Content Central · document packets

Document packets that build themselves and show what is missing.

Every loan, student, employee and vendor file has a list of documents it has to contain. Content Central gathers them by the number they share as they are filed, marks the packet Complete or Incomplete, names what is missing, and moves the whole file through approval as one.

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No manual linking
Missing documents named
Runs on your own servers

The paper chase

The file is never quite finished, and nobody knows until it matters.

The checklist lives somewhere else.

A spreadsheet or a sheet stapled to the folder tracks what has come in. It is out of date the moment a document arrives by email.

Documents arrive from everywhere.

Scanned at the front desk, emailed by a borrower, filled in by a new hire. Each one lands in a different place, under a different name.

Gaps surface at the worst moment.

The missing appraisal or I-9 turns up at closing, at audit or on someone’s first day, when it costs the most to chase.

A packet fixes this at the source. The checklist lives inside the document system, and documents tick it off themselves as they are filed, however they arrive.

01How a packet works

Define the file once. Every matching document finds its place.

An administrator sets up a Packet Template under Administration. From then on, the packet assembles itself from whatever is filed.

01
Pick the key field
One global field that every document in the packet shares: a Loan Number, Student ID, Employee ID or PO number.
02
List the document types
Mark each one required or optional, choose the primary type and the sort order. The types can sit in different catalogs.
03
File documents as usual
Scan, email, watched folder, capture form, lookup or API. Any document filed with the key value joins the packet.
04
Read the status
Complete, or Incomplete with the missing types named. Status updates in the background within moments of filing.

Example: four documents arrive from four different places, each filed with Loan Number 20-4471, so each one fills its slot in the mortgage packet. The required appraisal has not been filed, so the packet reads Incomplete, 1 missing. Optional types never hold a packet back.

Type the number once per stack

With QCard Packet capture, you scan a whole stack and type the key value once. Every document in the stack carries it. CapturePoint 6 scanning stations can deliver documents with their field values too.

Works on the files you already have

A new template picks up existing documents that already carry the key value right away, so the gaps in last year’s files show up on day one.

One document, several views

A document can belong to more than one template, say a loan view and a compliance view. An optional system field shows packet status on each document itself.

02Missing documents tracking

Know what is missing before anyone has to ask.

Four places show the gaps. Two are for people looking at one file, one is for the manager who wants the whole list, and one acts on its own.

Packet Search: What it showsPick the template and enter the key value. You get a Complete badge, or Incomplete with a count, and the missing types appear as placeholder rows marked Missing.; Best forAnswering “is this file ready?” in seconds.

The Packet tab on any document: What it showsView Packet shows the completion meter and the missing list for the packet the open document belongs to.; Best forSomeone working one document who needs the whole picture.

Incomplete Packets report: What it showsEvery packet still missing documents, as a CSV report. It can run on a schedule.; Best forA weekly gap list for a manager or an auditor.

Packet Query trigger: What it showsA workflow trigger that fires on packets that are Complete or Incomplete.; Best forReminders when something is still missing, and acting the moment the last document arrives.

Where	What it shows	Best for
Packet Search	Pick the template and enter the key value. You get a Complete badge, or Incomplete with a count, and the missing types appear as placeholder rows marked Missing.	Answering “is this file ready?” in seconds.
The Packet tab on any document	View Packet shows the completion meter and the missing list for the packet the open document belongs to.	Someone working one document who needs the whole picture.
Incomplete Packets report	Every packet still missing documents, as a CSV report. It can run on a schedule.	A weekly gap list for a manager or an auditor.
Packet Query trigger	A workflow trigger that fires on packets that are Complete or Incomplete.	Reminders when something is still missing, and acting the moment the last document arrives.

A worked example: the appraisal that never came

A lender sets up a mortgage packet keyed on Loan Number. The application arrives on a capture form, the credit report by email, the title commitment through a watched folder. Each one fills its slot without anyone touching it.

The appraisal does not come. A workflow rule built on the Packet Query trigger finds mortgage packets that are still Incomplete and emails the loan processor, using a message template that carries the loan number and a link. Every Friday a scheduled Incomplete Packets report is ready for the branch manager to download.

When the appraisal is finally scanned, the packet turns Complete. A second rule, built on the same trigger, sees that and starts the underwriting approval for the whole packet. Nobody had to notice.

03From intake to filed

One packet, one path: assembled, approved and filed together.

Many workflow actions can work on a whole packet instead of one document: start an approval, assign it to a work queue, share, copy, move, export, update fields and run lookups.

The life of a packet. Reminders keep an incomplete packet moving; once every required type is in, the packet can go through approval as one item and leave as one merged file, an export or a share.

Approve the whole file, not ten documents

A workflow can start an approval process on the whole packet. Reviewers see every document in it, and all of them move forward or go back together, with the deadlines, reminders and voting rules of any approval workflow. A packet can also go to a work queue as a single item.

Sign the documents that need signing

Signatures stay per document. An approver’s saved signature can be stamped at a set spot as they approve, or you can send a signature request to coworkers or anyone with an email address.

Keep the data the same everywhere

Merge packet field values copies values across the packet’s documents, so a borrower name or a vendor number corrected once is correct on every document in the file.

Hand it off in one piece

Merge packet documents combines the packet into one new document of the type you choose, for example a single file for an auditor or investor. Packets can also be exported, copied or moved together, say to a folder another system watches, or shared with an outside person with an expiration date.

04Who uses packets

Built for any file that comes with a checklist.

The Content Central demo system ships with ready-made Mortgage, Student and Vendor packet templates, and onboarding packets are a standard pattern in our help library. The document lists below are typical examples; you choose your own.

Mortgage and lending

Loan packet management, from application to investor file

Key field: Loan Number
Documents, for example: Application, credit report, appraisal, title commitment, disclosures, insurance binder

Processors stop keeping a separate stip list. Packet Search answers whether a loan is ready for underwriting, the Incomplete Packets report gives each manager the open gaps, and the moment the last required document lands, the packet can start its approval.

Each branch can be limited to its own loans with access by field value, and a finished loan can be merged into one file for the investor or the auditor.

Education

Student files that are complete before anyone asks

Key field: Student ID
Documents, for example: Enrollment form, transcripts, proof of residency, health records, emergency contacts

Registrars scan a student’s stack with QCard Packet capture and type the Student ID once. Anyone opening one of the student’s documents sees the Packet tab with what is still missing.

Access by field value can limit each school or counselor to their own students, and retention schedules set per document type let each record expire on its own timetable.

Purchasing and accounts payable

Vendor and purchase files that match before you pay

Key field: PO number
Documents, for example: Purchase requisition, purchase order, invoice, receiving record

Keyed on the PO, the requisition, order, invoice and receipt come together in one packet, so whoever approves payment sees all of it in one place, not three systems.

Approved invoices can be exported to QuickBooks, Sage 50, Workday or Epicor by workflow, and a vendor packet can go to a work queue as a single item.

Employee onboarding packets without the paper chase

Key field: Employee ID
Documents, for example: Offer letter, W-4, I-9, direct deposit form, handbook acknowledgement

Send the new hire capture forms by email: they fill them in through an expiring link without an account, and each submission is filed with its data. Request signatures in a set order, give HR a work queue, and let a Packet Query rule send a reminder when the packet is still Incomplete a few days in.

For sensitive files, Require Reason for Access makes people state why they are opening a document, and the reason is kept in its history. More on HR onboarding.

Same mechanics, other files

Any file that is not finished until certain documents are in it fits a packet template. For example, a claim file keyed on the claim number, a patient intake file keyed on an account number, or a project file keyed on a job number.

05Planning your first packet

Five decisions to make before you build the template.

Settle these on paper first. Building the template is then the easy part.

01
Choose a key every document can carry
The key field must be a global field on every document type in the packet. Pick the number people already write on the paperwork: the loan number, not the borrower’s name.
Watch out: Documents join on the same value, so 20-4471 and 204471 are two different packets. Settle one format, and capture it consistently with QCards, barcodes, a choice list or a database lookup rather than free typing.
02
Mark required documents honestly
Required means the file is not done without it. Everything else is optional: it still joins the packet, it just never holds it back.
Watch out: If every type is required, every packet reads Incomplete and the status stops meaning anything.
03
Decide who hears about gaps, and when
A Packet Query rule can email someone or send an internal message about incomplete packets. A scheduled Incomplete Packets report gives a manager the full list.
04
Decide what happens on Complete
Start an approval on the whole packet, put it in a work queue, merge it into one file, or export it to a folder another system watches.
05
Decide who can see which packets
Document type permissions control who sees each kind of document. Access by field value limits people to their own branch, school or department, and Require Reason for Access records why a sensitive file was opened.

Questions about document packets

What is a document packet?

A packet is all the paperwork for one thing: one loan, one student, one employee, one purchase. In Content Central a packet template lists the document types that belong in it, marks each one required or optional, and names the key field they share, such as a loan number. The packet then shows Complete or Incomplete, with the missing types listed.

Do we have to build packets or link documents by hand?

No. Nobody creates a packet or puts documents into one. Any document filed with the packet’s key value joins it automatically, whether it was scanned, emailed, dropped in a watched folder, submitted on a capture form, filled by a lookup or delivered through the API.

What about documents we filed before we set up the template?

A new packet template works retroactively. It picks up existing documents that already carry the key value right away, so you can see the gaps in files you already have.

Can one document belong to more than one packet?

Yes. A document can belong to several packet templates, for example a loan view and a compliance view, and the viewer lets you switch between them. The documents can also live in different document types and different catalogs.

Can a whole packet be signed at once?

Signatures are per document. Individual documents in a packet can be signed through a signature request, or stamped with the approver’s signature as the packet passes through an approval that is set up to sign on approval.

Where does Content Central run?

On your own servers: Windows Server, IIS and SQL Server. People work in a web browser, including on a phone, where approval queues switch to cards with approve and reject buttons.

How much does it cost?

Content Central is quoted for your users and setup. Tell us about your setup on the pricing page and we will send pricing that fits, or book a free live demo and we will walk you through it.

Help library

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See a packet assemble from your own documents.

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Engraved illustration: file boxes, a document scanner and a PC at a desk