Messenger is the flagship product in the OpenFox™ Desktop Product Suite. Its development has shaped the OpenFox™ Desktop application environment and it tightly integrates with Desktop to provide a solution which is highly secure, easy to maintain, user friendly and which fully embraces XML and Internet technologies.

User Concerns – One area of concern shared by our users was the differences between the mailbox approach and the traditional scrolling message window used in terminal software which Messenger has replaced in over 20 state and federal systems. Users loved the power and organization of the mailbox experience, but felt that certain tasks were not as convenient as their old software. In October of 2008, CPI hosted its annual User Conference in Bolingbrook, Illinois. At the conference, customers were invited to take place in a multiple hour, round table discussion regarding this specific concern. Rather than forbid our users from talking with one another, CPI encouraged customers to brain storm and openly discuss new ideas. As a result of working with our customers in such a close fashion, CPI has been able to develop a new revolutionary end user workflow experience.

Revolutionary Design – This patent pending design combines the convenience of a legacy scrolling text window workstation with the power of a modern email application experience. By leveraging the depth of features and tight integration with the OpenFox™ Information Broker / Message Switching System, Messenger provides the end user with an experience unlike anything else available.  

Mailbox Layouts – Messenger allows the end user to customize their mailbox layout to create a concise, efficient use of screen real estate. The user may quickly scan a list of messages while also viewing the content of several messages simultaneously.

Message Views – Relying on the server to associate query transactions with all resultant response messages allows Messenger to present response information in message views. When running a query, Messenger automatically presents the resultant response messages on the user’s screen. This is accomplished with no action by the user. Furthermore, if a user wishes to go back and view all responses to a particular query, that option is available via a quick keyboard shortcut and via a pull down menu option in case the user forgets the keyboard shortcut.

 

Messenger automatically presents responses from in-state Hot Files, NCIC, and Nlets.

Rapid Development and Deployment – In less than 3 months following the annual User Conference, CPI had implemented the solution developed in cooperation with our users. In less than 6 months following implementation, this feature has been deployed to more than 60% of Messenger users.  

OpenFox™ Desktop Integration – Messenger tightly integrates with the OpenFox™ Desktop application environment to provide automatic web-based application deployment, compliance with the latest CJIS Security Policy standards, AES based FIPS 140-2 encryption, flexible advanced user authentication solutions, guaranteed message delivery and physical device identification. Messenger has been an integral part of the OpenFox™ Desktop environment from its first release.

Mobile Environment – In 2009, Messenger will be deployed to several hundred highway patrol cars. Messenger leverages large, touch friendly input screens with workflow enhancements to provide a powerful yet easy to use mobile solution.

Image Support – Messenger provides the full range of image support required by the modern law enforcement and public safety community. Users may use Messenger to enter and maintain images in both NCIC and in-state databases. Messenger provides users with easy access to tools which can adjust, resize, rotate, flip and crop images to meet database requirements.

Image Display – Messenger’s display will show received images directly in-line with the response. No user action is required to view the image. This is true whether the response is a text based response, an XML in-state database response, a NEIM or GJXDM formatted response via the Nlets network, or any other standard based response message.

Unleash the Full Power of XML with The OpenFox™ Messenger

XML Workstation

OpenFox™ Messenger has been built from the ground up to support the emergent XML based technologies.

XML Standards – OpenFox™ Messenger uniquely positions customers to leverage the power and flexibility of XML based standards as they are implemented. Updating Messenger to support a new interface using NEIM, GJXDM, CHIEFS, CANDLE, NLETS XML, or any other national standards based interface may be accomplished with a few mouse clicks to upload an XSLT style sheet. Customers may implement a standard, pre-built set of XSLT style sheets provided by CPI. Customers may also choose to leverage in-house XML expertise by modifying and maintaining the provided XSLT’s or by developing new highly customized style sheets.

XSLT Style Sheets – While many vendors talk of supporting national XML standards, the majority of these systems still translate standard responses to a text format for presentation to the user. CPI understands that the full benefit of XML technology is only realized when the end user has direct access to XML data.

Delivering XML data to an end user device allows the workstation to become much more than a simple tool used to send and receive messages. The workstation becomes an intelligent tool which empowers the end user to accomplish their job faster and easier than ever before.

Messenger supports the NISP and SURFERS standard responses to display driver license responses in a consistent manner; regardless of from which state the response is being received.

 Consistent display of driver license information from different state systems

In addition to the consistent display of information from disparate systems, Messenger leverages XSLT style sheets to obtain access to response data. Without relying on screen scrapping, Messenger provides quick and easy access to hot file maintenance screens through browser hyper links embedded directly in the message display. These pre-filled screens eliminate redundant typing by the user and avoid accidental errors.

 

XML Configurations – OpenFox™ Messenger provides a tight level of integration with XML technology which goes far past simply supporting the latest XML based national standards or presenting standard responses in a rich powerful display. From the very beginning, Messenger has been developed to leverage the power and flexibility of XML technology.

No other workstation software offers the same depth of XML configuration options as Messenger. Messenger allows administrators to customize transaction screens, code list drop downs, program menus, interactive screen features, keyboard shortcuts, short format queries, disk usage parameters, output and presentation XSLT style sheets, message casting logic, and much more.

These configurations are not thinly veiled legacy technology wrapped into an XML format. Instead these configurations embrace the relational nature of XML. For example, there are no pixel coordinates to be found in Messenger screen definitions, but rather fields are positioned on the screen relative to each other. Changing the arrangement of fields on a Messenger screen is as easy as clicking a button or dragging and dropping an XML element.

Configuration Training – Messenger customers have access to all the same configuration tools as the CPI support and maintenance personnel. CPI provides a strong, results oriented training program to educate administrators on these tools. The classes are taught by engineers who work with these tools day in and day out. Once trained, customers are free to rely on CPI for maintenance of the system or to take over any portion of maintenance with which they are comfortable. CPI engineers are always on call to assist administrators with any maintenance task or to answer any questions.

Messenger uses common XML design concepts which make maintenance tasks clear, easy and powerful. For example, Messenger does not provide a different code list for the place of birth and license state drop downs. Instead, Messenger provides one XML code list configuration in which individual codes are flagged (via an XML attribute) as representing a state, a country, a Canadian province, etc. The Messenger screen points to this one code list and specifies which types of codes should be present in the screen drop down box. By leveraging this approach, system administrators no longer have to update vast numbers of similar code lists.

Text Compatible – Despite the amount of tight integration with XML and the latest Internet technologies, Messenger remains fully compatible with text based or legacy systems. Through the use of XSLT style sheets Messenger may duplicate any text output format utilized in a system.