Simultaneous use of clauses or documents by different users

Clause9 Miscellaneous
1

I am wondering how ClauseBase handles changes to a clause or a document made simultaneously by two different users in an account. Or would it not let the second user “in” to the clause or document in the first place?

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Hi Kenneth,

  • A user can login multiple times; the system will not provide a warning if done so. (This is actually a feature, not a bug: you can, for example, open the same account in multiple windows (or even multiple browsers), and copy paste content between those two windows.)

  • You should however pay attention when saving clauses or documents that may also be opened elsewhere (e.g., in a second window of the same browser; in another browser using the same account; or another browser using some other account that also has access to that clause/document). The last save will then take precedence.

Internally, we have been thinking about warning against the second situation. But considering that a typical ClauseBase session will involve opening tens of different files, this would cause quite some network traffic and negatively impact performance, because each browser would have to constantly inform the server about the opened files; and the server should then distribute that list of opened files to each user.

So far, we have not implemented any solution in this regard, mainly because we think it is usually not a good idea anyway if multiple persons work on the same files. The types of documents/clauses that we see being created by our users, tend to be fairly complex, so that from a human perspective it is really advisable that only one person is editing at a certain stage.

But let me know your thoughts — as you know, we are open to discussion.

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Thanks Maarten. I think a user could reasonably be expected to keep track of his/her own multiple instances of windows/tabs containing a provision and to manage these in accordance with how the system works, as you’ve described it. Now that I know how it works, I can operate accordingly.

However, I think that it would be helpful, if I open a clause or document that someone else currently has open, at least to be presented with a warning, so that I can be aware of the potential for conflicts and consult with the other user.

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