Release Notes: Here's What's New in Your Ontic Platform
Fall 2020
Summary:
[Minor] Release Date: November 7th, 2020
RSS Feed Creation New Feature
Please contact your Ontic team for more information about this new feature.
What it is: The ability to set-up and stay updated via RSS feeds within Ontic’s Intelligence Feed dashboard.
Why it matters: RSS feeds provide real-time streaming of content from various websites and online publications. These feeds are curated by the user based on topics, industries, types of websites and more. Leveraging various RSS feeds side-by-side through Ontic Intelligence Feeds allows users to see a holistic view of real time events, stay on top of updates, and help to inform decisions.
How it works:
Creating an RSS Feed or Topic:
From the Administration section go to RSS Feed Topics and enter in the necessary information.
You will have to give the topic a Name and can apply a description.
Entering the Feed URL provides the source of the information that will populate the intelligence feed.
Apply a Category, which will allow you to combine feeds into intelligence feeds.
Creating an RSS Feed in Intelligence Feeds:
Add a New Feed called RSS Feed.
Select whether you would like to populate the feed with a single RSS feed source, a specific URL, or an RSS feed Category. Selecting Category will populate the feed with all of the created RSS topics that have that category applied.
Note: You will have to set up an RSS feed or topic in the Administration section of the platform before you can add it to an Intelligence feed.
Share Observations Across Workspaces - Enhancement
What it is: The ability to share an Observation with other Workspaces within your organization.
Why it matters: There are instances when an Observation will help provide insight to a team or initiative outside of where the Observation is initially generated. In these instances, instead of duplicating efforts, and wasting time logging the same information in multiple places, enhance efficiency by simply sharing visibility. For moments where an Observation is made in the wrong Workspace due to user error, that Observation can now easily be transferred to the correct location. Finally, if an Observation is related to sensitive or private information, it can be limited to only specific Workspaces for appropriate confidentiality.
How it works:
Find the Observation you want to share. Click on the three vertical dots at the bottom of the observation, and select “Manage Workspace”
Select (or un-select) Workspaces to determine where the Observation will be seen. Don’t forget to click save!
Note: You cannot share an Observation while it is being made. Only existing Observations can be shared.
Workspace Visibility in Admin Settings Enhancement
What it is: The ability to see which Workspaces a Principal, Rule, or Role is shared across.
Why it matters: Visibility around where things are shared is critical to teamwork. Whether it is making sure sensitive information stays private, or confirming that a specific action can be taken by another team, the ability to check and see where items are accessible across Ontic is a helpful enhancement.
How it works:
For any item that you want to check Workspace visibility on, navigate to the table view. For example, to see where a rule is shared, go to the 9-box and click on “Rules” under “Administration” on the far right. Here you will see a table view of all Rules.
Click on the 3-dots on the far right side of the item you want to check/edit Workspace visibility for. Select “Manage Workspaces” and then select or deselect the Workspaces you want to share the item with.
New Time Period Selection Options in Rules Enhancement
What it is: A standard selection of time periods to choose from when creating a volumetric rule.
Why it matters: Extending time selections beyond hour intervals to daily, weekly or monthly cadence options helps to provide additional flexibility to building a rule. This will allow you to customize the rule to make it work best for you and your team.
How it works:
From 9-box, navigate to “Rules” under “Administration.” Click on “Volumetric Rules.”
At the top right, click the blue “Create Rule” button to enter the Ontic Rule Builder.
As you build out the rule, when appropriate, you will see new options for time period selection.
[Minor] Release Date: October 26th, 2020
Add a Profile- Enhancement
Please contact your Ontic team for more information about this enhancement.
What it is: The ability to manually add a Profile for a person who is not a POI nor a Principal but important to have in the platform.
Why it matters: Previously, profiles were only generated from Signals. Now, they can be created independently of a Signal. This will allow you to leverage Profiles for a wider variety of tasks, such as logging employees, victims, or potential threats who could be related to POIs in the platform but do not qualify as Principals in your organization.
How it works: From any page in Ontic, navigate to the blue “Add” button on the upper right side of your screen, and click on “Profile.”
New Ways to Add an Investigation - Enhancement
Please contact your Ontic team for more information about this feature
What it is: Increased flexibility around where an Investigation can be started in the Ontic platform.
Why it matters: Criteria for starting an Investigation will vary depending on the initiative. The ability to open an Investigation from an Entity profile, or begin one with no source at all (from any point in the platform) allows teams to start Investigations when and where they are most relevant.
How it works:
Starting an Investigation on an Entity: Begin by opening the Entity profile. Click on the three vertical dots under the Entity avatar, and select “Start Investigation.” Fill out the relevant details and click “submit” to save.
Note: The “Investigation Source” will be listed as the Entity that the started from.
Starting an Investigation from anywhere in Ontic: From any page in the platform, the blue “Add” button is visible on the top right side of the screen. Clicking on this button will give you the option to Add an Entity, Observation - and now an Investigation. Fill out the relevant details and click “submit” to save.
Note: The “Investigation Source” will be listed as “No details.”
Share Principals Across Workspaces - Enhancement
What it is: The ability to share a Principal that was created in a specific Workspace with users in a different Workspace.
Why it matters: Intelligence is critical to keeping assets safe. Now that Principals can be shared across workspaces, there is no longer a need to have duplicate profiles for each asset. A single Principal can contain all the necessary information on that asset, allowing for greater visibility and team collaboration. For situations that require more discrete work, Principal visibility can be limited to only the Workspace in which it was created.
How it works: Navigate to the 9-box at the top left of the page, and click to open the menu. Next, click on “Principal” under the Administration heading on the far right column. Find the Principal you want to share and click on the three vertical dots on the far right side of that Principal’s row. Choose “Manage Workspace.” Check the box next to the Workspace(s) you want that Principal to be visible from. You are not able to unshare the Principal from the Workspace it was originally created in.
Note: You cannot share a Principal while it is being created. The Principal must first be created and then shared after.
Roles: Ability to Edit System-Generated Default Roles - Enhancement
What it is: The ability to further define default roles in the platform to fit your team’s needs.
Why it matters: Many of the features and capabilities in the Ontic platform are dependent on a user’s role. For items that are sensitive, visibility may need to be limited to a small number of users. On the other hand, certain fields may be necessary for all teams to leverage. Having the flexibility to edit existing roles makes it simple to customize default roles to fit your organization’s needs and continue to adjust the configuration over time as teams evolve and priorities change.
How it works: From the 9-box menu, under “Administration,” click on Roles. Find the system-generated role default role that you want to edit and click on the three dots to the far right side of that role’s row. You’ll know if a role is system-generated because it will say “System” under the “Editor” heading. Once you make the changes that you need to for that role, click “Save Draft” and then “Activate” (This is very important). Changes made to that role will affect all users with that specific role in the Workspace the edit is made from (Edits to system-generated default roles do not transfer to users in other Workspaces.)
Observation Layout Builder - Enhancement
What it is: The ability to customize the order of the fields that a user will fill out when logging an observation.
Why it matters: Speed and accuracy are both critical when logging an observation. Having the option to decide which fields should be included, and the order they come in, allows teams to be strategic about their submission process. Placing the most important fields first, or organizing them in a dependent sequence, will drive operational efficiencies and allow users to focus on what’s most important.
How it works: Click on the 9-box menu, and navigate to “Layouts” underneath the “Administration” column on the far right. At the top of the page, underneath the universal search bar, click “Observation Layouts.”
To build a new Observation Form: Click the blue button on the right side that says “Create New Template.”
Make sure that the “Category” selected is “Observation (Create).” From the Observation Layout Builder, choose which fields are included, and in which order, by clicking on the “edit” button at the top of the form. A “Edit Sections” pane will appear on the right side of the form. Use the toggle on each field to define which fields should be included in the form. Click on “Sort” at the top of the “Edit Sections” pane, and drag the fields into the order that you want them to appear in. Click “Done” to save your changes, and “X” at the top of the “Edit Sections” pane to close it. Remember to click “Save” on the top right of the screen to save your changes.
To edit an existing Observation Form: Find the form you would like to edit, and click on the pen icon on the far right side. From the Observation Layout Builder, change which fields are included, and in which order, by clicking on the “edit” button at the top of the form. A “Edit Sections” pane will appear on the right side of the form. Use the toggle on each field to define which fields should be included in the form. Click on “Sort” at the top of the “Edit Sections” pane, and drag the fields into the order that you want them to appear in. Click “Done” to save your changes, and “X” at the top of the “Edit Sections” pane to close it. Remember to click “Save” on the top right of the screen to save your changes.
Entity Lifecycle Visualization - New Feature
Please contact your Ontic team for more information about this enhancement.
What it is: The ability to see a side by side comparison of various pieces of information on an Entity Profile, broken down by week, to visualize trends over time.
Why it matters: The importance of patterns and trends in anticipating an issue before it happens. In this view of an Entity’s Lifecycle, you can view the evolution of how the information in various fields related to that entity have changed over time. Whether someone has accumulated more public records in the last two weeks or had tags added by teammates to communicate new causes for concern, seeing the edits in a cumulative view provides insights that may otherwise be lost.
How it works: On an Entity Profile, click on “Metrics” in the far left list-menu under the avatar. At the top of the page, under the universal search bar, click on “Lifecycle.” Scroll to see the various fields and how the Entity has evolved over time.
