This chapter provides you with a product overview, a guide to installation and setup, a look at the working environment, and a short introduction to modules.
In this section:
• Introducing Designer Studio
• Installing Designer Studio
• Exploring the workspace
• Exploring the ribbon
• Workspace modes
• Understand the process
• Basic tasks in Designer Studio
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Introducing Designer Studio
Designer Studio is a powerful and comprehensive solution for designing, publishing and accessing the modules that automate your business processes. It simplifies the development of complex processes by using a desktop-based tool which allows you to create the required components in a single user interface. Using Designer Studio you can create, manage, and maintain the modules for all your business processes. It comprises the following elements for building modules:
• Component Explorer
• Entity Designer
• Formula Designer
• Pick List Designer
• Screen Designer
• Document Designer*
• Workflow Designer
• Process Designer
Using these tools anyone can develop an effective module with just a few clicks and without writing a line of code. You don't have to be a technical wizard! The intuitive design allows modules to be delivered rapidly, without any programming knowledge. Single actions can be performed in multiple ways to accommodate different working practices and a click-and-drag approach to designing workflow help provide a user-friendly working environment.
Components
Every module will contain various components. These are the building blocks of your business processes. For example, in order for the person who interacts with your module to capture information you would need to create fields against entities and place them on a screen. You would then need to display the screen using a piece of workflow. Almost any activity can be orchestrated using the components available.
• Entities
Run-time
As you know, Designer Studio allows you to design automated solutions for your business processes. However, it cannot be used on its own. It takes care of the design aspects, but the run-time experience is initiated through the ALB desktop. This is where your users run and interact with your modules. In order to expose your modules in ALB there are a number of steps to follow. For more information, please refer to Add a module to a matter.
*NOTE Document design has not been integrated into Designer Studio therefore documents and Laserform mappings must be designed via the Document Template library in ALB Utilities. However, to provide easy access, a link has been provided at the bottom of Component Explorer to open this functionality directly from within Designer Studio.
Installing Designer Studio
Designer Studio is installed and configured by Advanced Legal. This involves running a series of installers, which also includes the installation of Workflow Solution Server. This stores all the modules created and deployed using Designer Studio and is then used to provide access to the modules in Practice Management System (PMS).
The integration between Designer Studio and PMS is controlled by specific system parameters in ALB. These allow the software to talk to each other.
It is also possible to configure ALB so that its client and matter create functions use workflow built in Designer Studio to create clients and matters via PMS.
You can enhance ALB by integrating these add-ins. However, Designer Studio is a licensed module, available as a chargeable option—it is not shipped as standard. If you would like to take advantage of either or would like more information, please contact your account manager or call 0844 815 5575 to speak to a Sales representative.
Exploring the workspace
CHAPTER PART 1: GETTING STARTED
open module you can easily switch between its components and edit them concurrently.
The user interface has therefore been designed to display a large number of components in an organised way. This is achieved with thoughtful positioning of commonly used information and actions. This includes panes, tabs, toolbars, and menus to provide easy access to the options for the task in hand. Collectively, these elements are called the workspace.
Fig. Designer Studio workspace
A. Ribbon B. Menu C. Component Explorer D. Tabbed pane E.
Workspace modes F. Workspace G. Shortcuts
• The ribbon contains the commands for everything you need to do in a
• Each Tabbed pane is specific to a particular designer, e.g. opening a formula opens the Formula Designer.
• The Properties and Design buttons on the ribbon let you switch between the different workspace modes.
• When multiple components are open, click the cross in the top right-hand corner to close that component.
• The ribbon is greyed out until a module has been opened to work on.
• Shortcuts provide quick access to areas not currently hosted in Designer Studio.
Exploring the ribbon
The ribbon replaces traditional menus and toolbars with groups of related commands, making them easier to find and use. It provides convenient access to common operations such as creating new components, saving components, and switching between workspace modes. The ribbon is also contextual—tabs appear only when you are working on a specific task.
This eliminates the need for many different toolbars and allows you to find commands efficiently with fewer clicks. The tabs you can expect to see are:
File tab
The File tab is coloured blue and is always located in the upper-left corner of Designer Studio. After you click the File tab, you see the Designer Studio Backstage view. This view is where you manage your modules—
opening, saving, inspecting information about the available modules, and other options. In short, it is everything that you do to a module that you don't do in the workspace.
CHAPTER PART 1: GETTING STARTED
Fig. File tab
A. File options B. Module actions C. Available modules D. Module details E. Open button
Home tab
The Home tab provides access to commands that are common across all components such as, opening, creating, refreshing data, and switching between the workspace modes, etc. It is always located next to the File tab.
Fig. Home tab
• Paste. Paste the contents of the Clipboard (Ctrl+V)
• Cut. Cut the selection and put it on the Clipboard (Ctrl+X)
• Create. Create a new component.
• Open. Open a component.
• Refresh. Refresh the list of components or current display.
• Save. Save the current component.
• Save As. Save the current component with a different name.
Entity commands
When editing an entity, the ribbon provides access to everything on the Home tab, plus commands specifically relating to entities.
Fig. Entity commands
• New. Create a new user-defined field.
• Edit. Change the details of the current user-defined field.
• Cancel. Discard changes to the current user-defined field.
• Save. Save changes to the current user-defined field.
• Refresh. Refresh field, formula, and lookup data.
Formula commands
When editing a formula, the ribbon provides access to everything on the Home tab, plus commands specifically relating to formulas.
Fig. Formula commands
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Lookup table commands
When editing a lookup table, the ribbon provides access to everything on the Home tab, plus commands specifically relating to lookup tables.
Fig. Lookup table commands
• Properties. Display the properties of the current lookup table.
• Design. Display the designer for the current lookup table.
Pick list commands
When editing a pick list, the ribbon provides access to everything on the Home tab, plus commands specifically relating to pick lists.
Fig. Pick list commands
• Properties. Display the properties of the current pick list.
• Design. Display the designer for the current pick list.
Workflow commands
When editing workflow, the ribbon provides access to everything on the
Fig. Workflow commands
• Properties. Display the properties of the current workflow.
• Design. Display the designer for the current workflow.
Master process commands
When editing master processes, the ribbon provides access to everything on the Home tab, plus commands specifically relating to master processes.
Fig. Master Process commands
• Properties. Display the properties of the current master process.
• Design. Display the designer for the current master process.
• Add Process. Add a sub-process to the selected process.
• Delete Process. Delete the selected process.
• Move Process Up. Move the selected process up.
• Move Process Down. Move the selected process down.
• Outdent Process. Decrease the indent level of the selected process.
• Indent Process. Increase the indent level of the selected process.
• Add Condition. Add a condition to the selected process.
• Add Operator. Add an operator to the selected process.
• Delete Condition. Delete the selected condition.
• Move Condition Up. Move the selected condition up.
• Move Condition Down. Move the selected condition down.
• Outdent Condition. Decrease the indent level of the selected condition.
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Screen commands
When editing a screen, the ribbon provides access to everything on the Home tab, plus commands specifically relating to screens.
Fig. Screens commands
• Properties. Display the properties of the current screen.
• Design. Display the designer for the current screen.
Ribbon behaviours
The Designer Studio ribbon is a standard control that functions in the same way as any Microsoft ribbon that you may already be familiar with.
This includes common behaviours such as:
• Minimising the ribbon. You can minimise the ribbon to make more space available on your screen. When minimised you see only the tabs. To minimise or restore the ribbon, press Ctrl+F1.
• Customising the Quick Access Toolbar. The Quick Access Toolbar is a customisable toolbar that can contain a set of commands that are independent of the tab on the ribbon that is currently displayed. You can move the Quick Access Toolbar from one of the two possible locations and you can add buttons that represent commands. To add a command, right-click the desired command, and then click Add to Quick Access Toolbar on the shortcut menu.
For more information about using these features please refer to the Microsoft product documentation.
With the exception of Entity Designer, these modes apply to all designers.
Entity Designer is slightly different because it's not the entities themselves that can be edited, it's user-defined fields within them. Therefore, when you open an instance of Entity Designer you simply see a list of the fields in that entity, which you can then add to by creating your own fields.
The workspace modes are accessed via dedicated buttons on the ribbon's Home tab. However, when creating formulas, lookup tables, and screens it is also possible to switch to the Design view via the Designer button in the Properties view.
Properties view
The Properties view displays the properties associated with the selected component. This includes basic information such as a component's name and description, but also other settings or options that are specific to the type of component. Each component has properties that you can set or change. For example, a formula offers options for the format you want to use to display the data.
Fig. Properties view
A. Properties button B. Properties
• The Properties button always displays the associated properties.
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• Not all properties can be edited after creating a component. Some are locked down, like a component's entity type. Properties that are locked down are shown as read-only, i.e. greyed out.
Design view
The Design view displays an editor for the selected component. This screen allows you to build and develop your components. For example, when building a formula you can extract data from the database, perform mathematical calculations, etc.
Fig. Design view
A. Design button B. Editor
• The Design button always displays the associated editor, e.g. Formula Designer.
• Editors are specific to each component.
• When changes are made in Design view and there are no errors (i.e.
missing mandatory data), the Save button automatically becomes available.
understand the steps required to build a module, take a look at the lists below. They show an example of what you might do to produce a simple module and the steps you might need in a basic case management workflow.
Example process
1. Create a user-defined module.
2. Add fields to the database.
3. Create a screen with the fields on.
4. Create workflow to automate the process.
5. Create a document template with the fields in.
6. Create a process and attach the workflow.
7. Open the module in ALB.
8. Run the workflow and interact.
Example workflow
1. Assign default values, e.g. credit limit, open date, user-defined fields, etc.
2. Display a screen to capture information entered by the run-time user.
3. Attach a contact (such as a referrer, etc.).
4. Save the matter details back to the database.
5. Create a diary task as a reminder to review the file in the future.
6. Generate a document to produce, e.g. a client care letter or terms of business.
7. Post time against the matter to record that some work has been done.
Basic tasks in Designer Studio
To help you get started quickly, here are some of the basic tasks that you can perform in Designer Studio.
Create a module:
1. On the File tab, click Modules.
CHAPTER PART 1: GETTING STARTED
3. When the Add New UD-Module dialog box opens, complete the required details.
4. Set the Status to Active so that the module can be attached to a matter.
5. Click Save & Exit.
Create a component:
1. First, open the desired module in Designer Studio.
2. On the Home tab, under Components, click Create and from the drop-down menu, click any component.
3. When the Properties view opens, complete the appropriate fields.
4. Click Save.
Open an existing component:
1. In Component Explorer, double-click the desired component. A new tab is introduced in the workspace.
• You can also select a component and click Open.
• Only one instance of a component can be opened.
Save a component:
1. On the Home tab, under Components, click Save.
Save a component as a copy:
Currently, this only applies to formulas and formula lookups.
1. In Component Explorer, open the component you want to copy.
Close a component:
1. On the Tabbed pane, click the cross in the top right-hand corner.
• If the component has not been saved, then you will be prompted to save the changes before closing.
Close a module:
1. On the File tab, click Close.
Contact support:
1. On the File tab, click Help.
2. Click Contact Us. An email is automatically generated ready for you to type your message.
Visit the ALB website:
1. On the File tab, click Help.
2. Click ALB Home Page. The ALB page of the Advanced Legal website opens in your default browser.
Visit the support portal:
1. On the File tab, click Help.
2. Click ALB Customer Portal. The ALB customer support portal opens in your default browser, ready for you for log in.
Exit Designer Studio:
1. On the File tab, click Exit.
• You can also press Alt+F4 on your keyboard or the X in the top right-hand corner.
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NOTE
• If you close Designer Studio using Alt+F4 or the X button and you have any unsaved components, then you will not be prompted to save them and your changes will be discarded.