The following best practices are related to work folders and related documents.
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The configured work folder for displaying related documents should only contain necessary documents. The folder should only display those documents the user needs to see every time a document is selected. Users often want all possible related documents to display rather than those they most commonly use; therefore, it is easy to overlook this performance overhead because folders are easy to configure and contribute to a rich user experience. If the user wants a large number of documents across many Document Types to display in the work folder, consider using either cross references or the Set Folder and Template action behind an ad hoc task to toggle the work folder and allow the user to see all documents.
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Consider speed of related document searches: Document Handle = Fastest, Document Type = Fast, Folder Type = Slow
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Limit the number of related document searches. When executing multiple rules and actions against a related document, consider using the Use Related Documents for Tasks functionality. This functionality forces OnBase to switch focus to the related documents and execute the logic under the true path of the rule. This option exists on any rule checking for the existence of a related document. When using this functionality, the system queries for the related documents once rather than querying for the same related documents for each rule and action executed against the related document.
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Whenever possible, use the Document Handle to search for related documents. The uniqueness of a related document query is extremely important to performance as a unique query enables the database to pull the result set quickly and efficiently. Therefore, the searching for related documents by Document Handle is the most efficient way to return a set of related documents. A Document Handle query does not need to query against any keyword table.
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When available, use the “Require All Common Keywords Present On Primary Document” option for related document rules and actions. This can prevent unexpected documents from being processed if a lookup keyword is missing from the primary document.
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Only query for related documents when needed. In most programming contexts, if the software attempts to access a nonexistent object, an error is generated. In OnBase Workflow, that object is usually a document. When performing work against a related document (like updating a keyword value), there is no need to first check that the related document exists, just attempt the update. If the related document does not exist, no work is performed.