Getting Started with Xytech Web Client – Fabric Help Center

An Introduction to the Xytech User Interface and Its Features

Introduction

Xytech Web client is a Web-based application that allows you to perform the tasks and functions provided by the Xytech software to manage your workflows, personnel, and inventory. This Getting Started Guide details the steps involved in accessing Xytech software using the Web client. It will assist you in understanding the rich set of UI features available to you as you use the application. These features are common to the various pages you will encounter and have been carefully designed to ensure that your experience is as efficient as possible.

Basics

This section details the basic steps for accessing and logging in to and out of Xytech Web client via Windows or Mac OS X computers, as well as iOS and Android devices. General information on navigating through the system is also covered.

Connecting to Xytech Web Client

Open your Web browser¹ and navigate to the address link provided by your system administrator. The Welcome dialog displays.

Fill out the form based on the information provided by your system administrator.

Select the Database/Instance to which you want to sign in. In most cases, this is a single value and does not need to be changed.
Select the Authentication method used to validate your sign-in credentials.
1. OpenID prompts you for the User Name and Password provided by your OpenID provider after clicking ‘Sign In’.
2. SAML prompts you for the User Name and Password provided by your SAML provider after clicking ‘Sign In’.
3. Database prompts you for the User Name and Password provided by the Xytech administrator.
Click Sign In to access the Xytech Web client.

To log out of the Xytech Web client at any time, click the Log Out button near the upper left-hand corner.

Basic Navigation - Header and User Menu

Navigation header, expanded (left) and collapsed (right)

The header and user menu areas provide easy access to common features:

	Open the company website in a new tab of your browser.
	Collapse the Navigator pane. (Only visible when the navigator is restored.)
	Restore the Navigator pane. (Only visible when the navigator is collapsed.)
	Display the Settings menu. Refer to Basic Navigation - Settings Menu below.
	Display the navigator in Tile View. Refer to Tile Navigation below.
	Log out of the application and return to the login screen.

Basic Navigation - Settings Menu

The Settings menu provides access to configuration options related to running the Xytech application.

About - Displays information about the Web client software, such as the versions of the Xytech components, the language and time zone of the current user, and copyright/legal information.
License compliance - Displays the License Compliance document, including logged-in users and information about the site's licensed capabilities. (It is common to restrict access to this area.)
Dashboards - Displays a list of commands related to creating and maintaining dashboards:
- Arrange in Two Panels - Changes from the default single-panel display to a two-panel display. Search lists will appear in the left panel, and the documents to edit will be on the right.
- Clear Dashboard - Closes the currently active Dashboard, including all documents in it.
- Duplicate Dashboard - Creates a copy of the Dashboard that currently has focus.
- New Dashboard - Adds a Dashboard to the workspace, creating a new tab to the right of all open Dashboards.
- Refresh Dashboard - Refreshes information displayed in all the ducments included in the active Dashboard.
- Save Dashboard - Prompts you for a name and saves the existing Dashboard arrangement to the Dashboards section of the navigator as that name.
Full Screen - Changes the current window to be a full-screen window within the operating system environment, if supported by the operating system.
Help - Displays the online help file in a new browser tab.
Options - Displays an options window:
- Division - Changes the current session to operate under the selected division.
- Number of rows displayed in a search (between x and y) - determines the maximum number of rows/items loaded into a search result (usually a List Document), to protect both server and client performance. (The values for x and y are configured in the Application Server, based on the server hardware and network capabilities.)
- List display style - Determines the number of rows displayed in a list by altering the height of each row.
  - See More rows at a time reduces the height of rows, making more items visible in a smaller area at the potential cost of readability.
  - See Fewer rows at a time increases the height of rows, making items easier to read at a cost of seeing fewer records in the available space.
- Card display style - Determines the amount of space required by a card by altering the padding around each control in a card.
  - See More fields at a time reduces whitespace around fields, making more items visible in a smaller area at the potential cost of readability.
  - See Fewer rows at a time increases whitespace around fields, making items easier to read at a cost of cards taking more space on the screen.
- Navigator display style - determines the initial style of the navigator
  - See Full view - Displays the full list of expanders (i.e., Favorites, Desktops, Modules, Gadgets, Recent Documents, Recent Reports) with the appropriate lists within them.
  - See Tiles view - Displays up to 12 tile or button items,
  - Tile View: Dashboards Only alters the Tile view to only display tiles for Dashboards.
Restore Questions - Restores questions or alerts that have previously been suppressed by the "Never ask again" checkbox on certain prompts, warnings, and user questions.
Send alert - Displays a window to send a note or message to other Xytech users, or recurring notes to yourself.
Theme - Displays a list of available color and style themes in the system and allows you to change your current selection. Themes affect cosmetic aspects of the user interface and may affect visibility, particularly for users who are visually impaired, but do not affect functionality.
Tutorials - Displays the area of the Fabric website devoted to instructional and tutorial information and videos.

Basic Navigation - Navigator

The navigator pane provides the primary mechanism for opening the modules, documents, and views that comprise the Xytech Web client.

Filter

The Filter field shows only the items that match the specified text, allowing you to quickly find an item.

The Filter applies to both the Full Navigation and Tile Navigation modes.
The X (clear) icon on the right side of the field removes the filter to display all items.
Searches look for the specified string anywhere in the navigation item, so wildcards are not necessary. Entering a wildcard character such as "*" or "%" will only return items that contain those actual characters.
Searching for a shorter string will display all items that contain that string. For example, filtering to "port" displays items containing the words "support", "report", and "export".
In Full Navigation mode:
- The Filter applies to all expanders.
- The Modules tree structure also shows the "parent" path of an item that match the specified text, to preserve the navigation structure.

Full Navigation

The Full Navigation view displays several expanders containing the entire selection of items that can be launched directly in the Xytech Web client. Each expander can be collapsed (up arrow) or expanded (down arrow) as needed. Click an item inside an expander to open it.

Favorites - Displays the list of items that have been marked as Favorites, which are frequently-used documents that can be accessed easily.
Dashboards - Displays the list of Dashboards that have been created using the Save Dashboard command in the Options menu
Modules - Displays the modules included with the system (e.g., Job Management and System) and all modules licensed by the site. The Modules tree structure contains applications, reports, setup items, and utilities.
Gadgets - Displays a MetaVault Library search field and a list of items saved as Gadgets, which are customized objects that can be viewed or added to dashboards.
Recent Documents - Displays a list of records and setup items you have viewed lately, with the most recently viewed items at the top.
Recent Reports - Displays a list of reports you have generated lately, with the most recently viewed items at the top.

Tile Navigation

Tile Navigation is a very simplified view of the navigator used to avoid overwhelming the user with choices. The Tile Navigation view displays a set of tiles, up to a maximum of 12 tiles, where each tile is an item from your Favorites and/or Desktops lists. The icon represents the kind of item it is (such as Maintenance Document, List Document, or Scheduling View) or the module to which it belongs.

Click the tile to open the appropriate item.
Click View More at the bottom or the View Full Navigation icon at the top to return to the Full Navigation view.
Add items to, or remove items from, the list of tiles by adding/removing items in the Favorites and Desktops lists to display different items in the Tile Navigation view.

Walkthroughs

This section provides some step-by-step instructions that demonstrate the general functionality of the Xytech Web client application.

List Documents - Describes opening a List Document and performing a search.
Maintenance Documents - Describes opening a Maintenance document and updating its properties.
Setup Documents - Describes opening a Setup document and adding a new value.
Schedule Book - Describes opening the Schedule Book, navigating through it, and performing basic operations.
Reports - Describes generating and viewing reports.
Layouts - Describes working with layouts to change the arrangement of elements on windows.
Dashboards - Describes saving a particular view as a dashboard.

List Documents

A List Document is a standard way to find and display other documents (generally Maintenance Documents) by searching using various criteria. From the list, other documents can then be opened for editing, used to generate reports, or modified as a collection using the Rapid Update or Grid Update features. List Documents are sometimes referred to as Search Documents or Query Documents, because you run a search to populate the list.

Some of the most commonly used List Documents are:

Bidding > Bids
Job Management > Jobs
Job Management > Work Orders
Media Order > Media Orders
MetaVault Library > Media Assets
Project Management > Projects
Time Card > Time Card Batches

This walkthrough describes the Jobs list, but the same general principles apply to all List Documents.

To start working with the Jobs list:

From the navigator, expand Job Management and click Jobs.
The Jobs list displays.
Optionally, click the Collapse (<) icon on the navigator to provide more space to the work area.

Review the elements of the interface:

Tab control - Displays the name of the tab and allows you to drag a tab into another panel to display tabs side by side. (Maintenance Documents also display the ID of the item being viewed/edited.)
Header control - Displays the name of the tab with additional detail.

List controls - Used to populate the list and manage its items.

	Search - executes a query using the values from the Filter screen or the Column Filter/Criteria controls.
	Filter - Allows you to select a pre-defined filter or open the Filter window to specify search criteria.
	Pager Control - Displays how many records matched the selected criteria, and lets you move between pages of results if the query returned more than one page. (Visible only when the Results area is displaying records.)
	Clear - Removes all specified criteria from the column filters and all items from the results
	Append a New Record - Opens an empty copy of the appropriate Maintenance Document layout in a new tab to create a new record.
	Delete a Record - Removes the currently selected record(s) from the database, if the user has security rights to do so.

Action menu - displays the appropriate Actions for the current document and selections within the document. The Action menu consists of a header bar and two or more expanders.
The header bar contains icons for common commands:

	Save as favorite - Adds the current document to the list of Favorites displayed in the navigator.
	Export to Excel - Generates a Microsoft® Excel® file based on the data in the grid and downloads the file per your browser's capabilities.
	Duplicate Selected Documents - Creates a copy of the selected document(s) and opens the result(s) as tab(s).
	View Report - Asks for the scope of the data (selected records only or all), prompts you to select a Report Layout based on the current document, and generates a snapshot of the appropriate records using the selected layout.
	Hyperlink - Determines the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) of the document, which allows you (or another user with the appropriate security rights) to open the document directly.

One or more document-specific expanders displayed below the header bar contain commands specific to the current document or related documents. For example, the Action menu for Jobs contains one expander for Jobs and one expander for Crewing.
The Document expander at the bottom contains commands common to all documents.

Column Filter/Criteria controls - allows you to specify search/filter criteria for a visible column as a quick alternative to using the full Filter window. (The Filter window often contains fields not present as visible columns, lookups, multiselects, and other additional capabilities.)
Grouping control - allows you to drop one or more column headers to group records by the corresponding values. For example, the Jobs list can be grouped by Customer, Job Type, and/or Due Date.
Grid header control - allows you to control the display of records:
1. Click indexed fields to sort the visible list by the selected value ascending; click a second time to sort by the same value, descending.
2. Right-click to display the menu of all column options, including sorting, filtering, picking columns, and available Totals.
Results area - Displays the records returned by the search, if any. For performance reasons, most List Documents open empty, without executing an initial search. This lets user set the criteria or select a pre-defined Filter and click the Search icon to populate the Results area quickly, rather than waiting for a previous or default search to load a list of records that are not needed.
Custom Buttons - Each button is a shortcut to an Action on the Actions list, which performs a specific action on the items selected in the Results area. Custom buttons are added or removed as part of the document layout.
Layout tools - Displays a menu of options related to document layouts.

In the top left corner, click the Search icon.
The system returns all jobs matching the specified criteria. Since no criteria were specified, the results include all Jobs in the system.
Review the results of the search.
- ID Columns such as Job and Customer display values as links, allowing you to click the ID to open the appropriate item, e.g. the Job maintenance document via the Job ID and the Customer maintenance document via the Customer ID.
- The sort order is selected by default, and indicated by an arrow in the column header. In this example, the list is sorted by Job ID, and is in ascending order.
  - Click the same column to change the sort order (ascending versus descending).
  - Click a different column to sort by that column instead.
- A row is selected by default, and the selected row is highlighted using a different color, such as the first row in this example.
  - Use Shift+click to select multiple rows that are together/contiguous. For example, while row 1 is selected, hold Shift and click the fifth row to select all rows from 1 through 5.
  - Use Ctrl+click (or Command+click) to select multiple individual rows that are not contiguous. For example, while the first 5 rows are selected, hold Ctrl/Command and click row 10 to skip several rows and select only 1-5 and 10.
- If a field contains a long value that cannot be displayed in the available space, hover over the value to see the full value as a tooltip.
- A value displayed in red text indicates an entry that is no longer Active. In this example, the Account Rep 1 values on rows 5 and 6 indicate the account representative is no longer active.
  - Most setup documents and many maintenance documents provide the Active flag to indicate items that are no longer available. Inactive records are not deleted to preserve data integrity, but are removed from controls used to assign values, and are visibly different in search/filter controls and search results.
- Scroll bars appear if the rows or columns exceed the viewable area.
- Records are divided into "pages" if the search returns more rows than the row limit of the grid. In this example, this page displays the first 50 records (1-50) of a possible 13,387 records.
  - Click the > or < buttons to view the next or previous page, respectively.
  - Click the >> or << to go to the last page or first page of the list, respectively. (If you are on the first or last page, the corresponding icons are hidden.)
Click the Filter button to refine the search criteria.
The criteria window displays.

Review the types of controls that can be used to search for records:
1. Input fields accept text. Text searches are generally performed as a 'Contains' search, so the specified text will match if it appears anywhere in the appropriate field's value.
2. Checkboxes can be set to Include Checked (), Include Cleared (), or Include Both ().
3. Lookup fields consist of an input box that accepts an ID, an ellipsis button to launch a selection window, and a read-only text box to display the description of the selected item.
4. Multiselect controls launch a separate Select window which allows you to select one or more values from a list of available items. In the Job Selection criteria, fields like Account Rep 1, Rate Card, Territory, Billing Split, Status, Job Type, Billing Type, Division, and Work Group are multi-select controls.
5. Date fields or date ranges accept text formatted as a date, or you can click the calendar icon to display a calendar control and pick a date.
  - For date ranges (such as Start Date, End Date, and Date Completed in this example), to quickly populate both controls, click the calendar icon, click the first date, hold Shift, and click the second date.
  - If you only populate the first field, the search will return records that match that specific date.
  - If you populate both dates, the search will return records for which the given value (e.g., Start Date) falls somewhere on or between the specified dates.
6. The Added/Changed fields at the bottom of the criteria layout (not visible in the screenshot) find records based on the date on which it was created or modified the record, and/or the user that created or last modified it. The input field automatically populates the from/to date fields based on the current date.
In the Job Description field, enter a value such as "red".
Click the Status field, type 'open', and click the Open option to select it.
Click Search.
The system returns all jobs matching the specified criteria: all Jobs with the string 'red' somewhere in the Job Description and a Status of Open.

Maintenance Documents

A Maintenance Document is a way to represent an item or concept, including a Job, Work Order, Media Asset, or Scheduling Resource. Maintenance Documents are the mainstays of the Xytech system. They contain the information necessary to represent both real-world entities, such as people, places, and things, as well as conceptual models, including bids and budgets, work orders, and signal transmissions.

Some of the most commonly used Maintenance Documents are:

Job Management > Jobs > Job
Job Management > Work Orders > Work Order
Media Order > Media Orders > Media Order
MetaVault Library > Media Assets > Media Asset
Project Management > Projects > Project
Time Card > Time Card Batches > Time Card Batch

To work with a Maintenance Document:

From the navigator, expand Job Management and click Jobs to open the list document for Jobs.
Optionally, click the Collapse (<) icon on the navigator to provide more space to the work area.
In the top left corner, click the Search icon.
The system returns all jobs matching the specified criteria. Since no criteria were specified, the results include all Jobs in the system.
In the Job (ID) column, click the numeric ID of a Job.
- If it is the first time opening a Job, or the 'Always use this layout' checkbox was unchecked previously, the system opens the layout selector for the Job document.
  Select the Job^Std layout, select/check the Always use this layout checkbox, and click OK.
  The system opens the Job document for the selected Job ID as a new tab, using the selected Layout.
- If it is not the first time opening a job and 'Always use this layout' was checked, the system opens the Job document for the selected Job ID as a new tab, using the previously-selected Layout.
Review the general framework of a Maintenance Document. In addition to the standard tab and header area:
1. The Save & Close button commits all changes to the database and closes the tab, while the Save button commits all changes to the database but leaves the tab open for further reference/work.
2. The document toolbar provides several options related to the document:
  1. Previous button changes the current tab page to display the previous item/document in the List Document from which the current item was launched. (This icon only appears when the item was launched from a list.)
  2. Next button changes the current tab page to display the next item/document in the List Document from which the current item was launched. (This icon only appears when the item was launched from a list.)
  3. Attachments button displays a counter of items (e.g., documents, images, etc.) and, when clicked, displays the list of Attachments for this specific document. (Attachments are described in more detail later in this article.)
  4. Change Request Queue button displays the counter of Change Requests for this item and, when clicked, displays the list of Change Requests.
  5. Action Menu button displays the appropriate Action Menu for this document. This includes:
    - Commands that trigger business logic for the current document, such as Change Customer or Close Job in the Job document.
    - Commands for relating the current document to a different type of document, such as assigning a Job to a Project (in Job, Assign Project) or a Work Order to a Job (in Work Order, Assign/Remove Job).
    - Commands that affect related documents, such as from the Job, the actions to Approve Bid or Auto Load Actuals trigger changes in the Bid.
    - Commands common to many documents, such as viewing Additional Contacts, changing the Display Time Zone, or viewing the Change Log.
3. Primary tab control - Provides the main working area of the page, and organizes the various fields and controls. While it is possible for a very simplified layout tailored to a certain user group to display all the necessary controls in a single area without a tab control, most standard layouts are divided into at least two or more tabs.
4. Cards within the main tabs - Contain input fields, display and calculation fields, checkbox and selection controls, grids, lists, and preview controls that represent and manage the properties of the document.
  - Fields that require a value have a highlighted background color (usually light yellow).
  - Fields that cannot be modified have a dimmed background color (usually light gray).
5. Secondary tab control(s) - Optionally organize large amounts of information within a top-level tab. In this example, the Identification/Info/Customer Notes tab control is specific to the Job tab; other top-level tabs may contain their own tab controls.
6. Custom Button section - Displays one or more shortcuts to Actions from the Actions list, as in the List Document. Custom buttons are added or removed as part of the document layout.
7. Layout Tools - displays a menu of options related to document layouts.
Review the information on the Job tab.
Click the Customer Note sub-tab.
The system displays the appropriate sub-tab.
Click Customer Note.
The system displays the Notes window, with the Customer Note tab active.
Enter some note text, and click OK.
The system updates the Customer Note icon to indicate that the note now has content.
Click the Work Orders tab.
The system displays the appropriate tab.
On the Billing sub-tab, review the financial information for the job, including the Phase and W/O Total of each order.
Click the Scheduling sub-tab.
The system displays the appropriate sub-tab.
Review the scheduling information, including the W/O Begin date, W/O End date,
Click Save & Close to apply all changes and close the tab, OR
From the Action menu, click the Refresh () icon; when the system displays the prompt, "Refreshing the document will undo your edits and display the latest version. Proceed?" click Yes to abandon all changes, then click the X icon on the document tab to close it.

Setup Documents

A Setup Document is a way to represent a simple concept that has a small number of properties. It provides a flexible way for each site to customize the values used to populate list controls in Maintenance Documents. A very few examples of setup documents include:

Bidding > Setup > Bid Detail Header Type, Bid Statuses, Bid Types
Job Management > Setup > Job Statuses, Job Types, Order Types, Territories, Unit Types, Work Order Statuses
Media Order > Setup > Media Order Tasks, Media Service Status, Providers
MetaVault Library > Setup > Aspects, Asset Types, Audio Codecs, Audio Formats, Locations, Media Asset Types, Media Types, QC Statuses
System > Attachment Types, Currencies, Divisions, Work Groups

To work with a Setup Document:

From the navigator, expand Job Management, expand Setup, and click Territories.
The system displays the Territories setup document.
Optionally, click the Collapse (<) icon on the navigator to provide more space to the work area.

Review the general framework of a Setup Document. In addition to the standard tab and header, Save & Close/Save, and Attachments/Action button areas:

Item controls - Provides tools to manage the individual items in the document:

	Append a New Record - Adds a new item/row at the bottom of the grid.
	Delete a Record - Permanently removes the selected item(s).
	Insert a New Record - Adds a new item/row* in the grid immediately below the selected item(s).
	Duplicate - Creates a copy* of each selected item/row at the bottom of the grid.
	Export to Excel - Generates a Microsoft Excel file based on the data in the grid and downloads the file per your browser's capabilities.
	Drag - Select a row, then click and drag this button to a different place in the grid to change the display order of the item.
* By default, the ID of a new record is set to 'Next', indicating that it will be assigned by the system using the next available value.

Column Filter/Criteria controls - allows you to click a column title to sort by that column, or use the input controls to specify filter criteria for a given column; the system hides any rows for which the criterion does not match.
- Text entries filter by default to a "contains" type search, so the system displays any entries that contain the specified text anywhere in the value.
- Numeric fields filter to exact matches only; wildcards are not available.
- Checkboxes filter to only when checked (), only when cleared (), or both/any ().
Grid - Displays the items or entries of this particular Setup Document and their properties.

Click Append a New Record.
The system adds a new row at the bottom of the grid.
Enter a Description of the territory, such as 'Appalachian Basin' or 'Arctc Circle'.
Determine the Access needed to select the territory, if your site uses either Divisions or Work Groups to subdivide access.
- Select Global to make the territory available to all users.
- If Access is set to Work Group, select the appropriate Work Group.
- If Access is set to Division, select the appropriate Division.
- The Division and Work Group fields only accept a single value.
- Selecting a Work Group or Division will automatically set the Access field to the appropriate type and clear the alternate field.
By default, Active is selected (checked) to make the item available immediately; clear the checkbox to continue configuring it without making it available.
Optionally apply a Note, such as who requested the new territory, or additional information (e.g. "Eastern United States; contains portions of New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Alabama."
Click Save & Close.

Setup Documents with Multiple Tabs and/or Field Requirements

Some setup documents have more properties than can be easily displayed in a grid control, and some setup documents can be configured to make a value available only when certain other fields have been set. The layouts for these documents often contain additional tabs that are dependent on selecting an item in the first tab. For example:

From the navigator, expand Job Management, expand Setup, and click Phases.
The system displays the Phases setup document.
Optionally, click the Collapse (<) icon on the navigator to provide more space to the work area.
In the Description filter, type 'Approved' and press the Enter key.
The system filters the list to only Phases that contain the word 'approved' in them, with the first item in the list is selected by default.
Click the APPR/APPROVED row to select it.
Click the Detail tab to bring that page forward.
The system displays the full properties of the APPR/APPROVED phase.
Click the Required Fields tab to bring that page forward.
The system displays the fields that must be populated in order for the APPR/APPROVED row to be available in list controls.
Note that for all Work Order documents, the Account Rep field must have a value before the APPR/APPROVED phase can be assigned.
Click Save & Close.

Schedule Book

The Schedule Book is a specialized document that displays a graphical view of scheduled items in a timeline or calendar format. This view allows you to:

View personnel usage and availability as a group to help plan work
Manage availability for high-demand resources such as edit suites, satellite trucks, or key personnel
Create, move, extend, or shorten scheduled items using drag-and-drop operations
Gain visibility to outside factors such as holidays and third-party events (such as trade shows, business conferences, sporting events, etc.)

To work with the Schedule Book:

From the navigator, expand Scheduling Module, expand Schedule Book, and click an existing item, such as Directors & Stages.
The system displays the appropriate schedule book, defaulted to the current day.

Review the general framework of a Setup Document. In the Timeline View, Scheduling Groups and Resources are shown on the 'Y-axis' on the left-hand side of the screen while dates and times are shown on the 'X-axis' across the top. In addition to the standard tab and header:

The main Date control displays the date (or first date) of the first day visible on the timeline/calendar area. Click the drop-down box to display a monthly calendar and click a date (or click and drag a range of dates) to display that date (or range) in the timeline/calendar area.
The Extended Date control displays "12" by default. Click the drop-down box to display twelve monthly calendars; click a date (or click and drag a range of dates) to display that date (or range) in the timeline/calendar area.
A quick navigation bar at the top of the timeline displays several default time spans, including Month, Day, Week, and specific time references, including Midnight and Today (or Now).
- Links with the less than (<) character move the timeline "back from" (or prior to) the currently displayed date/time by the specified amount (Month, Week, Day) or to the specified time (Midnight). For example, if the date currently displayed is June 12, 2025, clicking < Month changes the timeline to display May 12, 2025.
- Links with the greater than (>) character move the timeline "forward to" (or later than) the currently displayed date/time by the specified amount (Month, Week, Day) or to the specified time (Midnight). For example, if the date currently displayed is June 12, 2025, clicking < Month changes the timeline to display July 12, 2025.
- The Left and Right options move the timeline in the appropriate direction by the currently selected duration. For example, if the view is currently displaying 3 days, < Left will move the timeline three days into the past.
- The Today option displays the current day. If the view is currently displaying a number of hours less than a full day, Today changes to Now, and clicking Now displays the current time.

The Action menu for the Schedule Book includes the standard Action (

) button plus two additional buttons:

	Copy View - Creates a new tab by selecting an existing Schedule Book as a source of all settings. Once the new tab is created, use the Action > Save View and provide a name to add it to the list of Schedule Books.
	Change View - Loads a different Schedule Book into the current tab, instead of opening a new tab for an additional Schedule Book from the navigator.

The schedule toolbar offers some specialized controls specific to the Schedule Book:

	Expand All - Expands all the top-level groups in the Y-axis, including by Scheduling Group, Parent Group, Work Order, Job, Project, or Customer. Collapse All - Collapses all the top-level groups in the Y-axis, including by Scheduling Group, Parent Group, Work Order, Job, Project, or Customer. (This button is only visible when Expand All is not available.)
	Find - displays a pop-up window that lets you enter a text string, such as the name of a Resource or the W/O No of a Work Order, to filter the list of items to display.
	Note - Displays a note editor popup to add a note for the currently selected date, or the first date in the currently selected range of dates. If text has already been added for the currently selected date, the icon indicates that a Note exists.
	Calendar View - changes the view to a grid of days and weeks, with seven days per row and five rows. (This icon is only visible when the view is in Timeline mode.)
	Timeline View - changes the view to a timeline with one row per item, such as Scheduling Groups, Scheduling Resources, etc. (This icon is only visible when the view is in Calendar mode.)

Y-Axis Top-level Groups - Display items added to the Schedule Book as groupings (e.g., Scheduling Groups, Projects, Work Orders) which can be expanded or collapsed, with the name of the appropriate grouping. In most sites, Scheduling Groups (e.g., 'Directors' in the example shown) are used to display Scheduling Resources.
Y-Axis Items - Display a row label for each appropriate item, e.g,. each Scheduling Resource.
Timeline Control - Displays the appropriate spans of time, based on the overall duration set by the Zoom Control (below).
- Drag the timeline left or right to move forward or backward in time.
- Click the hyperlink on a day name to display the Note for that day.
Now Indicator - Displays a red line for "now" (the current time on the current date).
Scheduling Canvas - Displays the appropriate period of time for the items in the Y-axis.
- Individual blocks represent scheduled items such as Work Orders, Quick Holds, and Rosters.
- Background colors indicate weekends or other information, depending on settings.
- Hover over an existing block to see additional information about it.
- Right-click a blank spot on the canvas or drag in a blank spot on the canvas to create a new booking block.
- Click an edge of a block and drag to change the corresponding time value.
- Click inside a block and drag to move the entire item.
Custom Buttons - Each button is a shortcut to an Action on the Actions list, which performs a specific action on the items selected in the Results area. Custom buttons are added or removed as part of the document layout.
- Timeline - Displays a pop-up window with settings that affect the canvas area, such as which days of the week are displayed, whether the Now Indicator is displayed, and synchronization and refresh settings.
- Items - Displays a pop-up window to select the items included on the Y-axis.
Zoom Control - Controls the amount of time displayed by the scheduling canvas.
Layout Tools - Displays a menu of options related to document layouts.

Layouts

Layouts control how documents are displayed, including what information gets displayed and the arrangement of that information. Many sites create one or more custom layouts based on specific user groups to tailor the information to the needs of the users.

Xytech provides a default set of layouts. These layouts can be used as is, and as a starting point to create custom layouts using the Layout Editor in the Xytech Smart Client application.

Reports

Reports provide a snapshot of an item or set of items at a specific point in time. They also provide a mechanism to provide vital work information to places that do not have easy access to the Xytech Web client. Reports can provide:

A view into the health of the business, such as weekly or monthly revenue reports
A summary of upcoming work for the next week or month (Bids, Jobs, Orders, and/or Transactions)
A list of all Media Asset movements for a given period of time
Pull lists for Media Assets, and packing and shipping lists for equipment

Xytech provides a default set of report layouts. These layouts can be used as is, and as a starting point to create custom layouts using the Reports Editor in the Xytech Smart Client application. Reports can be printed, saved as Portable Document Format (PDF) files, or exported to selected third-party formats such as HTML, Comma Separated Value (CSV), or Microsoft Excel (XLS/XLSX).

Dashboards

A Dashboard is a collection of configured open documents saved for a User, to quickly access that configuration again later. You can save, edit, duplicate, and delete dashboards as needed. To see how dashboards work:

From the Modules pane, expand the Job Management module.
Click the Jobs link to open the Jobs search list.
The Jobs list opens in a new tab in the main area of the application.
Expand the Purchase Order module.
Click the Purchase Orders link to open the Purchase Orders search list.
The Purchase Orders list opens in a new tab to the right of the Jobs list.
Click the Purchase Orders tab and drag it to the right side of the screen.
The system displays a dark grey rectangle overlaying the right half of the screen.
Drop the tab into the shaded area.
The Purchase Orders tab is now presented in a separate tab control in a new pane to the right of the Jobs tab.
Drag the Purchase Orders tab back to the same panel as the Jobs tab, and drop it into the shaded area when it covers the entire Jobs tab.
The Jobs and Purchase Orders tabs are now in the same panel on the left, with an empty panel on the right.
Click the bar between the two panels, and drag it to the right edge of the screen.
The empty right panel is removed.
Click the Purchase Orders tab and drag it to the bottom area of the panel where the Jobs tab is open.
The system displays a dark gray rectangle overlaying the bottom half of the screen.
Drop the tab into the shaded area.
The Purchase Orders tab is now presented in a new pane below the Jobs tab.
You can similarly create new panels by dragging a tab to the right, left, or bottom of any
panel. Drag until half of an existing panel is shaded. (If an entire panel is shaded, the tab will be moved to that panel.)
Drag the divider bar between two panels to resize the panels.
In the navigator area, click Settings, click Dashboards, and click Save dashboard.
The Save Dashboard window opens.
Assign a name to your Dashboard (such as "My First Dashboard") and click Save.
NOTE: Saving a Dashboard will save your search criteria on searches and reports.
In the navigator area, click Settings, click Dashboards, and click Clear dashboard to close the current dashboard(s).
Expand the Dashboards pane and select your newly saved Dashboard.
The Dashboard opens and displays the Jobs search and the Purchase Orders search using the arrangement in which they were saved.
In the navigator area, click Settings, click Dashboards, and click New dashboard.
A new Dashboard tab appears above the Jobs and Purchase Orders tabs.
Add new items into the new Dashboard tab.
In the Dashboards pane, hover over the new dashboard ("My First Dashboard") and click the Delete icon to remove it from the system.

Hyperlinks in Search List Windows and Maintenance Documents

In both List and Maintenance Documents, hyperlinks provide access to rapid navigation to the appropriate area.

In List Documents, hyperlinks for ID values open the appropriate item as a tab for viewing and/or modification.
In Maintenance Documents, hyperlinks for labels open the appropriate tab to create a new item of that type.
- Labels for Maintenance Documents such as 'Job No' and 'W/O No' open a new Maintenance Document of the appropriate type (Job and Work Order, respectively).
- Labels for Setup Documents such as 'Job Type' and 'Asset Type' open the appropriate Setup Document to add a new row to create a new item of that type.

Items with embedded hyperlinks are indicated by underlined text. Note that users must have the appropriate rights to the target document, and that not all fields have embedded hyperlinks.

Advanced Topics

This section briefly introduces some advanced topics.

List Customization

When opening a List Document for a given application, the Xytech client will ask you to select a Layout if more than one layout is available. The Layout of each List defines the columns, their order and width, and how they are sorted. All of these settings can be adjusted to create a layout that is most useful for you.

To change the order in which columns are displayed, click the column to move, then drag and drop it to the desired location. For example, in the Jobs list, clicking on the Job Type column, then dragging and dropping it one column to the left will change the order of the Job Type and Status columns.
To change the width of a column, click the border line of the column header and drag it to make the column wider or narrower.
To add or delete columns, right-click any column's header/label and hover over the Columns selection to view the names of all columns available to the Search List.
- Select (check) a column to include it in the displayed list.
- Deselect (clear) a column to exclude it from the displayed list.
To change the sort order, right-click any column's header/label and click Sort Ascending or Sort Descending. (This does the same thing as clicking the header/label.)
To apply a filter to the visible records, right-click the column's header/label and click Filter. Each column supports up to two filters, configured by setting the comparison and a value. For example, in the Account Rep 1 column, set the Comparison to 'Contains' and enter the Value of 'George' to see only items that have an Account Rep containing the word George in it.
- Set the comparison to determine how the value is compared to the data in the filtered column.
- Set the value to determine whether the comparison is true (display) or false (filter out).
NOTE: Filters apply only to the current page of data. If the search returned multiple pages of data, navigate to each page of the results, or update the search criteria to return a shorter list of records.

To save any changes made to the arrangement or widths of the column, click the Layout Tools icon
and click Layout Save.

Attachments

Many documents in the Xytech system provide the ability to add Attachments to instances of that document, such as attaching contracts, scans of permits or receipts, pictures of locations or equipment, and more. An attachment may be a digital file, which is uploaded to the Xytech system, or a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) address of an existing location on an accessible network.

Each site determines what file types are allowed and what extension is supported by each file type in the Attachment Types setup. Xytech provides an initial list that can be revised and expanded, including images (BMP, GIF, JPG), animations (MP4, MOV), and common business document formats. The Attachment Type also determines the default storage location to keep files organized.

Each site also determines the list of intended purposes that can be assigned to attachments in the Attachment Categories setup. Xytech provides an initial list that can be revised and expanded, including examples such as Synopsis, Screenplay/Script, and Client Communication.

Document security determines which users are allowed to View, Add/Edit, and/or Delete attachments.

Event Triggers

The Xytech system provides the Event Trigger mechanism to send information to external systems based on changes ("events") to documents in the system. Event Triggers take effect when the following types of Events occur: Insert, Update, Delete, and Notify. When a trigger is met, the system can do the following:

Send an email or meeting invitation to an email address (Insert or Update), or cancel an invitation (Delete)
Generate an XML payload, such as for an external SOAP API
Generate a collection of properties and values, such as for an external REST API

Interfaces for External Integrations

The Xytech system provides a mechanism for external systems to send information to, modify information in, or retrieve information from the Xytech database through a Representational State Transfer (REST) Application Program Interface (API). Most of the Documents in the Xytech system are provided as endpoints, and HTTP verbs (i.e., GET, POST, PUT, DELETE) determine which operation is performed on that document. Using the REST API, several external systems can integrate with the Xytech software to perform various tasks, such as:

An HR system can update information in an employee's Contact document.
A digital asset management (DAM) or media asset management (MAM) system can create a record for a new asset or update information for an existing asset based on changes made to it.
A network management system (NMS) can update the status of a Transmission Order when the transmission begins, ends, or experiences problems.
A business dashboard can retrieve lists of upcoming projects or jobs, status reports for active projects or jobs, or financial information for display.

Glossary of Terms

Checkbox: A user interface control resembling a square with or without a marker inside it.; For simple settings, a checkbox can have two values: selected/checked for 'Yes'/true, and deselected/cleared for 'No'/false.; In search criteria and column filtering, a checkbox can have three values: selected/checked for 'Yes'/true, deselected/cleared for 'No'/false, and a dash for 'Any'/null. Setting the checkbox to checked returns only items for which the value is checked; setting the checkbox to unchecked returns only items for which the value is unchecked; setting the value to a dash returns items for which the value is either checked or unchecked.
Date: A user interface control that contains a value representing a particular place within a calendar year, usually specified by the month, day, and year. Depending on the usage, date fields can also include Time.; Formatting is determined by a System Preference and/or Masks that can be set up in Document Customizations (E.g. 6 Dec 2019, December 6, 2019, 2:30 AM, 14:30).; Date values are generally displayed in the user's selected Time Zone; certain views or reports can also specify a time zone to use temporarily for that view/report only.
Document: A single object or record representing a conceptual group of data, from the simplest collection of properties in a Setup Document, to a complex collection of related information in a Maintenance Document, to a collection of other documents in a List Document.
Dropdown: A field (e.g. Job Type) is connected to a Setup document. Each row on the setup document displays as an available item in the dropdown field. (Ex. Phase, Order Type, Billing Type, etc.)
Layout: An arrangement of some (or all) of a Document’s available fields. Documents are opened using Layouts. Xytech provides Standard Layouts for each Document that cannot be modified. Each site optionally creates Custom Layouts in the Layout Editor, usually by copying a Standard Layout and adding, removing, and rearranging tab controls, cards, and fields.
List Document: A method of finding and displaying one or more Maintenance Documents by searching using various criteria. From the list, Maintenance Documents can then be opened for editing, used to generate reports, or modified as a collection using the Rapid Update or Grid Update features.
(Also known as a Search Document.)
Lookup: A user interface control that is made up of an ID input field, the corresponding Description, and often an ellipsis (...) button that opens a lookup window. The ID can be entered as an exact value that will populate the Description upon tabbing out. Also, a partial ID value or the Description itself can be entered to either prompt a search or populate the exact value if there are no partial matches.
Maintenance Document: A single object or record representing a complex concept, such as a Job, a Work Order, or a Resource. Maintenance documents generally have a main table and one or more related subordinate tables.
Multiselect: A user interface control that can be used to select multiple values from a list of available values. Selected values are displayed as individual tiles inside the control, and can be removed by clicking the X on a given value.
Report: A snapshot of one or more documents at a particular point in time that can be printed, emailed, or exported for an external system. Report links from the Navigator allow the user to specify the criteria used to collect the items displayed in the report. Report actions inside Maintenance and Search/List Documents generate reports based on the active Document or list of Documents.
Search Document: (See also List Document.)
Setup Document: A single object or record representing a simple concept. A Setup Document is one record in a set of related records, where records are accessible via a dropdown field on a Maintenance Document (Phase, Order Type, Job Type, etc.). Generally, all records for a given Setup Document are stored in a single table without any subordinate tables.
Text: A user interface control that accepts all characters, including letters, numbers, and punctuation. The character limit for a Text field can vary and is determined by the Document to which the field belongs.
Utility: A mechanism that runs in the background and usually updates multiple records at once. A Utility document has Criteria fields and a way to run the Utility.

¹Xytech recommends using the latest version of Google Chrome® or Firefox® (Windows®/Android® users) and Safari® (Mac/iOS users) to ensure the best performance.