How to use RDIMS

Owned by Justin Green (Unlicensed), created
Last updated: Sept 30, 2020
3 min read

Here are some quick notes originally appearing in an e-mail to instruct a new user on the use of RDIMS. These are some best practices that can help you avoid locking a file and being forced to contact Service Desk to get help.

Never double-click on a document in RDIMS. The default behaviour of a double-click is to check-out and lock the file, download a copy, and open it for viewing.  While this seems like a perfectly reasonable thing, any connection issues may prevent you or anyone else at TC from making updates to the document.  Resolving a “locked file issue” involves a call/email to Service Desk and a 24-48 hour turnaround time.   

Note: in documenting these steps, I found that taking a screenshot using SnagIt was interpreted as a double-click on the Vessel Registry project dashboard.  The file was locked and I had to contact Service Desk to get it unlocked. 

If you would like to view a document, I recommend either right-clicking on the document and selecting “View”:

 

OR Drag the file from the RDIMS window to your desktop (or preferred folder location). In the “Export Document(s)” prompt, use the following options to get a local copy of the document that you can use without affecting the original document.

If you would like to check-out a file to work on it, follow these steps:

 

  1. Right-click on the file and select Check-out:

 2. Select the location where you’d like to work on the file (“Copy to:”) and click OK:

 

3. Once the file is check-out to your local drive, you can do whatever you need: open, close, edit, etc.  Once you’re ready to check-in, go back to RDIMS, find your file, and select Check-in: 

a. If you didn’t make changes and want to undo your checkout, select the Unlock option: 

 

b. If you made changes,  you’ll need to choose whether you want to replace the existing version of the file, create a new version of the file or create a new document.  In each of these case, you’ll need to make sure that the “Copy From” option matches the filename and location originally checked out in Step 3. 

 

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