CMDBuild Newsletter nr. 86

We are continuing in these summer months in the preparation of the new CMDBuild 3.4 version, which we will work on until the end of the year.

Given the numerous implementations planned, we have divided the development into two milestones:

• milestone 1 (completion scheduled for September): new types of attributes, improvements to reference attributes, GIS extensions, inline widgets;
• milestone 2 (completion scheduled for December/January): CMDBuild Service BUS (see next news), revision of BIM functionality, restoration of relationship history.

In parallel to the second milestone, we will work on the extension of the Mobile APP to be able to operate in offline mode, through the initial download of a set of data of interest and the final merge with a guided wizard.

We will then update some components of the CMDBuild system: we will support PostgreSQL from version 10.x (suggested 12.x), we will support Liferay 7 for the Self-Service portal and Alfresco Community 7 as CMIS document repository, we will discontinue support for the Enhydra Shark (TWS) workflow engine and for the Internet Explorer browser.

Finally, the releases of the new versions of CMDBuild READY2USE 2.2 and openMAINT 2.2 are scheduled for September/October (see news below).

One of the main new features of the next CMDBuild 3.4 version concerns the design and implementation of the new CMDBuild Service BUS component, which will be called WaterWAY.

In general, a Service BUS (or ESB, Enterprise Service Bus) is a software infrastructure (middleware) dedicated to supporting and facilitating interoperability between applications and services in a SOA (Service-oriented architecture).

It provides coordination, security, messaging, routing and transformation services, unifying the methods that different components can use to receive and send information.

The centralization of interactions on a dedicated and specialized bus obviously constitutes an improvement solution compared to point-to-point interactions, for several reasons:

• provides standard and reusable API methods;
• guarantees decoupling between components, avoiding direct dependencies in individual workflows or custom pages or in other application configurations;
• allows to coordinate multiple tasks with each other;
• facilitates the execution of tests, separating the internal implementation of the service from the logic of application use of that service;
• it can be extended as needed at the “core” level by integrating new services, including custom ones;
• it can be implemented as a “plugin”, activating from time to time only the necessary services.

CMDBuild needs by its nature to interact with external systems, being its “job” precisely that of consolidating and correlating information received from other systems and making it available to those who need it, and in fact it has always included interoperability functions.

To give some examples, CMDBuild READY2USE and openMAINT can manage the sending of notification emails or SMS messages during the progress of workflows, the start of workflows from email or alarms, custom pages with access to external services, the execution of synchronization connectors from asset discovery systems, IOT implementations, data exchanges with ERP or CRM applications, etc.

Through the new CMDBuild Service BUS we will progressively optimize and migrate the solutions already implemented locally to the new centralized infrastructure, and we will develop more efficiently the new solutions that will be requested.

Please follow the next newsletter for more information on this new component.

With the new 2.2 version, the openMAINT application is enriched with important new features and improvements to the user interface.

The most important interventions concern the management of maintenance processes, with the following innovations:

• page for planning preventive activities with management of scheduled interventions in graphic mode (including drag & drop) and display in the form of a Gantt chart;
• possibility to activate the rescheduling of preventive interventions in accordance with the delay (or advance) of the previous intervention, and to define an end of validity date for maintenance plans;
• preventive checklists with improved graphics (layout, highlighting of the activities to be performed), new functions (sorting, exclusion of controls, massive evaluation by type, punctual notes) and better performance;
• added the possibility of defining an assignee for the management of both corrective and preventive interventions;
• integrated the automatic notification function in the event of exceeding the SLAs defined for maintenance;
• integrated cost and consumables management functionality also in preventive maintenance;
• interventions on the Mobile APP to improve and simplify the operational management of mobile maintenance activities.

Further innovations concern then:

• revision and extension of the data model proposed in openMAINT, with reference to the hierarchy and to the technical sheets of plants, assets and consumables, extended to the numerous contexts in which openMAINT is used (buildings and civil plants, factories and industrial plants, road works, other infrastructures on the territory, etc.);
• management of service calendars of locations, assets, teams and personnel, which can then be used with customized logics, for example calculating the end of life of a component/spare part and planning the replacement intervention, assigning a maintenance activity in a compatible shift of the staff, optimize the scheduling of an intervention based on the inactivity of a plant or closure of a building;
• possibility of importing files relating to digital utility bills (electricity, gas, telephony, etc.) and automatic distribution of costs after configuring the data mapping criteria;
• global search functionality on all the cards in the database;
• printing of the QR Code (single or multiple) from any asset card;
• implementation of functions connected to the map: calculation of the total consistencies of the locations, automatic updating of the position on the map based on the information on the card and vice versa.

The new openMAINT 2.2 version will also benefit from the improvements and new features of the CMDBuild 3.3.2 base platform.

The release of the new openMAINT 2.2 version is scheduled for next September.

Archimede Servizi is a Company owned by the Municipality of San Martino Buon Albergo (Verona - Italy), aimed at providing services in the sector of maintenance of movable and real estate assets.

Archimede Servizi identified openMAINT as a possible support tool for Facility Management just over a year ago, and, following some calls, decided to implement the project with the specialist support of Tecnoteca.

The activities initially carried out concerned the import into openMAINT of the data cards of:

• buildings, structures and systems: public buildings, schools, parks, cemeteries, sports facilities, roundabouts, with the relative systems;
• electrical panels relating to public lighting;
• vehicles in use, with monitoring of deadlines (road tax, inspection, insurance) through the openMAINT scheduler.

The maintenance management functions were then activated to control the activities to be carried out in the municipal area, assigned to the technicians in charge through the preparation of a daily work program:

• ordinary maintenance, such as mowing grass and cleaning parks, sanitizing water houses, interventions in schools, etc.;
• extraordinary maintenance, such as redevelopments, plant adaptations, etc.;
• corrective maintenance, such as lighting failures in schools, cemeteries, etc.

The Self-Service Portal was also activated to allow the autonomous opening of failure reports, used by the Municipality staff but also open to all citizens who can self-register on the portal and enter the request.

Finally, is currently being tested the supply to maintainers of mobile devices (smartphones and tablets) for the on-site registration of the interventions carried out.

The openMAINT application has now been active for several months and perfectly solves the main needs of Archimede Servizi.

After a break in August, we have organized a webinar for the presentation of the new CMDBuild Mobile APP next September.

Participation is free, upon registration.

The webinar will be held in English language.

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

This will be followed by the “in-depth webinar cycle” of the two applications 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.

We will update you on the dates in the next newsletter.

In the meantime, you can find the recordings of the webinars already held at the links below:

• 18^th March 2021: CMDBuild READY2USE - Introducing the application and exploring the Configuration Management Module - video
• 15^th April 2021: openMAINT - Introducing the application and exploring the Space & Asset Inventory Module - video
• 17^th June 2021: CMDBuild READY2USE - Service Desk and ITIL processes - video
• 15^th July 2021: openMAINT - Corrective Maintenance - video