Overview

Each document or other resource, either external or internal, that can be linked to a database element is represented in the database as Link Descriptor. The Link Descriptor's main role is to carry information about the document it describes and a Uniform Resource Locator (URL).

It is possible for any other elements in the database to reference these Link Descriptors through a two-way mechanism enabling users to find all elements that reference a particular Link Descriptor and the opposite, find all documents referenced by an element.

It is also possible to assign classification information to each Link Descriptor. The classification information provides the facility of assigning multiple class information to a Link Descriptor so that a search for all elements that have references to documents with specific classification assigned can be made. For example, a search can be made for all Link Descriptors classified as "Installation"-class document or all pumps that do not reference any "Certificate" and "Security"-class documents.

The following figure shows a schematic overview of the possible linkage to external documents and internal drawings.

Examples of references to internal and external documents