ICM and Infoasset databases offer a system that allow hyperlinked documents to be connected to the database. Primarily this to allow survey, as laid and other background data to be available to the user and is a powerful function that if used correctly would allow databases to become much easier / quicker to check, improving quality and confidence. Currently the models are abstract representations of the systems, and to check detail requires arduous library time retracing other people's steps. Having the data bundled with the model is a significant improvement.
However, two practical problems arise, since many different organizations work on models over their lifetimes, using their own IT systems, it is currently impossible to maintain the hyperlinks. The hyperlinks are set relative to the "remote files root" which serves an entire master database, thus there would be many files relating to many catchments within the "remote files root" and many models could also reference the same files.
So the proposal is for Innovyze to develop and dictate a standard directory file structure for the "remote files root" which can then be adopted by everybody wishing to use the function. It would need to be simple, visible in windows and probably reflect the data structure of the master database, the detail of structure is not actually that important, what's important is that everyone adopts the same protocol. Further, a compiling function is needed that would create a transportable data file containing some or all of the attached documents, on receipt the complier would also explode a transportable data file into the remote file root. Thus ensuring that the links are maintained at both ends of the transfer.
