Enabling Automatic File Upload

You can configure Accolade to automatically upload reference table versions and related documents when new files are placed in a designated directory.

To enable automatic upload, Administrators must first complete the following:

• Configure the upload directory.
• Setup the Autoloader Service User and define the upload directories in Accolade.

After the location and service user are created:

• Process Designers and reference table owners can enable individual reference tables for automatic uploading.
• Project Importers can setup the related documents upload and schedule the upload to run.

Configure the Upload Directory Location

Administrators must create a folder that acts as the drop box location. On the application server, create or identify the following directories:

• The input directory to use as the drop box location. For reference tables, this can be a network directory or an FTP site. For related documents, this can only be a network directory.
• The output directory used to store service error messages and logs.

These can be the same folder.

Set Up the Autoloader Service User and Autoloader Service

The Accolade Autoloader Service requires a user account to upload new document versions or reference tables to Accolade, and can be used for importing project and resource data. Create the user account for the autoloader service in Accolade and assign it the following roles and access groups:

• Service Account user role. This is automatically assigned when the user is created.
• Project Importer user role, which is automatically assigned when the user is created. This user role is only a requirement when importing project or resource data.
• Appropriate Access Groups with access permission selected. This is only a requirement if loading Reference Tables that contain a specified Access Group.

After setting the user as the autoloader service account (on the server), the user is automatically granted the Logon as a Service right.

Important! If you created the Accolade database login using Windows Authentication, you must add the user login to the database after adding the user to the Autoloader Service. Follow the instructions outlined in the Accolade Installation Guide to create the Accolade database login and add users.

To ensure that reference tables assigned to a specific access group are uploaded successfully when enabled for automatic upload, assign the user with the System Service user role in Accolade access to all access groups defined in the system. See Granting Access Group Permissions to Users.

In addition, Accolade needs to know the directory or FTP location it should look in for new files to upload.

To setup the Autoloader Service User on the application server:

1. On the application server, from the Start menu, select Administrative Tools > Local Security Policy.
2. Open the Local Policies folder and open the User Rights Assignment folder.
3. Right-click the Log on as a service policy and select Properties.
4. In the Local Security Setting tab, add a service user for the upgrade service.
5. Click OK to save your changes.

After you have defined the service user on the application server, configure the Accolade Autoloader Service in the Accolade Administration Console. Additionally, after setting up the autoloader service user, add the user login to the database if you created the Accolade login using Windows Authentication.

To configure the Autoloader Service:

1. In the Accolade Administration Console, select Autoloader Configuration in the Navigation pane.
2. In the Service Account User field, add the service account user you created above and enter its password.

This user is added to Accolade as a user with the Service Account user role.

3. Select the Enabled Service check box and enter a Retry Delay on Error time period in milliseconds to set the retry rate if the service encounters errors.
4. In the File Locations section, enter the input (the location with files to upload) and output (the place Accolade saves any log files regarding the upload) locations for the directory or FTP site in the fields appropriate for your setup.

Accolade supports both FTP and FTPs for file uploads. However, if you are using the Autoloader Service for related documents uploads, designate a directory location.

5. Click Apply to save your changes.

To modify the Autoloader Service in a load balance environment:

Note:  Reference the Accolade Installation Guide for information on setting up load balance environments.

1. Stop any running Autoloader Windows Service instances on all load balanced servers.
2. Make the same change on each load balance server on the Autoloader Configuration page on the Administration Console.
3. Re-enable any previously active Autoloader Windows Service instances on all load balanced servers.