Documents
Erde lets you attach files — reports, photos, field forms, well logs, PDFs — to your records. A document is a stored file plus the metadata that describes it: the records it relates to, an optional category, dates, and more. You work with documents from a Documents tab that appears on Sites, Locations, Projects, Samples, and Lab Reports.
How a document is scoped
Every document has a home scope — it belongs to either one Site or one Project. Within that scope, you can also link it to specific records, and it then appears on each linked record's Documents tab. The same file can be linked to more than one record, so a single field form can show up on both the Sample it documents and the Lab Report that reports it.
Figure: a document belongs to a Site or a Project, and can be linked to specific records within that scope.
| Documents tab on… | Stored as a… | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Site | Site document | The Site's own documents |
| Location | Site document | A Site document linked to that Location |
| Project | Project document | The Project's own documents |
| Sample | Project document | A Project document linked to that Sample |
| Lab Report | Project document | A Project document linked to that Lab Report |
The same file cannot be attached twice to the same Site or Project, but it can be linked to several records inside one. Removing a document from a record it is linked to leaves the document — and its other links — in place; deleting the document removes it everywhere.
How a document is classified
A document answers two different questions, and Erde records each one separately:
- What is it related to? The records the document is linked to — a Lab Report, a Chain of Custody, a Location, a Sample, and so on. This is how a document that belongs to a specific record is classified: a lab report's PDF, a CoC form, or a location photo is classified by what it is attached to, not by a filing label. The documents grid shows these links in a Related to column.
- What kind of document is it? An optional Category — a filing bucket such as QAPP, Work Plan, or Permit — drawn from the Document Categories an administrator curates. Category is meant for the free-standing Site and Project documents that are not attached to a specific record. A document with no category shows as Uncategorized.
What a document records
A document carries the file plus metadata. Only the file is required; the rest is optional and there to make documents findable later.
| Field | Required | What it is for |
|---|---|---|
| File | Yes | The uploaded file itself |
| Related to | No | The specific records this document is linked to — a Lab Report, Chain of Custody, Location, Sample, and the like; how a document attached to a record is classified |
| Category | No | An optional Document Category for filing; no category means Uncategorized |
| Title | No | A short label for the document |
| Reference | No | An external identifier such as a permit number, NOV number, or manifest tracking number — so the document is findable by the number a regulator or agency assigned it |
| Description | No | Free-text notes |
| Author / Source Organization | No | Who produced the document and where it came from |
| Document Date | No | The date the document itself carries |
| Effective Date / Expiration Date | No | A validity window; the effective date must fall on or before the expiration date. Setting an expiration date without an effective date is allowed but prompts a warning, since a document that expires usually has a start |
| Version Label | No | A version marker such as v1.2 or DRAFT |
| Supersedes | No | Marks this document as replacing an earlier one in the same scope |
| Capture metadata | No | For image files only: capture location, time, direction, and pixel dimensions |
Upload and manage a document
- Open the record's Documents tab and select Add Document.
- Choose the file and set any optional fields — Category, Title, Reference, dates, Author, Source Organization, and Description. When you add a document from a specific record's tab, it is linked to that record automatically, which is what the Related to column reflects. When the file is an image, the capture-metadata fields appear.
- Select Upload.
The documents grid lists each document with its Related to links, its Category (or Uncategorized), and any Reference. From there you can View a PDF or image in the browser, Download any file, Edit a document's metadata (without re-uploading the file), or Delete it. When a document is linked to more than one record, deleting from one record offers to unlink it there rather than remove it entirely.
Allowed files
The file types you may upload and the maximum file size are set by an administrator under Administration → System Settings → File Storage (see System settings). Executable and script files — .exe, .bat, .ps1, macro-enabled Office files, and the like — are always blocked, whatever the allow-list. Erde also checks that a file's contents match its extension, so a renamed executable is rejected on upload.
Categories
A Category is the optional filing bucket for a document. Categories are reference data you curate under Reference Data → Document Categories, so the list is yours to shape — typical entries are QAPP, Health and Safety Plan, Work Plan, Permit, Investigation Report, Remedial Action Plan, Monitoring Report, Survey Data, Waste Manifest, and Regulatory Correspondence.
Categories are meant for the free-standing Site and Project documents that are not tied to a specific record. A document that does belong to a particular record — a lab report's PDF, a CoC form, a location photo — is already classified by its Related to link, so it needs no category and shows as Uncategorized unless you choose to add one.
Each Document Category carries a Type of Site, Project, or All, which controls the documents it can be applied to. The fixed Type values are listed in Enumerations and codes.
Who can manage documents
Documents follow the same per-Site and per-Project access as the rest of that record's data: you see documents wherever you can view the Site or Project, add them wherever you can add data, and edit or delete them wherever you can edit (within the edit-own grace window). A locked Site or Project blocks every document change. Uploading a file requires an internal-user role. See Permissions and scoping for the access model.
Related
- System settings — the File Storage limits that govern uploads.
- Reference data — where Document Categories are curated.
- Enumerations and codes — the Document Category Type and document entity-link values.
- Permissions and scoping — who can view, add, and edit scoped data.