How Cumulus Vault Works

As the Cumulus Vault Administrator, it’s up to you to configure Cumulus Vault to meet the needs of your workgroup. But before you jump in, it’s good to get a basic idea of how your Cumulus catalogs interact with Vault. And if you don’t want to miss out on any of the technical details, you can read “Behind the Scenes”, to find out what’s going on in the background.

Cumulus Vault can control and monitor access to all assets. Think of it as the Cumulus librarian. Users check assets out for editing and check them back in again when they’re through. Every time an asset is checked out, Vault automatically gives the user the latest version to ensure that versions remain up-to-date.

Vault allows only one user at a time to check out an asset, preventing multiple edits that can result in conflicting – and confusing – versions. If another user attempts to check the asset out, Vault informs the would-be editor which user has the file. When a user checks an asset back in, Vault saves the updated file as a new version without overwriting previous versions. It keeps all back versions, making it possible to track changes to an asset during the production cycle – a concept referred to as a version control system. It also provides information on all versions: Who made the changes? When? With Vault, these questions are easy to answer, making last week’s edits just as accessible as today’s.