ctrl + A Select all items on the diagram

Arrow keys (Up, Down, Left, Right)

Diagram scrolling
Navigational keys (Page up, Page
down, Home, End)

Space Diagram scrolling to the selected item

Minus sign on the numeric keypad Zoom out

Plus sign on the numeric keypad Zoom in

Zoom to fit (actually returns to the original

Shift + Z
scale and position)

Stop all running commands (like selecting the

Esc
item)

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