Create a module

Before any work can commence in Designer Studio you must first create a module. This will store all the components that make up your business process. Creating a new module involves assigning a name, description, icon, and setting the working status, e.g. Active. It is also possible to control how any user-defined screens contained in your module are displayed in ALB. This is achieved by adding tabs, groups, and buttons.

Important You do not have to create a module if you want to use PMS. You can use PMS if you want to add screens to the matter, client and contact extensions screens, create client or matter inception workflows, or create fields to be available to all other modules.

To create a new module:

(This section relates to users with an Enterprise Licence only)

On the File tab, click Modules. This is the default selection.
Under Module Actions, click Add a New Module.
When the Add New UD-Module dialog box opens, complete these details:

Status. Specifies whether the module is active, retired, or in development.
Name. Specifies a name for the new module.
Description. Specifies a description of the module.
Icon. Specifies an icon for the module.

Add the desired tabs, groups, and buttons (see below) to organise the module's layout and navigation elements.

Note You must add at least one tab to activate a module and make it available in PMS.

Click Save & Exit. The module will now be available for selection as the "working module" in Designer Studio. See Open a module.

To add a tab:

If you have created a screen to display user-defined fields (and a module, see above), then you can use this procedure to add a tab to display it. A tab can be configured to display a screen directly or to display a group (i.e. a navigation pane). A group contains buttons for accessing screens.

In the Add New UD-Module dialog box, under Tabs, click Add.
When the Add New Tab dialog box opens, complete these details:

Name. Specifies a name for the new tab.
Description. Specifies a description of the tab.
Icon. Specifies an icon for the tab.
This Tab generates Group Box Control(s). Specifies that the tab will display a group. If you select this option, then you must add a group.
This Tab generates a Screen Control. Specifies that the tab will display a screen. If you select this option, then a drop-down appears prompting you to choose the screen to display, e.g. Process Overview or Document History. This includes all the user-defined screens you create in this module, some existing ALB screens and workflow screens Process Overview (to run and manage processes) and Activity Log (an audit trail for Key and Limitation Dates).

Click Save. A tab will now appear when the module is opened for a matter. See Add a module to a matter.

Tab behaviours
If you add a tab for a...	Then...
Screen	The screen will appear inside the tab.
Group but do not add a group	An empty tab will be displayed.
Group and add a group	The group will appear inside the tab.
Group and add a group without a button	An empty group will be displayed.
Group and add a group with a button	The button will appear inside the group.

To add a group:

Use this procedure to add a group (i.e. a navigation pane) inside a tab. This allows you to display a group of buttons, for accessing multiple screens, down the left-hand side of a tab. In order to add a group, a tab must be set to generate a group box.

In the Add New UD-Module dialog box, under Tabs, select the tab to which you want to add a group.
Under Groups, click Add.
When the Add New Group dialog box opens, complete these details:

Name. Specifies a name for the new group.
Description. Specifies a description of the group.
Icon. Specifies an icon for the group.

Click Save. A group will now appear inside the selected tab. You must now add a button to it.

To add a button:

Use this procedure to add a button inside a group. This lets you display any number of buttons for accessing specific screens. In order to add a button, a tab and group must have been created first.

In the Add New UD-Module dialog box, under Groups, select the group to which you want to add a button.
Under Buttons, click Add.
When the Add New Button dialog box opens, complete these details:

Name. Specifies a name for the new button.
Description. Specifies a description of the button.
Screen. Specifies the screen to be displayed.
Icon. Specifies an icon for the button.

Click Save. A button will now appear inside the selected group and clicking that button will display the specified screen.

Notes

Any number of tabs, groups, and buttons can be created.
Names must be unique.
When modules are set to Active they cannot be saved unless a tab is added.
User-defined modules can only be added to matters when they are set to Active.
User-defined screens can be added to native PMS modules.
If you create a new role type in Utilities for use in your user-defined module it is not automatically made available for PMS. If you want your new role type to be visible in PMS then you must tick the PMS setting as well.