The next section examines some typical user groups in order to illustrate their structure as part of digitisation projects at numerous establishments and the way they work with Goobi on a daily basis. In terms of the way tasks are performed, any user groups or methods that may be in place at your own establishment but not specifically represented below will nevertheless work along similar lines to those shown in the examples. Accordingly, all the examples given are also applicable to individual workflows and other project-specific arrangements.

In addition to the tasks we have already described, it is possible to configure Goobi so that users can call up any external programs, scripts or plugins for specific purposes from within Goobi. To this end, Goobi provides an option to configure additional buttons in the Possible actions area for individual steps of the workflow. The names of these buttons are specified by the Goobi administrator when configuring the workflow. When they are activated, they call up one or more configured instructions on the server.

Based on the way Goobi has been configured by the Administrator, the user can decide whether the scripts are actually executed or not. The user simply needs to click on one or more of the proposed actions. Depending on the configuration, the user will receive a message to confirm that the server has executed the script correctly.

The methods used by scan operators working with Goobi on a daily basis do not vary substantially from those of other users with different qualifications or responsibilities. All users must first log in and select My tasks from the menu bar.

This list of tasks contains all the workflow steps that the scan operator is authorised to perform as a member of one or more projects and user groups. The symbols in the Actions columns indicate the current status of the workflow steps in those rows. As described above in section My tasks, each user can see immediately which tasks are still open and waiting to be processed and which are already in progress, i.e. being processed by that user or another user with the same level of authorisation and qualifications. The symbols in the column Priority indicate error messages or priorities.

From an individual user’s perspective, working with Goobi on a daily basis generally involves selecting a task from the list of those offered and then clicking on the corresponding Actions button at the end of the row to view full details of that task.

The top-left box in the Details of the task window contains some general information about the task selected and accepted for processing by the user. You can use the Process log box immediately below this to enter whatever information you wish. This information will be visible to all users who subsequently accept other tasks as part of the same process at a later stage of the workflow. Its purpose is therefore to act as an open area for communication between different users in the form of general notes or observations. It can be used, for example, to draw attention to the fact that the volume in question needs to be worked on with particular care on account of its properties, or to a particular feature of the process that users at other work stations at a later stage of the workflow need to be aware of. Comments entered by users manually in the Process log are usually displayed in green.

It is also possible to upload files for this process, which are then listed within the process log. In contrast to the digital copies, these files do not serve to describe the work itself, but can contain information about the work or the method of operation to be observed. For example, it can be used to upload routing slips or offers from restoration service providers. The files uploaded in this way are available for all subsequent workflow steps, as are the comments.

In addition, you can switch to the file area at the top of the process log. Here the files of the different directories of a process are listed. Depending on the respective user authorization, these files can also be downloaded and deleted there. In the lower part of the process log it is possible to select a file to upload. After selecting a file, an optional description can be added. It is also possible to specify whether the file should only be used internally or whether it should also be considered for later export.

Information that has been transferred by external applications or scripts to the currently displayed process is displayed in different colors within the process log. The colors used here have the following meanings:

Colours in the Process log

To the right of the general properties box, you will find a number of extended task properties that can or in some cases must be entered by the user. These will depend on the configuration of your particular site, the process and the workflow step. In the screenshot shown above, for example, Goobi has been configured in such a way that the user must enter details of the opening angle and the scanning device.

Once a task has been accepted by the scan operator, Goobi will create a new folder within that operator’s work drive for storing the digitised files. Depending on the installation and configuration, users are generally allocated a network drive for use on the local work station computer. After a task has been accepted, that drive will contain an additional folder to which the scanned files can usually be saved directly.

Once a task has been completed, i.e. when all the required pages of the physical source have been scanned and saved in digital form in the folder provided by Goobi, the user needs to click on the Fishish this task link in the Possible actions area. This tells Goobi that the task has been completed. Goobi will then check for graphics files in the specified folder within the user’s work drive, check the names given to those files and end the task for the user. Goobi will also remove the folder provided for that specific process within the user’s work drive so the scan operator can no longer access it and the digitised material it contains. Whenever a user tries to close a task, Goobi will draw attention to any compulsory fields that need to be completed, e.g. the opening angle or the scanning device (see screenshot above). This means a task cannot be closed until all the required information has been entered in full by the user.

If, after accepting and starting a task, you decide that you do not want to work on the selected task, you can simply return it. Goobi will then reset that workflow step to its original open status. It is now available to any other authorised users or even to the same scan operator at a later stage. This arrangement can be useful if a task that has been selected involves too much work and cannot be completed, for example, on the last day before that user’s holiday, as it would otherwise remain unavailable to other users for a relatively long period.

While you are working on a task, if you notice an error that has been made at an earlier stage of the workflow that needs to be rectified before you can complete your work, you can send an error message to the work station responsible for that earlier task. This tends to be very rare in the case of scan operators. A description of such error messages can be found in section Quality control.

Once you have closed a task, you will return automatically to the My tasks list. The completed task will no longer appear in the list. You can now continue with the next task from your list.

At many sites that work with Goobi, a manual check is made on the quality of the scanning work performed in earlier steps of the workflow. The methods used by the staff who conduct these quality checks are almost identical to those used by the original scan operators. As in section Scanning, staff in the Quality Control user group first log in to Goobi and then select My tasks from the menu bar. Next, from the list of available completed tasks, they choose one to review. The choice will depend on the priority level and any error messages.

Once the reviewer has selected a task, Goobi will create a new folder within that user’s work drive (in the same way as it did for the scan operator) containing all the digitised material produced in an earlier step of the workflow (usually at the scanning stage).

In most cases, the workflow in Goobi is configured in such a way that quality control staff are not expected to make any changes within the new folder and have read-only access. Any general observations entered at an earlier stage are also visible to the reviewer in the Process log in the bottom left of the window. Any configured additional properties that users from this group need to enter or select during this task are shown next to the general properties. Using any standard image viewer, the user can now review each of the images in the new folder and check the quality of the digitised output.

If the quality matches project requirements, the reviewer will then click on the Fishish this task link to remove that task from the My tasks list. The new folder created by Goobi to allow the reviewer read-only access to the digitised material will then be removed automatically from that user’s work drive, thus preventing any further access to the data for that specific task within the specified workflow.

If a reviewer finds that the quality of individual files of digitised material is unsatisfactory, or that certain pages are missing or repeated, Goobi provides an option to send a correction message to a previous work station.

To do this, select the Report error tab in the Possible actions box. Goobi will display a list of all those tasks previously completed, together with details of the users responsible for those tasks. The reviewer can enter a description of the error found during quality control in the free text box below the selected task.

After the reviewer clicks on the link Send correction message, the incorrectly performed task will reappear in the My tasks list of the work station in question. The user will be able to view details of the error message by holding the cursor over the red warning message or by re-accepting the correction task. Having corrected the error, the user can then enter a description of the solution found. It is therefore possible to assign processes more than once within the workflow (in the event, for example, of an error).

One of the workflow steps frequently included in a wide range of digitisation projects at numerous establishments involves making the digitised material available to the public together with the corresponding structure data and metadata, obtaining which can sometimes require a considerable investment of time and effort. This digitised material can be made available in a range of systems independently of Goobi and can be used, for example, on completely different hardware from that required to run Goobi. In this step, Goobi will export the digitised material, together with the structure data and metadata in the form of a METS file, to a Document Management System (DMS). This step can either be completely or partially automated, depending on the configuration.

If the procedure is only partially automated, the data is exported manually by the responsible person in the user group using roughly the same methods as those described earlier for the other user groups. After logging in and selecting a task from the My task list, the user will be shown a screen containing the details of that task. As in the previous examples, in addition to the task details, this screen contains a Process log for messages about the corresponding process. However, an additional button can be found in the Possible actions area. This button can be selected to launch the actual export to the external DMS system.

Please note that exporting the digitised material together with the corresponding structure data and metadata to an external DMS can take some time depending on the configuration and the volume of data. If Goobi has been configured to validate the export to the DMS, it will prevent any further work until the communication between Goobi and the DMS has been completed. You will not see any message to confirm that the export has taken place until this communication is over, and in the case of large volumes of data this can easily take several minutes. If the export fails, Goobi will display a detailed error message on the screen that was responsible for preventing the export. Such errors are usually caused by a failure to observe the rules within the structure data and metadata. As part of the DMS export task, Goobi can also (depending on the configuration) allow users access to the structure data and metadata through the Metadata Editor, so that they can resolve any such validation errors themselves immediately. In most cases, however, export errors lead to the sending of an error message to the responsible work station earlier in the workflow. A description of how to send error message to other work stations within the workflow can be found in .

If Goobi has been configured by the system administrator in such a way that the user does not have to wait until communication with the DMS has ceased, it will display a positive message immediately (after the user clicks the Export to DMS link) to indicate that the export process is now running in the background. The results of the export are still validated in the background (even though validation is not displayed on the user screen) and are stored with details of system events in the form of log files. This means that the user does not have to wait and can continue to work with Goobi immediately by clicking the Finish this task link. The task is then removed automatically from that user’s My tasks list.

From Version 1.9 of Goobi onwards, users have been able to perform a fully automated DMS export in addition to the manual option. In this case, DMS export tasks will only appear in a user’s task list if an error has occurred during the export process. Assuming that Goobi has been correctly configured, the validation of earlier workflow results should ensure that the automatic export is successful. In such cases, the export process is fully automatic within the workflow and will on completion activate the next task in the workflow.

In Goobi 2.0, the Export function has been updated so that users can integrate various plugins at this point allowing them to respond flexibly to the requirements of different presentation environments. If you wish to use this plugin-based export function, the workflow step must be configured with the Export DMS setting. However, you will also need to enter the plugin that has been provided. If the special plugin-based export function has not been configured for that workflow step, Goobi will use the default export function.

As well as the manual scripts described in the last section, Goobi can also be configured to execute individual workflow steps automatically if they have been configured to call up scripts.

To do this, as for the manual scripts, the administrator will assign a series of different shell commands and stipulate that they should be performed automatically one after the other in the specified sequence. Automatic script-run steps are not generally included in a user’s task list. If an error occurs during the execution of the configured server-based script calls with the result that the script cannot actually be executed, the automatic workflow step will keep the same status and will be displayed automatically in the assigned user’s task list. Automatic script-run steps are therefore only visible in the user’s task list if errors occur during execution.

To identify the error, the user can employ the same method as that described above for manual script-run steps, i.e. by starting the scripts in question manually and thus identifying the source of the error. In cases where the automatic scripts make use of the function allowing users to send information or error messages concerning a specific process, the error messages are also listed in the Process log within that task without having to run the script again to identify the error.

Automatic script-run steps that successfully execute the configured scripts automatically close the current workflow step and activate the next step in the workflow.

One of the main areas of work for those users with library training in the field of digitisation projects involves the comprehensive indexing of digitised objects. Basically, this covers pagination, structuring and the recording of metadata.

Those members of the digitisation project who are responsible within their user groups for recording structure data and metadata will complete their tasks in Goobi in a similar way to the other user groups described earlier (scan operators and quality control).

After logging in, they also need to click on My tasks in the menu bar and select the task they wish to process next from the list of tasks displayed. The screen containing the details of the selected task is very similar to that described above for scan operators and quality control users. Here, too, the user will find a box of general properties on the left and the Process log for general observations concerning the process. However, one additional action is available in the Possible actions area. The Edit metadata link allows the user to open Goobi’s Metadata Editor. The precise functions and user operation of the Metadata Editor are described in a separate section of this manual on account of its complexity.

The remaining actions offered by Goobi correspond to those described earlier for the workflow steps Scanning and Quality control. When the user closes the task by clicking the Finish this task link, Goobi will validate the structure data and metadata. The task can only be closed completely if all the configured rules on structure data and metadata have been observed.

Unlike project members working as scan operators or in quality control, users involved in processing structure data and metadata do not generally work directly with data from the file system. Consequently, at this point Goobi does not provide access to the digitised material in the file system within the user’s work drive. If required, however, this can also be configured for users processing structure data and metadata to allow for read-only access to the images and allowing them to be displayed using an image viewer. In this case, when the task is closed, the folder containing the digitised material would be removed from the user’s work drive to prevent any further access to that material outside the authorised workflow.