Integra Development Corner
From the Desk of Integra Development Manager, Tim Muenstermann

Typically, I’m tasked with revealing an enhancement to one area of our product line. In the spirit of the busy summer season, I decided to cram three topics into one article. I mean, after all, you’re busy…why shouldn’t this article be busy as well?

Let me start by highlighting an enhancement to security that is in BETA as I write this. For the longest time, security lacked the ability to maintain privileges for an entire group of users. Therefore, with the enhancement to Menu, which I will get to later in this article, we decided to update our security to include “Roles”. Now you can manage privileges at a role level, but still override any privilege or set of privileges at the user level. When upgraded to the 2010 version, we will convert all your current users over so that you don’t miss a beat from how you function today. You can, at your own pace, implement roles as you see fit. This enhancement also comes with a whole new user experience that should prove to have a familiar feel to systems administrators.

Security also comes with the ability to configure certain applications to only allow access to data based on the locations you choose for that specific application or report. Since users and roles are company based, so too is the location security within those users and roles. Whichever company the user or role belongs to will determine the list of locations available for restricting access to data within a certain application or report. The 2010 Menu is vastly different too. No longer is it just a menu screen. The new menu offers functionality all its own. You can easily search by name for applications or reports without having to remember what tree/sub-tree in which it resides.

The user experience is further enhanced to include the ability to “Auto Start” applications or reports for you upon login. You are also able to create your own menu bars that contain your most frequently used items from our software suite. Oh, and you can now switch companies without the need to log out, then log back in under a different company. Our goal was to create a new menu system that allows you to customize your workflow and allow you the ability to quickly get to the applications and reports you use the most.