CMDBuild Newsletter nr. 95

You can find in the previous newsletter a first list of candidate features to be included in the next CMDBuild 3.4.2 version.
We can already confirm the features (first list), some of which have already been completed, others are currently in progress, and others will be implemented in the coming months.
With regard to the mobile APP, we will probably move the “off-line mode” to the next release, while we confirm the new “push notifications” feature.
Regarding the list of more general improvements, the customizable “favorites” menu and the better management of passwords for access to external systems in waterWAY are currently confirmed, while the other points will probably be moved to subsequent releases.
The temporal objective remains to close the developments by the end of May / mid-June, take about a month for final tests and adjustments, and release the new CMDBuild version in July.

In CMDBuild the users belonging to a “superuser” type group can access the Administration Module and intervene on all system configurations.

The following administrator types are already available:

• Normal Administrator, with full permissions;
• Administrator authorized only to manage users, groups and permissions (especially useful in multitenant CMDBuild instances);
• Administrator with view-only rights.

The “Limited Administrator” typology was then introduced to solve particular needs, but it required manual configuration interventions on the database and was therefore difficult to use.
The new CMDBuild 3.4.2 version will allow you to make these configurations directly from the user interface of the Administration Module, through an extension of the group management form.
By selecting the type of Limited Administrator, an additional fieldset will appear on the form with the list of all the functions of the menu (Classes, Processes, Domains, Lookup type, Views, Search filters, Dashboards, Reports, etc.), and for each of them it will be possible to assign to that group of Limited Administrators the desired permission (none, read-only or modify).
This new feature will allow to delegate some “less technical activities” to specially trained referents - including interventions on lookup lists, creation of views, modification of menus, creation of import/export templates, etc.-, while preventing access to more critical operations.

To increase its diffusion, let's take a look at some case histories of the CMDBuild DAY 2022 held on November 30^th.

Here below there is a summary of the Crédit Agricole case history, you can find here the complete intervention.

Crédit Agricole Italia is one of the leading Italian banking groups.

The project for the introduction of CMDBuild READY2USE in Crédit Agricole, with the collaboration between the Architecture and Innovation Area of the bank and Tecnoteca, began in 2019 and is still continuing with new evolutions and improvements.

The project had three main objectives:

• the replacement of the pre-existing CMDB, migrating all the information and re-implementing the necessary functions;
• the development of new functions, within a completely dynamic and customized configurable system, which constitutes its real added value;
• the development of integration connectors with external systems of interest, in order to automate data synchronization and relieve users from repetitive manual works.

The main stages for the replacement of the previous CMDB saw a software selection phase started in 2018, a POC in the same year, an administrative process that ended at the beginning of 2019 with the launch of the project, the migration of previous data and the start of production in August 2019.

The “system extension phase” was then launched to import and manage new types of information: client-type assets (workplaces, mobile devices), infrastructural assets (servers, networks, storage), specific assets (ATMs, totems), applications (including relationships with other assets), infrastructural software (database), registry (personnel, suppliers), etc.

Once the new typologies of information had been modelled, we proceeded with the development of connectors for the automatic synchronization of some of that data from external “proprietary” systems.

One of the main objectives of the CMDBuild READY2USE system is then to guarantee support to the inventory and to the application management authorization flows, with the implementation of the initial census processes (mapped with the AbiLab framework), modification and decommissioning.

Ultimately CMDBuild is “an always open construction site”, since there are always so many needs and, thanks to its flexibility, as soon as one activity is closed there is always another one that luckily can start to support the daily work.

A webinar on the new features of CMDBuild READY2USE 2.3 was held on January 26th. Here you can find the video of the event.

The presentation webinar of the new openMAINT 2.3 version will then follow on February 16th.

The recordings of the webinars already held remain available to interested people, here you can find the links to access.