Release Notes: Here's What's New in Your Ontic Platform
Release Date: May 11th, 2020
Roles & Permissions - New Feature
What it is: The ability to create and manage custom user roles across the Ontic platform with explicitly defined permissions for all major functions and actions.
Why it matters: Provide critical controls for what individuals can view or take actions on across the Ontic platform. Key for the guard use case, the analyst, the executive, the administrator, and many more roles that can be custom-defined and assigned. Ensure that the right people have access to the right information and tools.
How it works: From the 9-box navigation in the Administration section, click on “Roles”. From here click on the blue button labeled “Create Role”. From this page, you can name the role and provide a description before you start the permission assignment process.
Next, you can individually assign explicit permissions for each section of the Ontic application. Once those assignments have been made you can save this role in the platform.
From the main Roles page, you will find a list view where each role can be edited, deleted, or cloned. These actions can be found in the 3-dot menu located to the right. A cloned role allows you to carry forward the specific permissions into any new role you wish to create. From here you can simply make the small permission assignment edits and quickly create a new role without having to re-create all the permissions from scratch.
Finally, each role management screen will have 3 tabs: Permissions, Content Filters, and Layout. We will cover the latter two as new features later in this document.
When you would use it: You may have team members or colleagues who do not need to, or should not be able to access certain areas of the platform, or their job does not require them to perform certain actions. For example, your security guards might only need to create observations and view entity records whereas your executives may want to just download reports. Similarly, analysts may wish to have the exclusive ability to edit content in an entity while a manager only may delete an entity.
You may be wondering how the new functionality for Roles and Permissions is different from the current permissioning done by Workspaces. This new functionality determines what actions a given type of user can perform for all data in the workspace(s) for which he or she has access; it does not segregate the underlying data. An analyst can perform tailored actions on entities in all workspaces he has access to, but if the organization wanted one group of analysts to only see some entities and another group of analysts to see a separate group of entities, then multiple workspaces would be required to segregate these entities.
Content Filters by Role - New Feature
What it is: The ability to filter content a user sees based on simple logic conditions.
Why it matters: Allows the flexibility and control to share the content others in a user group have created or limit the content viewed to self-created content or rule conditions, e.g. “See mine, See others in my group”. It answers the question of what content is actually visible by individual roles within the Ontic platform.
How it works: From the 9-box navigation in the Administration section, click on “Roles”. From here click on the blue button labeled “Create Role”. On this page, you will click on the 2nd tab labeled “Content Filters”. Here you will find optional categories to restrict or expand the content that you would like this individual user to have visibility to.
The first category is ‘Observation’. Here you can define a content filter based on who the Observation was created by. In the drop-down you can choose a logic condition that limits Observation visibility to only observations created by a specific user. Another option is to limit the user’s visibility to Observations to only those observations created by a specific User Group. Lastly, you can limit the user’s visibility to Observations to only those observations created by the user themselves (the logged-in user).
There will be additional options available to manage Entity content filters and Research History controls. Here specific rules can be created to restrict and expand the content each role can see across the Ontic platform including the Ontic Mobile App.
These filters can be saved with the Role created.
When you would use it: Your director would like information to be shared with a specific user or team and not with all of the users who have access to Ontic. This could be because the information is sensitive or because the information requires additional steps to be taken before it can be shared with the rest of the team. For example, your Investigations team has gathered information on an individual but the intelligence has not been validated yet. The team would like to work up an investigation to ensure there is a validated concern before the rest of the team sees the information. Or if your guard force has logged an observation and based on your company’s workflow all initial observations are supposed to be viewed just by the investigations team. By creating content filters you can establish the necessary gating.
Entity Layout Builder by Role - New Feature
What it is: The ability to build and configure custom field and navigation layouts for Entities, Profiles, Students, Businesses, Groups, and Events by Role.
Why it matters: Provides flexibility for what an organization would like to display on individuals, groups, or businesses stored within the Ontic platform. Sensitive information can be hidden from view and configured by role by the administrator. It only shows the information that is relevant to the specific role you have defined by managing the fields and navigation elements that are displayed.
How it works: From the 9-box navigation in the Administration section, click on “Roles”. From here click on the blue button labeled “Create Role”. On this page, you will click on the 3rd tab labeled “Layout”. To manage the layout permission for this user role you can click on the blue button labeled “Create New Layout”.
On this page you will name the layout and select from a drop-down to assign a category to associate with this entity layout. Below this section you will see a preview of the entity layout this role will have visibility to. To change the navigation or field options simply click on the “Edit” pencil icon for any of the major sections of the layout. Those include entity tabs, entity right column, entity details located in the center, and the entity right column sections. Once clicked, simply toggle on or off the sections you wish to have displayed or removed for this role. By clicking on the “Sort” button, you can now grab any field (by clicking on the horizontal 3 lines) and moving them up or down in the position preferred. Once the final edits have been made, simply “Save” the layout. The layout main page allows you to assign the desired layout for this role.
From the layout management page you can assign the saved layout for each Entity, Profile, Student, Business, and Group that exists within the Ontic database. For instance, you can choose a saved layout assigned to a Person (Entity) and choose a different saved layout assigned to a Person (Profile) by choosing from the drop-down menu. These options will correspond to the layout you had previously saved.
When you would use it: Different entity types are inherently different. While a person entity can have a date of birth or a Social Security Number, an event entity cannot. Moreover, your team may have specific intelligence fields or sections that require high visibility or attention. By using the entity layout builder you can adjust the order of certain sections and fields within the Entity details page so the essential sections are at the top of the page. Or your company may be storing highly sensitive information on a person of interest such as a social security number and only certain individuals should be able to view or edit the data due to internal compliance policies. With the entity layout builder, you can hide certain fields from being visible to specific people or groups.
Email Ingestion - New Feature
What it is: The ability to ingest emails directly as an Observation signal/feed into the Ontic platform.
Why it matters: When you need to pull emails directly into Ontic. For several use cases where a correspondence occurs via email and you want those captured and stored within Ontic. Examples: 1) email tip line 2) a concerning email, can be forwarded to a mailbox that pulls as a signal/feed into Ontic 3) other 3rd party alert emails
How it works: Once an email alias has been established, all future emails forwarded to that address will be pulled into the Ontic platform as an Observation. These observations can be viewed in the Intelligence Feeds and will behave in a similar fashion to all other observations submitted into Ontic. These emails can also accept attachments as well.
When you would use it: Your team is currently receiving a lot of information via email or you subscribe to an email alert system and would like that information to live in your system of record rather than in your inbox. For example, if your company has an anonymous tip-line email alias where employees and consumers can send emails to formally log concerns, with the new email ingestion functionality each email would be logged as an observation that your team can review and analyze to take the necessary actions. In another example, if your Principal receives a threatening email that email can now be forwarded directly to a dedicated ‘company’@ontic.ai email address and ingested as an Observation feed to be managed within the Ontic platform.
Open Web Research (Chrome Browser Extension) - New Feature
Please contact your Ontic team for more information about this feature
What it is: An Ontic chrome browser extension that enables simple 1-click ‘pinning’ of research content from multiple designated sites into Ontic with attribution and metadata that can be carried forward and easily applied.
Why it matters: Streamlines the research process and strengthens Ontic as the system of record for Protective Intelligence. This feature exponentially increases the scope of information an analyst or researcher can seamlessly bring into Ontic, even for sources that have been traditionally very tedious to use because they do not offer APIs for more automated data pulls.
How it works: First you will download the chrome browser extension that Ontic will provide you. Next, while logged into Ontic platform you can browse a defined list of websites that the browser extension has been activated for. As you hover over blocks of content on those pages you will see a small Ontic logo appear. Simply click on that logo icon and data on that portion of the page will be automatically captured by Ontic. You can continue to do this multiple times across multiple designated websites and pages. Once complete, you simply click on the “Import Activity” button shown on the screen capture below and the browsed data will be imported directly into the platform and can be applied to an entity within Ontic.
When you would use it: You are researching something outside of the Ontic platform and you discover a valuable piece of information you would like to add into Ontic. For example, you may perform a Facebook or LinkedIn search of a person of interest and come across interesting information. With the browser extension, you can easily add information from outside Ontic to an entity.
Advanced TLO Searches - Enhancement
Please contact your Ontic team for more information about this feature
What it is: new searches that now include civil (bankruptcies, liens, judgments, foreclosures, evictions) and criminal cases (felonies, misdemeanors, some major traffic), sex offender registries and some arrest searches apart from this we can use TLO to discover more about businesses/ corporations and UCC filings (UCC filing allows the lender to lay claim on debtor’s collateral for securing finance)
Why it matters: for TLO users, a wider search pull into Ontic that can be selectively applied to our entity database.
How it works: From the 9-box navigation under the Research column click on “TLOxp”. You can start a new search and select the appropriate tab you would like to retrieve information from TLO on. In addition to ‘Person’ and ‘Vehicle’ searches, you can now conduct a search based on ‘Company’, ‘Civil’, or ‘Criminal” records. The results work similarly to the Identity Search execution within Ontic where results and sub attributes can be applied to your entity directly. These advanced TLO searches can also be conducted directly from within an entity by clicking on the Research tab and executing the TLOxp search.
When you would use it: You use Ontic’s identity intelligence to discover information on a person you are investigating and now that you have successfully identified the person you would like to uncover additional pre-incident indicators or personal stressors. For example, you’d want to know if the person has any recent financial concerns or civil disputes. The enhanced TLO offering enables you to view this type of TLO data alongside the entity details within Ontic.
New Appriss Searches - New Feature
Please contact your Ontic team for more information about this feature
What it is: NCIS criminal search (felonies, misdemeanors, some major traffic), warrants, and some arrests. Each search also includes a 50-state sex offender and global terrorist watch screening.
Why it matters: a broader source of criminal search data that will complement our Appriss 1.0 solution plus some civil searches including bankruptcies, liens, and judgments.
How it works: From the 9-box navigation, click on 'Appriss 2.0 Search’. From this page, you can start a new search where you must provide the name and date of birth on the individual to initiate the NCIS search. The results work similarly to the Identity Search execution within Ontic where results and sub attributes can be applied to your entity directly. These NCIS searches can also be conducted directly from within an entity by clicking on the Research tab and executing the Appriss 2.0 search.
When you would use it: You use Ontic’s identity intelligence to discover information on a person you are investigating and now that you have successfully identified the person you would like to uncover additional civil and criminal intelligence to better assess the level of concern your organization should have of an individual. For example, you’d want to know the full picture of a person’s criminal history no matter the size of the crime. The enhanced Appriss offering enables you to discover and view this data alongside the entity details within Ontic.
Business as an Entity Type - New Feature
Please contact your Ontic team for more information about this feature
What it is: A new category of threat, where you can store Business/Corporations as Entities in the Ontic platform.
Why it matters: Provides a new way to capture all relevant information associated with a Business or Corporation who could pose a risk to your operations. These could include vendors, suppliers, small businesses, shell companies, or other organizations that may present a risk or a concern. Now, specific details about these businesses can be hydrated and stored independent of individual entities or profiles.
How it works: From anywhere in the Ontic platform, click on the blue “Add” button and select the ‘Entity’ dropdown. On the Add Entity page click on the “Business” tab located horizontally across the page. Here you can populate the basic information known about this business including the Business Type and Business Status. Once a Business entity has been created more details can be added subsequently in the ‘Details’ tab of this new entity. Business details such as the DUNS number or Registered Agents and Corporate Officers can be added as well. The layout and field options can be edited by Role and curated to align to the desired business layout view.
When you would use it: Your company enters into a partnership agreement with a new vendor who will have access to your facilities and employees on a regular basis and will be receiving a substantial amount of money for the recurring work they will be providing. You may want to add the corporation as an entity into the database and start working up a profile to determine if there is risk associated with the vendor. For example, if the owners of the corporation have had several businesses in the past that have had financial issues or that have declared bankruptcy this may be something that concerns your company.
Release Notes: Additional Enhancements
Release Date: May 7th, 2020
User Password Reset - Enhancement
What it is: An individual user should not be able to change the password of any other user within Ontic. A user who wishes to change their password can trigger a password reset email that would be sent to their email id. An administrator can change/ reset the password of any user with same or lower user roles.
Entity Connection View - Enhancement
What it is: The ‘Connections’ tab on every individual entity page has been enhanced to include thumbnail images of each connected entity and a new ‘map view’ tab that displays each connection in a geo view format.
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