The Wrapsody platform comprises a server, agent applications on users’ PCs, and virtual workspace apps for mobile devices. Each Wrapsody file is a secure package that holds an encrypted version of the file's contents using AES256 encryption, an industry standard algorithm. It also contains metadata like the creator's ID, creator's account username, creation timestamp, revision number, and a unique Sync ID. These details are concealed using lightweight encryption (RC4).
The server then verifies whether the user's requested file is the most recent version by querying the server using the Sync ID, version, and timestamp. If it's not the latest version, Wrapsody prompts users to confirm if they want the latest version. If affirmative, Wrapsody downloads the latest version from the server.
Wrapsody is an excellent solution on its own. But it can also offer a lot of benefits when integrated with your existing ECM (Enterprise Content Management) system. To facilitate this integration, Wrapsody is designed to seamlessly work with leading ECM platforms. Currently, Fasoo provides pre-built integration modules for IBM ECM and Microsoft SharePoint within Wrapsody, and more integrations will follow via integration APIs. Integrating with a Content Management System offers a hybrid advantage: the structured organization of a CMS combined with Wrapsody's file control for items checked out of the repository. With ECM integration, Wrapsody files synchronize with the ECM repository. The repositories also handle all metadata tied to Wrapsody files, and user permissions configured in Wrapsody are mirrored within your ECM system. Elevate your ECM to the document-specific benefits of virtualization with Wrapsody.
Organizations today still have variety of issues and challenges managing documents, even though they have deployed Enterprise Document Management (EDM), Enterprise Content Management (ECM) or recently Enterprise File Sync and Sharing (EFSS). According to IDC, 48% of knowledge workers have emailed the wrong version of a file to a colleague or client, while 81% found themselves working on the wrong version by mistake. Also, many documents still remain unmanaged, and redundant copies can be found easily on servers and desktops. Numerous emails, messages, and calls are exchanged just to find the right version of a file. As a result, huge amount of time and resources are being wasted in working on documents.
One of the fundamental issues in content management is version control. With the vast storage capacity of today's hard drives and SSDs, users often create numerous copies of documents without considering the consequences. However, managing these versions is a complex task. Users may have multiple versions of the same document with no clear indication of modifications, authors, or timestamps. Some organizations rely on ad-hoc version management through cumbersome file naming conventions, making it challenging to track changes effectively.
The backup and archiving of digital assets pose another challenge. Many organizations struggle with identifying and locating information due to user-dependent backup solutions and excessive duplicate copies stored on servers. Inadequate backup and recovery strategies can have devastating consequences, especially in the face of threats like ransomware attacks.
Email remains the primary means of sharing documents for review and revision. However, attaching files to email messages often leads to multiple copies of documents circulating in email threads. These copies may vary from the originals, and it can be difficult to differentiate between the two. Determining the base version for revisions and identifying contributors becomes challenging over time. Important document versions may even remain hidden within email attachments.
Collaboration on documents can create further confusion when multiple users make simultaneous changes. It can be challenging to consolidate these changes, and conflicts may arise. In some cases, valuable modifications might be lost in the process, undermining the integrity of the document.
While personal device operating systems offer search functionality for various document types, these searches have limitations. Searches are typically limited to documents stored on the device or directly connected servers, excluding content on other users' devices or distant servers. Additionally, searches primarily focus on filenames and document text, potentially missing relevant documents stored elsewhere. Users often restrict their searches to specific folder hierarchies, which may lead to overlooking critical documents.
Search results on personal devices often fail to provide adequate context, such as document versions or modification history. Furthermore, there's no easy way to search for text within documents on remote devices, and keyword searches may not capture the essence of a document as effectively as its actual content.
Content Management Systems (CMSs, also known as Document Management Systems or Enterprise Content Management (ECM)) have existed since the spread of client-server computing in the 1990s. CMSs involve storing documents on servers rather than on users’ own devices. They typically use a library-style “check-out/check-in” metaphor: a user requests a document, and the CMS provides a temporary copy of the file. Then when the user has edited the document, he checks it back into the CMS, which typically means that the edited document is stored in the CMS as a new version. Many use a “hot folder” scheme whereby every file that a user moves into a specific folder is automatically checked into the CMS. CMSs also maintain access privileges so that only certain users have the right to view or edit certain documents. Finally, CMSs store metadata with documents, so that users (or administrators) can assign keywords and values that facilitate searching and classification.
CMSs are very useful, but they have various limitations. One significant limitation is that they depend on continuous connectivity between users’ devices and the CMS server. That may be a reasonable assumption within an organization’s physical boundaries. But today’s environment includes “BYOD” mobile devices, telecommuting, and the need to access important information on the road or from customer sites, all of which weaken the assumption of constant connectivity with corporate servers, even if they are in the cloud. A more important limitation of CMSs is that they lose control over documents once users check them out. It is possible for users to check documents out of a CMS, modify them, and save them on local devices rather than checking them back into the CMS. In addition, metadata is only visible through the CMS; it is not associated with or contained in the file if it is checked out. And if a user modifies a file after it is checked out of a CMS, the metadata in the CMS may no longer reflect the contents of the file.
Cloud storage tools like Box, Dropbox, SugarSync, Microsoft OneDrive, and Google Drive are essentially file servers in the cloud with some content management capabilities, such as version control. They are very useful for making files available on any device at any location, and they can sync files on a user’s device automatically so that the cloud versions are always up to date. But they do not automatically update copies of files that other users have made on their own devices, and they don’t have the metadata or analytic capabilities of most CMSs.
Enterprise social networking applications like Slack, Yammer, and Jive can be great for streamlining communications and empowering teams. They typically enable sophisticated communication threads, and they can associate files and file storage systems with those threads instead of attaching files to email messages. But adoption of such tools can be far from universal. And even in organizations that use them pervasively, activity still takes place in files outside of these systems that are copied and distributed using traditional methods. Template-based project management tools like Podio and Confluence are similar in this regard.
Fasoo Wrapsody addresses all of the above limitations. Wrapsody takes an entirely new approach to information management—one that is file-centric rather than message-centric (as in email attachments) or repository-centric (as in CMSs, cloud storage services, and even enterprise social networks). Rather than relying on a separate system for managing version control and metadata, Wrapsody builds the functionality into the files themselves, so that the functionality follows files wherever they go. Wrapsody files contain their own intelligence about versioning, user access, and access to metadata.
Wrapsody has a client-server architecture. A unique metadata document ID is granted while users create a Wrapsody document, and various metadata tags: version ID, variation ID, user access and Tags information associated with the Wrapsody document are referenced when users access the distributed Wrapsody documents. The Wrapsody agent controls applications on local devices while a Wrapsody document is in use, and then synchronizes document content with a Wrapsody server automatically. When users access the distributed Wrapsody documents, the agent checks and updates the document with the latest content available on the server. Depending on policies, designated Wrapsody documents may be uploaded to a pre-defined repository location set by a document owner or administrator. The solution traces user activities of content displaying a full history of file usage, and shows a correlation and dependency map of its derivative documents.
Wrapsody maintains metadata that enables many different ways to organize and view files throughout an organization. It stores most of the metadata associated with files on the Wrapsody server, indexed by Sync IDs that are stored in the files. Wrapsody manages basic metadata about files, including file names, revision dates, the names of users who own, created, or checked out files, and user groups. For PCs, Wrapsody includes a web-based interface for viewing files based on metadata values. In addition to basic metadata, users can assign and change metadata tags, which are useful for organizing files throughout a company. Wrapsody allows three categories of Tags to be defined: Required, Optional, and User (user-assigned Tags). Organizations can set up the Required and Optional Tags to meet their needs, so that users can view documents by various types of classifications. As an example, Required Tags can be set to Basic, Confidential, Internal Communications, Proprietary, and Top Secret; a user creating a Wrapsody document can select any one of these. Optional Tags are set to roles within the company: Contractor, Finance, HR, IT, Marketing, R&D, and Sales; users can select multiple Tags in this category.
The Tag selector within Wrapsody’s Documents view can be used to organize and view files throughout the organization based on Tags. There are three Tag-based views: Tree, List, and Search. Tree view organizes them hierarchically by Tags; List shows all Tags and enables the user to click on a Tag to see all documents with that Tag; Search lets users specify a Tag and then shows all files with that Tag.
Wrapsody enables version control “on the spot” for individual files instead of within repositories. Users have full control over versioning for each file to which they have rights: they can create new versions, restore old versions, create new version branches, and turn off versioning. When a user opens a file, the user can decide whether to check it out or just view it. If the user chooses “Check Out,” Wrapsody downloads the latest copy of the file to the user’s PC. Later, when the user selects “Check In,” Wrapsody adds a new version of the file to the server.
Wrapsody can be configured so that opening and closing files automatically checks them out and that versioning takes place automatically on an “opt out” basis. When Wrapsody files are checked in on a desktop, the agent automatically backs up each version without user intervention, retaining every copy of digital assets created by users without duplication. Due to automated file-level backup on a desktop, users can restore each version instantly, allowing organizations to mitigate risks from potential ransomware attacks. Users can also create version branches, so that parallel sets of revisions can be made. In this way, a document can be used for different purposes later on, or version control can be turned off for subsequent revisions to a specific version of the file.
When users open up a Wrapsody file, they can be assured that it will always be the latest version. The Wrapsody agent on a user’s device checks to see if there is a newer version available on the server. If so, it asks the user whether to replace the file with the newer version or open the older one regardless. In addition, when a Wrapsody document is created or updated by a reviser, then other revisers or viewers can receive an instant push message or email including the download link of the relevant version.
Wrapsody lets users enter comments when creating, revising, or reviewing Wrapsody documents. This can be used as a way of maintaining chat sessions about documents, e.g., to discuss reasons for changes or leave approval workflow decisions directly to the documents. Comments can be added to a Wrapsody document and reviewed using Wrapsody agent console or Wrapsody Office add-in module called Application Badge while accessing the document.
On iOS devices (iPads and iPhones) as well as Android-based smartphones and tablets, Wrapsody’s mobile app enables users to get access to the latest versions of documents automatically and without accessing email or cloud storage services. As long as the user has permission on a document, it will be automatically accessible on users' mobile devices. This includes automated syncing of files on users’ PCs with files on their mobile devices.
Wrapsody users can easily identify list of documents that are created by or assigned to them using My Workspace. My Workspace shows real-time status of user specific usage of Wrapsody documents. Each user can review number of unread, read, or new Wrapsody documents assigned to them. For managers, Wrapsody also provides graphical illustration of user activities for their relevant group, allowing them to review group members’ activities and gain managerial insights.
For each document, Wrapsody can display a graphical map that shows the derivation of the current document from other documents, the number of times that each document has been modified, and the original source document. In addition to tracking specific details about versions of a document, this information can be valuable for tracking how document templates are used throughout an organization, which in turn can improve how templates are designed.
Wrapsody offers access control and audit trail from the beginning wherever documents travel and embedded option for Enterprise Digital Rights Management (EDRM) to enhance security. Document owners can define who can revise, view only, or have no access to the Wrapsody documents, allowing organizations to protect their digital assets against hackers and insiders all together.
Wrapsody can display graphical maps that show how each document has been used according to an organizational chart view. From the Usage Maps view, it is also possible to generate reports on usage per user over time. This can help organizations understand how documents are used across their organizations—to see where standard documents and templates are most likely to be modified, to gauge utility of documents for different divisions, to assist in document classification, and to help set up user access and security policies.
Wrapsody is based on Fasoo’s many years of expertise in enterprise security technologies, including Enterprise Digital Rights Management (EDRM). Founded in 2000, Fasoo (https://en.fasoo.com/) has more than 1,250 customers comprising an installed base of over 2.5 million users.
