📢 Document Distribution

"Get the right documents to the right people."
Securely distribute approved policies, procedures, and critical information—internally and externally.

1️⃣ Why Use Distributions?

The primary goal of this module is to streamline the distribution of essential documents across your organization and to external partners such as consultants and auditors.

By using distributions, you ensure that:

1. Everyone has access to the latest versions.
2. You have an overview on who has read the documents
3. You save hours of work by not having to run after the documents during an audit.

2️⃣ What's a Distribution?

A distribution is a curated set of documents that serve a common purpose, such as:

• Policies
• Procedures
• Induction materials
• Security & Privacy training
• Customer legal documents

💡 Distributions help centralize information and enforce evidence of acknowledgment.

3️⃣ Steps to Create a Distribution

① Add Distribution

• Open the Distribution menu.
• Click Add distribution.

1. Title – name your distribution (e.g., Policies).
2. Evidence – enable read/approval tracking.
3. Custom text – add a custom message to send to the recipients.
4. Password protection – by default distributions can simply be access using the provided link. For sensitive distributions (e.g. auditor evidence collection) you can protect the link with a password and send the password through another way (e.g. sms)

② Categories

On the next screen, define categories to group documents.

1. Multiple categories.
2. Categories can be removed (documents will be unlinked, not deleted).
3. New categories can be added anytime.

③ Recipients

Next, define recipients from your external contacts.

You can assign:

1. Individual contacts.
2. Multiple contacts at once based on tags (e.g Marketing, Development,...).
3. Exclude contacts based on tags.

4️⃣ Assigning Documents

You can assign any document from your workspace, including:

• Word, Excel, PowerPoint files
• PDFs
• YouTube/video captures

Steps to assign:

1. Click the three dots next to a document.
2. Select Add to distribution.
3. Choose the target distribution and category.

5️⃣ Overview of a Distribution

When opening an existing and configured distribution, you’ll see:

1. Distribution name & selector – quickly switch between distributions.
2. Copy link – copy the distribution URL to share internally or externally.
3. Preview – see what the recipients will see.
4. Manage & Notify Contacts – track acknowledgments if they have been enabled. You can see more info on this below.
5. Actions:

• Edit distribution
• Delete distribution (tracking removed, documents unlinked but not deleted)
• Download attachments (non-printable files like Word, Excel, Zip,...)
• Download as a single indexed document (useful for sharing with auditors).

6. Document list – reorder via drag & drop.
7. Version control – outdated versions shown in red. You can choose to show your contacts an older version while you are working on a new one.
8. Acceptance % – shows the number of people that have acknowledged the document. By clicking on the % button, you can see exactly who has and hasn't completed it.
9. Edit/remove documents – The edit button opens the document in the original folder, allowing you to make modifications to it. The delete button unlinks the document from the current distribution without deleting it.

6️⃣ Manage & Notify Contacts

To invite external contacts:

1. Click Manage & Notify contacts (step 4 above).
2. From here, you can:

• Track acceptance progress per contact.
• Quickly add new contacts.
• Send invitations via email.

Key actions

1. Unassigned contacts list – list of your contacts currently NOT in the distribution. Add them with the "Add" button.
2. Assigned contacts list – track acknowledgments and percentages per user, and select the contacts to send a notification to using the checkbox.
3. Last activity date – shows most recent “marked as read.”
4. Mark as read (admin) – if you distribute documents in another tool but still want to track completion in Brainframe for audit purposes, as an administrator you can manually acknowledge a document on behalf of an employee.
5. Send notification – invite all selected contacts to look at the distribution.

The email includes:

• Distribution name (e.g., CISOMatic)
• Your organization’s branding/logo (configured in Custom Branding)
• A direct access link

📌 External contacts do not need to log in — the link in the email gives direct access.

7️⃣ Best Practices

• 📌 Always group documents by category for clarity.
• 💡 Use evidence tracking to meet compliance audit needs.
• 🔐 Apply password protection for sensitive external distributions.
• 🔍 Regularly review acceptance % to spot gaps in awareness.
• 📂 Use the download PDF option for auditors or for quick search.

🎯 Visual Checklist

• [x] Distribution created
• [x] Categories defined
• [x] Recipients assigned
• [ ] Documents added and grouped
• [ ] Notifications sent
• [ ] Acceptance tracked via dashboard

Updated on: 11/09/2025