Below, you will find answers to questions asked by members of academic staff in our introduction web seminars, in addition to a few general questions.
If you have questions not answered here, please contact us at workzonesupport@cc.au.dk.
The right of access to documents can be exercised with any type of case - typically, it revolves around management salaries, entertainment expenses, the management of specific funding, collaborative relationships, research areas receiving particular public attention, etc. Find guidelines on this site.
Correspondence with external parties in relation to a research project must be filed in cases where the specific communication is important for the project framework. If the correspondence includes clarifying questions on the work and/or the division of work or other significant changes, it should be filed. The same rules apply to the funder.
If the correspondence or application process takes place in an approved AU system, the information is automatically saved. In case an external system is used, we recommend filing any information you find relevant. If necessary, please discuss the filing obligation with the external party.
Research cases at the School of Communication and Culture are created with limited access. Only the following parties have access:
Learn more about the rules for restricted access at the School of Communication and Culture.
Research is constituted by the results and data it generates. Research administration includes agreements and collaboration agreements made and the establishment of a research framework. Parts of this documentation is filed in Workzone by other AU units. Follow these guidelines. However, in some cases, it may be appropriate to file documentation in your own Workzone case to gather all documentation and ensure easy access to it.
Read AU's guidelines for storage of research data
. An electronic data storage solution, , will be rolled out in 2022-2023.As a project owner/manager, you are the official case officer responsible for proper filing. You can agree with other project participants, e.g. PhD students or postdocs, to divide the filing obligation between you, but make sure you file relevant emails/documents from your own inbox that only you can access. This is also one of the reasons why administrative staff members cannot file documents on your behalf.
There is no obligation to store the documentation already stored in MyPhD in Workzone. However, PhD students have the same obligations as other AU employees to familiarise themselves with and apply the AU guidelines on filing, e.g. for handling enquiries from journalists or in relation to a granted access to documents. Please find the guidelines here:
Anyone can apply to gain access to documents, observing the access restriction periods. The standard access restriction period is 20 years, but it can be up to 250 years depending on the nature of the material.
Learn more here: https://en.rigsarkivet.dk/services/access-restriction-periods-for-documents-and-data/
The Danish Ombudsman describes the filing obligation as follows:
“The administrative authorities have a filing obligation. This obligation applies to all documents that are received or dispatched by the authorities in connection with the administrative processing of cases relating to the activities of the authority concerned. However, the filing obligation only applies to documents which are important for a case or for case processing in general. The obligation also applies to internal documents in their final form.
The rules relating to filing can be found in the Access to Public Administration Files Act, section 15.
The objective of filing is to support people’s right of access to documents and ensure necessary documentation in each individual case. Correct filing also provides a clear overview of case documents, as well as making case processing easier and supporting the quality and effectiveness of case processing by the authorities.
Inadequate filing leads to a risk that the authorities will have to invest extra resources in the recovery of documents that have been mislaid or deleted, for instance. It also reduces the quality of case processing and diminishes the legal rights of citizens.”
No, documents/emails are locked for further editing when saved via Outlook, but you can modify the basic case data, e.g. case title, name of case officer, project participants, etc. If you want to change basic case data, please contact your local administrative staff supporter.
As a general rule, you cannot delete material that has been filed. However, if you, for example, accidentally filed the same email twice, you can contact a superuser (only superusers can delete material) and ask them to delete the material in question. You need to provide a very good explanation for having material deleted.
The case officer is the title used in Workzone for the person responsible for a specific case. For members of academic staff, this is often the same as the project owner/leader or the person responsible for the task. You can delegate the task to someone who is then granted access to the case, but one person must be listed as the overall case responsible to make it clear who to contact, for example in cases of access to documents.
A case should be closed when all activity related to it has stopped. It is the case officer’s responsibility to close the case. To do so, please ask your local administrative staff supporter to close the case. When a case is created, it is given a planned closing date. However, a case is never closed without informing the case officer.
In Workzone cases created at CC, “parties” will often refer to external contacts/collaboration partners. If the case involves parties not employed at AU (external relations/collaboration partners), a so-called “party” can be added to the case. If an external party (a company, a fund, etc.) is funding the research project, their data must be included in the case. The external party will not gain access to the case in Workzone, but the information is stored by AU in Workzone. The member of academic staff who fills in the form to create a Workzone case will be asked whether the project has any external parties.
Another example of an external party is a journalist, an external collaboration partner at another university or government agencies and institutions.
Parties can easily be added to the case after it has been created.
.In order to store documents in the Danish National Archives on a long-term basis, only the following file types are permitted and supported in the ESDH system:
Other documents must be saved as one of these file types.
The following file types are not permitted in the system:
Cases (except research cases) concerning external relations and others are accessible to all employees at CC (
).However, please note that you are only permitted to access cases that are relevant to your work tasks. System activities are logged, meaning you will need to justify the relevance of accessing a case.
If you access cases that are not relevant to your work unauthorised, this will be considered a breach of your responsibilities and may result in disciplinary action.
When creating a case, members of academic staff can ask for it to have further restrictions.
Learn more about the rules relating to access rights at the School of Communication and Culture
.In Outlook, you can create a case via the dropdown menu. However, members of academic staff should not use this option, as it requires thorough knowledge of the system. Members of academic staff are always welcome to join the system courses offered to administrative staff if they wish to know more about the system. Otherwise, academic staff members are asked to fill in the forms supplied. Once the form is submitted, an administrative staff member who knows the system well will create the case.
Solution for MAC users - filing directly from Outlook with new application Workzone365
During the first part of the implementation period, it has only been possible for MAC users to journal via a remote desktop (see workaround below). However, from autumn 2022 it is now possible to install an application which makes it possible to file directly from Outlook on a MAC without the remote desktop (VM Horizon Client). The app is installed on all MAC computers whose owners have participated in a Workzone introduction. If you, as a MAC user, want to have this application installed, please contact workzonesupport@cc.au.dk.
Solution for MAC users - filing with remote desktop with VM Horizon Client
You can access the Workzone web client in Google Chrome via this link: https://workzone.uni.au.dk/app/client/. Please note that not all functions are compatible with Mac’s operating system, e.g. integration with Office programs - which is the case with the above Workzone365 solution.
If you need to use Workzone in an Office program, including Outlook, you can create a case with HR Data and Digitisation at support.au.dk. They can give you access via a Horizon Client that creates a remote desktop for you on a virtual Windows 10 computer. This access may only be used for filing in Workzone.
Administrative staff supporters can create cases for members of academic staff, but since the correspondence is only available in the private email system of the academic staff member, only she/he can file relevant documentation and notes via Outlook.