Implementing ERM | Appendix

Term

Definition

Active Audits

The active stage of the audit lifecycle, representing all activities, findings, and corrective actions (if applicable).

Active Audits

On the Audit Dashboard, the number of audits that are currently in progress and have not yet been completed or closed.

Active Employees

On the Employee Dashboard, the number of employees who currently have an active employment status in the system and are eligible for work, payroll, or system access.

Add-On Module

An optional feature set that layers on top of the Base Solution. Customers only see add-on features if their SOW/Hosting Agreement includes that add-on.

Admin Capabilities

In Roles and Permissions, administrators define a role's Admin Capabilities settings. This controls specific system-wide capabilities, that don't fit into standard resource permissions.

API Key

A credential used by the ERM application to authenticate requests to the VisualVault API. Entered on the Customer record (General tab) by the System Administrator.

API Secret

The credential paired with the API Key to authenticate ERM requests to the VisualVault API. Treated as a password.

Audit Activity Trends

On the Audit Dashboard, a time‑based visualization displaying audit activity over time, including counts of active document reviews and completed document reviews, used to monitor audit progress and workload trends.

Audit Count

On the Audit Dashboard, the total number of audits created within the selected date range, including active and completed audits.

Audit Dashboard

Interface with ERM that provides a high-level view of audit activity and compliance status across the system.

Audit List

A detailed, filterable list within ERM of all document actions, user activity, and workflow events, used for compliance review and investigation.

Audit Preparation Hours

On the Audit Dashboard, the cumulative number of hours logged for audit preparation activities, such as document review, validation, and compliance checks, across all audits in the reporting period.

Audit Type

An audit type defines the specific purpose, scope, and objective of the audit.

Audited Document Count

On the Audit Dashboard, the total number of employee documents that have been reviewed as part of an audit within the selected date range.

Auditors

User that provides audit requirements list to the Leader, and create a findings report.

Audits Led by Team Members

On the Audit Dashboard, a bar chart displaying the number of audits led by each team member, used to track audit leadership distribution and responsibility.

Average Employees per Audit

On the Audit Dashboard, the average number of employee records included in each audit, calculated by dividing the total audited employees by the total number of audits.

Base Solution

The required feature set of a Modular Solution, included in every customer's subscription. The features set of the ERM Base Solution includes: Employee Dashboard, Employees list, Employee Details, automated folder creation and updates, index fields, retention managemenet, SSO, and multilanguage.

Business Rule

A condition or logic defined within an ERM workflow that determines routing behavior, initial event criteria, or access conditions.

CCF (Change Control Form)

The formal request document submitted by an implementer to initiate System Administrator provisioning tasks. The CCF is submitted with a support ticket and must include the customer name, target environment, and requested go-live date.

Closed Audits

The final stage of the audit lifecycle, representing the formal conclusion where all activities, findings, and corrective actions (if applicable) are documented, reviewed, and finalized.

Configuration (Settings > Configuration)

An interface within ERM that allows users change settings such as columns on the employee list or internal audit color indicators.

Customer Alias

A short, unique identifier for the customer used internally by ERM. Distinct from the Customer Name and used in system references and logging.

Customer Record

A configuration record in the ERM application that stores all customer-specific parameters for a deployment, including API credentials, database connection settings, and branding. The System Administrator creates and completes this record during provisioning.

Database Alias

A short identifier assigned to the customer's VisualVault database instance. Entered on the Customer record General tab and used by ERM to reference the correct database environment.

Database Main

The name of the primary VisualVault MySQL database for the customer. Entered in the SQL Connection Settings section of the Customer record General tab.

Definite

In Audits, a status indicating that the document has been explicitly confirmed as required for inclusion in the audit. It will be reviewed as part of the audit scope.

Departments

In Roles and Permissions, administrators define a department's role assignments. Roles currently assigned to the department are pre-checked. Administrators check and uncheck roles and save the changes. The system uses an additive permission model: a department with multiple roles receives the union of all permissions from those roles.

Departments

On the Employee Dashboard, the total number of organizational departments defined in the system and associated with one or more employee records.

Document Correctly Filed Rate

On the Audit Dashboard, the percentage of audited documents that were verified as correctly categorized, stored, and associated with the appropriate employee record during audit review.

Document History

A chronological, traceable record of all modifications, edits, versions, and contributors to a document.

Document Library

The folder and index field structure within the customer's document repository. The ERM application configures the document library automatically when the Customer record is set up; no manual database setup for folder structure is required.

Document Review by Team Member

On the Audit Dashboard, a visualization showing the number of document reviews completed by individual audit team members during the reporting period.

Document Types

A named category in VisualVault that defines the metadata fields and behavior for a class of documents. An administrator defines Document Type settings and configure granular permissions for who can access or manage each type.

Document Types

On the Employee Dashboard, the number of distinct document categories configured in the system to classify employee‑related files, such as certifications, payroll documents, or compliance records.

Documents Correctly Filed by Location

On the Audit Dashboard, a distribution chart showing the number or percentage of correctly filed documents grouped by location, used to compare compliance performance across offices or regions.

Documents Reviewed by Audit Team

On the Audit Dashboard, a chart summarizing the number of documents reviewed by each audit team, providing insight into workload distribution and team involvement.

Documents Reviewed by Location

On the Audit Dashboard, a trend or comparison chart showing the volume of documents reviewed per location over time, supporting analysis of audit coverage and regional activity.

Documents Types (Distribution Chart)

On the Employee Dashboard, a visual breakdown of stored employee documents by document type, illustrating the relative proportion of each document category within the system.

Employee Dashboard

An ERM interface component providing a centralized, at-a-glance view of employee data, document activity, and key metrics.

Employee Details

Employee Documents

Employee Records Management (ERM)

The VisualVault Modular Solution documented in this guide. ERM provides HR professionals with a centralized, cloud-based application for storing, managing, searching, and automating employee records and HR workflows.

Employees (employee list)

A secure interface within ERM that allows users to search for employees by name or ID. Search results are limited to a user's direct and second-level reports based on access permissions, which are enforced through the ERM solution's Roles & Permissions integration with an Identity Provider (IdP).

Forms Database

The MySQL database used for ERM forms data for a specific customer. Entered in the SQL Connection Settings section of the Customer record General tab.

General Tab

The primary tab on the Customer record in the ERM web application. It contains the API credentials (Customer Name, Alias, API URL, API Key, API Secret) and SQL Connection Settings required to link ERM to the customer's document repository.

IdP (Identity Provider)

An external system (e.g., Azure AD, Okta) used to authenticate ERM users via Single Sign-On. Configured before user access is enabled.

Impersonate User feature

The Impersonate User feature allows administrators to view the Employees list as another user, reflecting that user's access and report visibility. Use this feature to test permissions, troubleshoot access issues, or conduct audits.

Implementer

The VisualVault technical professional responsible for configuring the ERM solution for a specific customer after the System Administrator completes provisioning. The implementer configures customer-specific branding, integrations, workflows, roles and permissions, testing, and go-live.

Index Field

A metadata field automatically configured by the ERM application that is associated with each employee document. Index fields enable search, filtering, and reporting across the document repository (e.g., Employee ID, Department, Document Date, Status).

Internal Audit

In Audits, an inferface to facilitate the identification and reconciliation of required but unassigned document. The interface displays a list with columns for Department, First Name, Last Name, View, Supervisor, Definite, Assigned To, Emp. Number, Payroll, Engineering, Notes

JWT (JSON Web Token)

An open standard (RFC 7519) that defines a compact, URL-safe, and self-contained way for securely transmitting information between parties as a JSON object. It is commonly used for authentication and authorization, allowing servers to verify user identity without storing session state.

Leader Name

Name of the user who receive audit requirements, create audit records, and meet with Auditors to review.

Modular Solution

A VisualVault application that extends the core platform with domain-specific capabilities. ERM is a modular solution designed for human resources document management.

Module Access

In Roles and Permissions, administrators define a role's Module Access settings. This controls visibility of left navigation menu items within the application. Disabling a module hides it from navigation and blocks all underlying resource permissions automatically.

Multi-Subnet Failover

A SQL Connection Setting on the Customer record that controls whether ERM connects to a high-availability MySQL environment. Set to Yes for HA or failover configurations, No for standard single-instance deployments.

MySQL

The relational database management system used as the underlying data store for each customer's ERM document repository. ERM v2.1 requires MySQL 8.0 or later with the InnoDB storage engine and utf8mb4 character set.

mysqldump

A MySQL command-line utility used to generate a full logical backup of a database. Used in the pre-implementation backup procedure and recommended for nightly automated backups.

New Employee Activity Trend, By Month

On the Employee Dashboard, a time‑series visualization showing the number of new employees added to the system by month, used to identify hiring patterns and workforce growth trends over time.

New Employees (Last 30 Days)

On the Employee Dashboard, the count of employee records created or activated within the last 30 calendar days, representing recent hires added to the system.

Not Definite

In Audits, a status indicating that the document has not been explicitly confirmed for audit inclusion. It may or may not be included based on audit rules, sampling methods, or later confirmation.

NPM Package

Node.js middleware for tracking user activity events across all Modular Solutions. The package captures login events and pushes them to a central MySQL database table for internal product usage analytics and customer segmentation. No PII is captured — only system identifiers.

Organization Chart Access

Controls whether and to what extent a user can view reporting relationships in the organizational chart, including their own direct reports and, if authorized, additional levels of the management hierarchy.

Password (SQL Connection Setting)

The password associated with the ERM application's MySQL service account. Entered in the SQL Connection Settings section of the Customer record (General tab) by the System Administrator and treated as a sensitive credential.

Permissions Test

In Roles and Permissions, administrators may test a user's permissions. This is a read-only diagnostic tool. Its sole purpose is to show an administrator the effective permissions a specific user has across every resource in the system. There are no forms, saves, or modals — the entire interaction is selecting a user and reading the resulting table.

Resource Permissions

In Roles and Permissions, administrators define a role's Resource Permission settings. This controls what actions roles can perform on resources within the application. Organized into relevant sections, each resource has permission checkboxes: View, Create, Edit, Delete, Export, Upload.

REST API

The interface used by ERM to communicate with VisualVault and with external systems such as an IdP. Requests are authenticated using the API Key and API Secret.

Retention

The policy-driven management of document lifecycles within ERM, including expiration alerts and scheduled handling of records based on regulatory or organizational requirements.

Roles

In Roles and Permissions, named collections of access settings applied to users, e.g.: Administrator, Manager, or Supervisor.

Roles and Permissions

The feature set which allows implementers and Administrators to create and assign roles that control what users can see and do across the system.

sFTP (Secure File Transfer Protocol)

A secure, encrypted file repository hosted either on-premises, in the cloud, or by a third-party partner that is used to exchange data with parties outside an organization's internal network. Integrated via sFTP file import to synchronize employee data and initiate automation for document library folder updates.

SSO (Single Sign-On)

An authentication method that allows users to log in to ERM using their existing organizational credentials managed by an IdP, without requiring a separate ERM-specific password.

Subfolder

A container for storing files or other folders located inside another, parent folder within the Document Library in the VisualVault database.

System Administrator

A VisualVault staff member with elevated access who performs provisioning tasks on behalf of the implementer. Responsibilities include cloning the ERM template database and completing the Customer record General tab before handoff.

Total Audited Employees

On the Audit Dashboard, the total number of unique employee records that have been included in one or more audits during the selected reporting period.

Total Documents

On the Employee Dashboard, the cumulative number of documents stored across all employee records in the system, regardless of document type or status.

Total Employees

On the Employee Dashboard, the total number of employee records maintained in the system, including active and inactive employees, as of the current reporting date.

Uploaded Document Count

On the Audit Dashboard, the number of documents uploaded to the system for audited employees during the selected reporting period, regardless of audit completion status.

User (SQL Connection Setting)

The MySQL username of the dedicated service account created for the ERM application, entered in the SQL Connection Settings section of the Customer record (General tab) by the System Administrator. This account is granted SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE, and EXECUTE privileges on the customer document library. It is not a personal or shared account and is used exclusively by the ERM application to authenticate to the MySQL server.

User Assignments

In Roles and Permissions, administrators define a user's role assignments. Roles currently assigned to the user are pre-checked. Administrators check and uncheck roles and save the changes. The system uses an additive permission model: a user with multiple roles receives the union of all permissions from those roles.

VisualVault (Core Platform)

The cloud-based enterprise content management platform that stores the customer's employee documents (records). It does not have any pre-configured features.

Workflow

An automated process in ERM that routes documents through defined states, assigns tasks to users or groups, and initiate email notifications at each stage.