Storing documents under version control ensures that the contents of previous versions, as well as the current one, can be accessed. This is particularly useful when several authors are producing a document collaboratively.
The contents of a document under version control are not simply overwritten but, each time modifications are made, a new version is created as the current version.
As part of the new implementation (Business Collaborator version 4.9 and above) of version control, the concept of the latest version of a document has been introduced. By default, the latest version of the document is always displayed. This version has the name and other attributes of the most recent revision of the document.
Carrying out an action on the latest version of a document, e.g. renaming it (see section 3.5.1), only alters this version of the document. Previous versions are unchanged. Only a restricted set of actions is permitted on a previous version of the document - see section 3.7.5
3.7.2 Placing a document under version control
Documents are usually under version control by default so that it is not possible to overwrite the content of a document, only revise it with a more up-to-date version. However, your server administrator may have chosen to alter the server configuration so that version control must be switched on explicitly for documents. To check whether a particular document is under version control, click on the individual document's menu. If 
| Revise is an option, the document is under version control. If | Replace is available, the document is not yet under version control.
To place a document under version control, click | Version
Certain changes will result from placing the document under version control:
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the version number is displayed in the line showing the document name
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on the document's menu, the actions | Replace and | Version will be replaced be | Revise , | Edit Revision Number and | Version Info - see Figure 3.7-2.
Figure 3.7-2: Comparison of actions available for document before and after being put under version control.
3.7.3 Revising a document
To create a new revision document, you should first ensure that the document is under version control, as described in section 3.7.2. You may then either
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| Edit the document using the ActiveX Save from Windows component - as described in section 3.3
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| Revise the document with one from your local disk (or local network)
When revising a document using the | Revise action, you can choose to change the name of the version stored in Business Collaborator as indicated in Figure 3.7-3. Otherwise, the document name within Business Collaborator will remain as before, irrespective of the name of the document which is revising the original.
Note that it is also possible to revise a document with one of a different MIME type (e.g. a Word document with an Excel spreadsheet). Version numbering is described in section 3.7.4. The final text box on the "Revise" document page allows you to enter a short description of the changes made between the previous and current version. It is strongly recommended that you type in some comments here as it will assist yourself and others to understand the document's evolution. (These comments are visible on both the More Info page and Version Info page of the latest version of the document.)
Figure 3.7-3: Revision screen showing option for changing the name of the version
3.7.4 The latest version
The latest document version partly acts as a summary of all the previous versions of the document. For instance, clicking the 
icon displays the history of the document since it was created (or since the events on this version were caught up -see section 4.7.1.)
| Version Info summarises all of the events on all of the versions of the document clearly in a tabular format see Figure 3.7-4.
Figure 3.7-4: The Version Info Screen
All the usual document actions are available on the latest version of a document, e.g. | Rename or | Edit Description (see section 3.5).
In addition, the version number of the latest document version may be changed using | Edit Revision Number . The default numbering system consists of a number with figures before and after the decimal point, e.g. 0.4, 3.1, 45.87. The version number must be greater than the number of the previous version - an error will be displayed if you try to revise a document with a lower numbered document.
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Note
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The document numbering format may be controlled by a local metadata schema - see section 13.2.14. Such a schema can be used to define a numbering format consistent with a company's or project's preferred system.
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The metadata schema may also define additional information to be added when documents are revised.
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Creating a web link to a document (see section 5.3) using Copy Shortcut will refer to the latest version of the document as long as the shortcut copied is the latest version (or the original document prior to revising it). Copying the shortcut to a specific version will create a link which always refers to this specific version.
The More Info page of the latest version of the document displays information relating to the entire document, including all previous versions. Similarly, the event icons displayed alongside the latest version of the document store all the events which have happened to the document (since it was created or a Catch Up was performed on this version). Even if events have been caught up, the | Version Info action and the Show History action (on the More Info page) for the latest version of the document maintain a full history of events on the document.
Copying the latest version of a document will create a new, standalone document from just this current version.
Cutting or deleting the latest document version will remove the document and all of its versions from the current folder.
3.7.5 Previous document versions
Fewer actions are permitted on previous versions of a document. For instance, a previous version cannot be renamed or revised. However, the version can be read, placed under review or reviewed (see section 6.6) and more information can be obtained in the usual way.
The More Info page of a previous version of the document only displays information relating to that specific version of the document. Similarly, the event icons displayed alongside this version of the document pertain only to events which occurred to this version of the document.
If an error has been made, say by selecting the wrong document to revise an existing one, the version cannot be deleted. Instead, | Disable Revision should be used. Disabling a version indicates that a version existed and retains the metadata associated with this version but the version can no longer be read.
Cutting or deleting a previous document version is not permitted - a "no access" error will result. Copying a previous version of a document will create a new, standalone document.
