CMDBuild Newsletter nr. 84

The activities of the new CMDBuild 3.3.2 version are in progress, and the release is currently scheduled at the end of April.

The following are the main new features in development:

• possibility of searching on the categories and on the metadata associated with the documents attachedto the data cards;
• possibility to set permissions on attached documents different than those of the class they belong to;
• possibility of saving in the user preferences the sorting of the columns in the grids;
• export of process data as well as classes data;
• possibility in the filters on the processes to select the current step;
• email signature management;
• enabling of the contextual menu in the map page.

We have then refactored the authentication features with:

• plugin management of the different SSO authentication available (CAS AD/LDAP, SAML 2.0, ADFS 4, OAUTH2 KEYCLOAK, etc.);
• possibility for the user to choose one of those enabled at the login;
• authentication on the APP with the same methods as authentication on the standard interface;
• possibility of consulting in the Administration Module the active authentication methods and the parameters set for each.

We are also carrying out system analysis of some slowdown points reported on version 3.3.1, to resolve them on the new version 3.3.2.

The ability to create Custom Pages has been one of the main news of CMDBuild 3, necessary to implement customized application logic that cannot be described with the other configuration mechanisms available on the platform so far.

After about two years we can say that this possibility has been decisive in many situations, allowing our technicians to solve custom requirements of different types, both in terms of data processing and layout design.

Using the CMDBuild REST APIs to communicate with the server and the primitives of the Sencha ExtJS framework to operate on the user interface, the mechanism of the Custom Pages in fact allows extendingparts of the standard CMDBuild GUI or rewriting them from scratch, until implementing customized application functionalities with very complex logics.

The custom pages are integrated with the other CMDBuild mechanisms regarding access permissions and positioning in the menus, and can be designed in a different way for desktop and mobile applications.

Some examples of custom pages are visible in the standard applications CMDBuild READY2USE (Tickets Summary and Asset Management Form Configuration pages) and openMAINT (Corrective Maintenance and Corrective Maintenance Summary, Preventive Maintenance and Preventive Maintenance Calendar pages).

The FTB Consortium was founded about 2 years ago to manage, among other services, the ICT platform of the Agricultural Consortiums of Friuli Venezia Giulia region and Treviso-Belluno provinces, consortiums rooted in the areas with more than 400 employees and 80 branches.

A very flexible and scalable platform was needed, to manage over 10.000 assets of all shapes and sizes (from mobiles to AS400) and the user’s helpdesk requests, able to support the Consortium in the design and the management of Asset Management and Service Desk processes.

Choosing CMDBuild READY2USE allowed the Consortium to be operational in a very short time frame, thanks to the models and the workflows already present, which however represent only a starting point: the management of requests (and their approval flow) and the document management, as well as the activation of the User’s Portal, represent the next steps.

Probably just a few know that Caritas Rome has 52 centers, supporting people in need in Rome area and present throughout the territory of the largest municipality in Italy, for a total of 25,000 square meters.

My mandate, as head of General Services, is to keep these assets efficient by spending as little as possible, because every euro we save is a euro that we can allocate to our “guests”.

The structure at my disposal is naturally very limited: 1 assistant, 1 plumber, 1 bricklayer, 1 electrician, 1 IT technician, 1 systems engineer; I therefore needed a versatile and powerful IT tool that would allow me an efficient management of the few resources and that would give evidence to the direction of the efforts made for the good running of each center.

On February 26^th, 2014, I attended an openMAINT presentation and it was love at first sight...

It took me 5 long years to convince the management of the advantages we would have by bringing the management of real estate assets to openMAINT, and finally, after the product customization phase, from ticketing via the Self-Service Portal, to the management of IT assets, to the recording of the readings of the utilities, in March 2019 the application for the first pilot center went into production.

Today I am writing to you on the eve of the entry into production of the last batch of the 52 centers. We are still refining some critical aspects, but we count, with the support of Tecnoteca, to solve everything and go into full production very shortly.

Thanks to all the Tecnoteca team, which in recent years has borne and supported helping us, even economically, to achieve this result.

                                                                                                          Fulvio Ferrari

We have organized a cycle of webinars to deepen the functionalities of the two solutions CMDBuild READY2USE, dedicated to the management of IT Assets and Services, and openMAINT, dedicated to the management of Real Estate Assets and related Maintenance Activities.

The webinars are presented by the project leaders of two applications and their collaborators.

The first meeting was held on March 18^th, with the title: “CMDBuild READY2USE: introducing the application and exploring the Configuration Management Module”.

A video recording from the webinar is available here.

The second webinar entitled: “openMAINT: introducing to the application and exploring the Space & Asset Inventory Module” has already been set for April 15^th. At this page is possible to register.

Please find here below the complete list of the following appointments already scheduled:

• CMDBuild READY2USE
  • The Service Desk
  • Asset Lifecycle and Asset Management
  • Data synchronization Connectors from discovery tools
  • Special sessions: KPI / Data Quality and SLA Configuration
• openMAINT
  • Corrective Maintenance
  • Preventive Maintenance
  • Economic and Logistic Management
  • Energy Monitoring and IOT
  • GIS and BIM functionalities

In May there will also be a further webinar dedicated to the presentation of the new features of CMDBuild 3.3.2.

Participation is always free, upon registration.

The webinars will be held in English language.

At the end of each webinar, it will be possible to ask questions through the chat tool and have answers from Tecnoteca technicians.