DocShifter Automation in Veeva Vault - Auto QC & Fixing of Word Content

This video provides an in-depth exploration of DocShifter's automated document quality control (QC) and fixing capabilities within Veeva Vault. The presenter begins by showcasing a "dummy document" riddled with common issues that often lead to non-compliance or hinder document usability in regulated environments. These issues range from incorrect heading numbering (e.g., 1-3-4 sequence), extraneous padding spaces, and links to external websites, to empty paragraphs, tables exceeding page width, inconsistent font styles (e.g., Calibri 14 when Calibri 11 is mandated), hidden watermarks, lingering comments, and misaligned images. The core purpose of the demonstration is to illustrate how DocShifter, integrated with Veeva Vault's document lifecycle management, can automatically identify these problems and either generate a detailed report or proactively fix them.

The presentation details a two-pronged workflow leveraging metadata within Veeva Vault. Initially, the document is processed with a metadata flag set to "don't fix," prompting DocShifter to generate a comprehensive QC report. This report, stored as a specific rendition type (a PDF), provides a summary of all non-compliant issues found, categorizes them, counts their occurrences, and crucially, pinpoints their exact location within the original Word document. For instance, it might identify "heading white spaces" in five places or "images not in line" once, specifying the chapter and even the specific text where the issue occurs. This initial phase highlights the system's ability to enforce predefined template rules and identify deviations, offering a clear audit trail of document quality.

Subsequently, the demonstration shifts to the automated fixing capability. By simply changing the metadata flag to "fix," the same document is re-routed through the DocShifter workflow. This time, instead of just reporting, the system actively corrects the identified issues. The result is a new rendition type – a "QC fixed copy" – which is a clean, compliant Word document. The video visually demonstrates the automatic corrections: heading sequences are reordered, external links are removed, empty spaces and paragraphs vanish, tables are resized to fit the page, watermarks are gone, comments are stripped, and image text alignment is rectified. This automated remediation significantly streamlines the document preparation process, ensuring consistency and adherence to corporate and regulatory standards directly within the Veeva Vault ecosystem.

Key Takeaways:

• Automated Document Quality Control (QC): The video highlights the critical need for automated systems to identify and correct common document issues that can lead to non-compliance or operational inefficiencies, particularly in regulated industries.
• Veeva Vault Integration: DocShifter seamlessly integrates with Veeva Vault's document lifecycle management, allowing for automated QC and fixing processes to be triggered at specific stages (e.g., "DS ready" status) within a document's journey.
• Metadata-Driven Workflows: The system leverages document metadata (e.g., a "fix" property) to dynamically control the workflow, enabling users to choose between generating a QC report or automatically fixing the document.
• Comprehensive Issue Identification: DocShifter can detect a wide array of document issues, including incorrect heading numbering, extraneous spaces, external links, empty paragraphs, oversized tables, non-compliant styles, watermarks, embedded comments, and image alignment problems.
• Detailed QC Reporting: The system generates a specific rendition type, typically a PDF QC report, which provides a summary of all identified issues, their types, counts, and precise locations within the original document, aiding manual review and compliance audits.
• Automated Remediation: Beyond reporting, DocShifter can automatically correct numerous document issues, such as adjusting font styles to match templates, removing unwanted links, reordering headings, deleting empty elements, resizing tables, and aligning images.
• Ensuring Regulatory Compliance: By enforcing predefined template rules and fixing deviations, the automation helps ensure documents adhere to internal standards and external regulatory requirements, reducing the risk of non-compliance.
• Increased Efficiency and Consistency: Automating document QC and fixing significantly reduces manual effort, saves time, and ensures a consistent level of quality across all documents, which is crucial for large-scale operations in life sciences.
• Customizable Rendition Types: The output of the process (QC report or fixed document) can be configured as specific rendition types within Veeva Vault, allowing for flexible storage and access based on organizational needs.
• Reduced Manual Errors and Rework: By catching and correcting issues automatically, the system minimizes human error and the need for repetitive manual rework, freeing up valuable resources for more complex tasks.

Tools/Resources Mentioned:

• DocShifter: The primary automation tool demonstrated for document QC and fixing.
• Veeva Vault: The content management platform within which DocShifter's automation is integrated and operates, managing document lifecycles and renditions.

Key Concepts:

• Document Lifecycle: The various stages a document goes through from creation to archival within a content management system like Veeva Vault.
• Rendition Types: Different versions or formats of a document stored within Veeva Vault, such as a PDF QC report or a fixed Word document.
• Metadata: Data that provides information about other data, used here to control the workflow (e.g., "fix" property).
• QC Report: A detailed report outlining quality issues found in a document.
• Automated Remediation: The process of automatically correcting identified issues in a document.
• Non-compliance: The state of a document not adhering to predefined rules, templates, or regulatory standards.

Examples/Case Studies:

• The video uses a "dummy document" to illustrate a range of common issues:
  • Heading numbering sequence: 1-3-4 instead of 1-2-3.
  • Incorrect font style: Calibri 14 used when Calibri 11 was the template rule.
  • External links: Presence of hyperlinks to external websites that should not be there.
  • Structural issues: Empty paragraphs, tables not fitting page width, images not in line with text.
  • Hidden elements: Watermarks behind the page, comments left in the document.