Month: February 2018

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Skill Based Frame Access

Restricting Frame Access Based on Skill

Frames contain arbitrary information within an item. They can be set to hold anything from plain text, to a URL, a date or a word processor document . Access to these items is controlled based on the user’s privileges, team and the item’s status. Finer granularity of control can be achieved with skill based frame access. This ensures that users must hold a particular skill in order to see or edit the data within the frame.

Setting-up Skill Based Frame Access

Frame Assignment

Each item type can have frames assigned to it. Within  project setup choose the item type, and add the frame type required. In this example a MANAGEMENT skill is being assigned to the Assessment Frame for the Regulations item type.

setting a skill and the appropriate access on a frame
Skill Based Frame Access

User Skill Assignment

For each user that should be able to see the frame, assign the chosen skill to them. Here we are assigning the MANAGEMENT skill to the user ASSISTANT_MANAGER but not to the SOUS_CHEF

Assigning a skill to one user but not another
User Skill Assignment

Visibility in the User Interface

When the user accesses an item containing frames, whether they get to see the information or not, is controlled by the skills they possess. In this example both the ASSISTANT_MANAGER and SOUS_CHEF have logged into Cradle’s WorkBench and are querying the Regulatory Requirements for the establishment being planned. The ASSISTANT_MANAGER is allowed to see both the regulation document (stored as a pdf) and the management notes about their current compliance level. The SOUS_CHEF can see the Regulatory Requirements, so that they can aid implementation in roll-out, but is not privy to the management’s comments.

Illustration of user skill based frame access
Skill Based Frame Access – Results

Application in Your Industry

The illustration above is deliberately simple and fairly generic. It should, however,  be easy to see how projects, whatever topic they cover, can be set to allow certain users access to certain parts of the data but no others. Access may be restricted to NO_ACCESS or to READ_ONLY. The project may be quite happy for all engineers to see a financial budget frame for every component, but not so keen on having it changed by the implementer! The help section covers more on frame access.

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How do I export my data from Cradle so it is sanitised?

Occasionally 3SL support may ask you for a sanitised export of your data to help diagnose a problem. What  exactly does this mean and how do you sanitise your data?

Sanitised Data

In Cradle sanitised data an export of your data, where all the sensitive data is sanitised or removed.

To sanitise the data we convert characters to x so for example the line:

Cradle® is our requirements management and systems engineering software tool that integrates your entire project lifecycle in one, massively scalable, integrated, multi-user product.

Would become

xxxxxxx xx xxx xxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxx xxx xxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxx xxxx xxxx xxxxxxxxxx xxxx xxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxxxxx xx xxxx xxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxx

In a sanitised export the following attributes will be sanitised using the method described above:

  • All item names (except for data definition names – data definitions in models)
  • The comment and description attributes
  • All text frames contents
  • Every symbol name
  • All change history contents

Additionally:

  • All binary frames (such as embedded Word documents) do not appear in the export file at all (as they cannot be sanitised they are simple removed)

Sanitisation option essentially allows a customer to produce a sanitised export file that can be sent to another organisation (3SL). This allows the recipient to reproduce the sender’s Cradle database in ALL respects EXCEPT for the critical (and therefore sensitive) data content. Sanitising your data via an export only effect the contents of the export file and DOES NOT effect your live project.

How do I export my data from Cradle so it is sanitised?

Sanitising you data during export is quite simple all if you are exporting via the WorkBench there is a check box called “Sanitise Data” in the export dialog which you just need to enable.

Screen shot of sanitise option
Sanitise Option in Export Dialog

You can also sanitise your data when exporting via c_io all you need to do is add a -sanitise flag to your command for example:

c_io -login MANAGER,MANAGER,DEMO -export myfile.exp -type all -sanitise

After you export you will be able to open the export file in an editor. You can then see that your data has been replaced with x’s

Screenshot of sanitsised data in an import file
Sanitised Data in Import File

Or you can import the export file into a test project and look at the data in WorkBench.

Sanitised Data in WorkBench
Sanitised Data in WorkBench

For further information on sanitising your data in Cradle please see the following section in our online help.

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February 2018 Newsletter

Whooshing away the Winter Woes

faster fibre illustration, based on images from pexels.com and unsplash.com
Faster Fibre

Now the warmth of families and friends packed into living rooms too small to hold them are left behind, the last scraps of Christmas cake and bags of nuts have been consumed, we’re here in wintry February 2018. However we’ve sped into the year with a new FTTP link. See here for more details of how to download Cradle even faster.

Cradle Features Coming Soon….

We’re all busy here, in the chilly winds and rain and sleet of Cumbria working on the features for Cradle 7.4 I can reveal that we’ve been working on some enhancements to alerts to allow more comprehensive content to be sent in emails. This will help with collaborative working, swiftly informing interested parties that an item has changed which may need their attention. Item level Workflows are being enhanced to improve automation of your product lifecycle.

GDPR

padlock over computer based on images from negativespace.co pixabay.com on pexels.com
GDPR

Time is racing towards the GDPR implementation date. We’re working hard to ensure our policies are up to date and in a fit state to deal with any data requests. However, there’s still a lot of confusion out there. Some things are obvious, were we to store sensitive information, like someone’s medical records, religious or political beliefs, its fairly obvious that this should never be swapped freely. The subject should be aware as to why we hold the data, what we hold and how we use and process it. We would then ensure any third party processors were up to the same standards before exchanging information.

At the other end of the scale, the ‘how would this ever be practical’ bit, there is little in the way of concrete guidance. If I email a company, from my desk at 3SL, my email address contains my name and associates me with 3SL. The sign off contains a phone number and an office location. By the letter of the legislation, this is personally identifiable information. Were I to leave 3SL (To become a top secret agent) and decided all previous traces of me needed to be removed, I could submit a ‘right to be forgotten’ to 3SL. They would have to remove all my personal data. (Except for ‘within date’ tax records etc.). As the data controller, all those emails with personally identifiable information within them would have to be recalled from all the recipients (who are now processors). Now how on earth could you do that?

If you’ve got any examples where the legislation appears to hit an impractical wall, drop us a line and we may feature it in a future blog. Note I’m using an anonymous email address social-GDPR@threesl.com !!

Social Media

Twitter

Image of a tweet where we ponder what the picture is
Tweet of what?

Looking at other people’s tech, we wondered what this image was.

 

We celebrated #ThesaurusDay by looking how words and meanings could give rise to ambiguous requirements.

Hints of the Month

Last month’s blog articles included:

Tidying up if you’re ever left with a dangling cross reference

What to do if you have special characters in your text and you need to write a Regex (regular expression) in Cradle

You can read Hints & Tips in the 3SL Blog

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National Send A Card To A Friend Day 2018

National Send a Card to a Friend Day

It’s National Send A Card To A Friend Day 2018 today 7th February.

Send a Card – National Days In these days of e-based everything, the number of people sending physical cards has declined. Placing a card, selected, bought and handwritten,  on the mantelpiece or shelf is still more special than viewing a Tweet/Instagram/FB Message.

Send a Card to a Friend 2018
Send a Card to a Friend

If you’re a friend of 3SL’s Cradle and would like to wish 3SL a happy 30th Birthday you could send us a card. Include your company name and website and we’ll feature some of the best in future blog updates*.

Featured cards will be at the sole discretion of 3SL (Structured Software Systems Ltd.) and will exclude any defamatory or promotion of products/services that are contrary to 3SL’s ethos.
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Can I see a hierarchy diagram in Web Access ?

Drawing HIDs (Hierarchy Diagrams) in Cradle.

You can show a hierarchy diagram in Web Access, but first of all it needs to be set up.

You can create dynamic and static HIDs in WorkBench. By right clicking the item of interest and then following Links->Hierarchy Diagram (HID) . Once displayed the properties for the diagram and the item types on it can be set.

If you want to return to these display settings, this ‘template’ can be saved.

The diagram will expand as defined in the settings and show in the item tab. The ‘Save’ option will now be available for the diagram itself. At the top of the HID Sidebar there is the option to make the HID static this results in the entire diagram being saved as a frozen snap shot. Leaving it un-ticked the diagram will remain dynamic. Next time you open the diagram all the links will be checked and redrawn. This is most useful when tracking how your project items and their links are growing.

Setting up a HID (Hierarchy Diagram) in Cradle and saving
Setting up a HID

Running Saved HIDs

Now that the named HID exists, it can be run from the Project Sidebar under the Hierarchy (HID) node in the project tree . You can run a query to return HIDs in the same way you can any other item type. If you write a query that returns only one HID item, it can be added to a phase with a run query and open item action. This makes it easy to control what users see and use from the project phases.

Web Access

Once you have a named HID available in Cradle it can be run from the sidebar in Web Access. The main item form will show a hierarchy diagram in Web Access. Additionally the ‘expand diagram’ icon allows the user to see the diagram in a separate scrollable window.

Demonstrating a hierarchy diagram (HID) shown in Cradle's Web Access
HID in Web Access
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Super Blue Blood Moon – Barrow-in-Furness 2018

31st January / 1st February

Blighted with cloud and rain for most of the evening on the 31st, we see the last remnants of the super blue blood moon over Barrow-in-Furness on the morning of 1st February. Many more world wide had much better views.

View atop 3SL towers of super blue blood moon 2018 - Duke Street, Barrow-in-Furness
Super blue blood moon 2018 – Barrow-in-Furness

Pinch Punch

“Pinch Punch First of the month”. Were you fast enough to catch someone in your office today? If they are claim you are acting strangely, perpetrating mild violence in the office, try blaming it on the full moon….