Make Configuration Changes Online Quickly and Easily

The OpenFox™ Configurator tool differentiates the OpenFox™ System from other competitor products by allowing authorized personnel to make all configuration changes online without having to restart the system.  With the OpenFox™ System there is no need to wait until a scheduled time to add new users or new access points (devices), or for that matter, new or modified message transactions. The Administrator uses the Configurator to point, click and implement new capabilities on the fly.  In a matter of minutes an Administrator may add these new capabilities without requiring lengthy software development, programming assistance, vendor involvement or experiencing any downtime.  Changes made with the Configurator are immediately available to the system without a re-boot or restart of any programs.

The Configurator is used to control, add, change and delete all of the configurable items in the OpenFox™ System. The Configurator is a licensed product. One copy is provided with the OpenFox™ System license.

The following screen shot shows the configurable elements that are available in the Configurator module.

MKE/MFC – Message Keys are used to define the routing and editing criteria for transactions as well as define simple and complex message spawning. This capability enables an administrator to operate on the transaction definition database to add new transactions and modify or delete existing transactions, on-line and effective immediately. All transactions including Nlets, NCIC or State specific transactions are configured and all changes are immediately available to the system without any recompilation or restart of any component. The Message Keys are used to define the business rules for processing transactions. Basic editing is accomplished with the specifications of field characteristics while advanced editing is accomplished by specifying an edit routine appropriate for the field. The OpenFox™ System provides all Nlets and NCIC edits. State specific edits are added and made available to the configuration process during system customization. The system supports standard XML specifications such as GJXDM and NIEM and the configuration of the message transaction specifies the XSLT Style Sheet that is used to transform the message if necessary. The Configurator is used to provide support for most TOU items or new NCIC and Nlets transactions or fields.

Stations – The Station screen is used to define entities such as work stations, ORI’s, groups, interfaces, etc. If an agency desires to access the system from additional devices there is no need to wait for a new system generation procedure. The administrator gathers the necessary information, executes the Configurator and within minutes the system is supporting the new access. All of this is accomplished without impacting any other user or suffering any system downtime.

Agencies – The Agency screen is used to store information about an agency in the system. Stations, users and licenses may be associated with agencies. The agency designator is included in all messages and is used by such components as the OpenFox™ Archive & Retrieval product to restrict a user’s view of the message logs to their specific agency only.

Computer – The Computer screen is used to define devices in the network for receiving specific notifications such as network errors, system errors, and security breaches or the spill station which generally receives those messages that cannot be routed and require manual intervention. These notifications can be sent to specific devices or groups of devices.

User – The User screen is used to define a User record in the User Repository and is used to maintain all information related to the identification, certification, password and all security information for the user. The User Repository is compliant with the NCIC CJIS Security Policy, but may also be specialized through the use of configuration parameters to stricter requirement if required by the State.

NCIC Codes – The NCIC Code screens are used to build NCIC code tables to assist the Message Switch when editing transactions received from user devices. Once again these changes are effective immediately and an administrator can add additional codes as soon as the NCIC system supports them.

Watch Dog – The Watch Dog screens are used to provide monitoring capability for the occurrence of a particular value in a field within transactions. For example, if the administrator or other authorized user such as a TAC creates an entry in the watch dog table for name (NAM), any transaction that contains a name field will be matched against entries in this table. If a match is found, the system notifies the access point which created the entry. The user sending the transaction is not aware that a notification is being sent to the concerned agency.

License – The License screen is used to provide the license product code which control client software modules in the Desktop, such as Messenger, Form Configurator, Interceptor, Archive & Retrieval, Criminal History Application, Sex Offender Registry and others. CPI provides the license records specifying the purchasing agency when the licenses are purchased. The system administrator or TAC may modify the license records for which they are the purchasing agency.

Global Configurator - This powerful feature allows a properly authorized system administrator to change many configuration records at once through the same point and click user interface as the standard OpenFox™ Configurator.