Can SIMS auto compress word docs with images in as they go into docstorage?

[box_l]

Ok, so one of my schools is using SIMS docstorage more than most, which is great, but..

 

They are not setting their cameras to a low, but usable, image size.

They are not compressing the images in Word prior to uploading it SIMS docstorage.

 

I have advised them of how to do both these things, but it still continues.

 

The server has plenty of space, so this is not an issue, but the cloud backup of this ever growing data is.

 

Can SIMS auto compress as the docs get uploaded?

 

If I use a tool such as Fileminimizer on the files in the docstorage folder, will it mess up the links to the files in SIMS?

 

Thank in advance.

 

BoX

[jinnantonnixx]

You can't compress a JPEG any further using file compression. You can re-encode it at a different quality setting, but that's not the same thing.

 

So.... why not compress the DMS documents as a matter of course? Documents on the DMS are encrypted and decrypted by the SIMS clients before being sent over the network to the DMS. This means that the document never travels to/from the client in an un-encrypted form. The first 8 bytes of SIMS-encrypted document are the the same (they all use the same encryption method).

Encryption gives you high-entropy data, which is effectively as bad as random noise as far as the compression algorithm is concerned. The upshot is that file-system level compression is unlikely to give you any benefits at all, even if JPEGs were not in the equation.

 

I fear this is a procedural/person issue rather than a technical matter.

 

 

You'd be wise not to interfere with the files stored on the DMS.

The filenames are stored in a kind of poor-man's B-tree structure, taking the first two characters of the filename as its parent directory.

 

A crucial point to remember is that the only thing linking the document to the pupil record is a row in the 'attachment_name' for that pupil in the DM table. The 'attachment_name' row contains the file path and name for the encrypted file.

 

If the filename gets changed or corrupted, there is no way of matching the file back to the pupil.

In short, don't get creative with the DMS.

Edited April 16, 2015 by jinnantonnixx

[box_l]

Thank you for the information.

 

When I said "compress", I do understand that there is not much mileage in trying to compress a jpeg file.

What I meant was the function built into word to reduce the file size by reducing the image size and quality.

It would be great if SIMS did this automagically on upload. /Dreams/

 

I will go back to the school and re-iterate what I said before about camera settings and optimizing in word before they upload to SIMS.

 

Cheers.