What's new at the 2019 release?

2019 Release Highlights!

The 2019 release is a major advancement of the InVision system and includes improvements across multiple apps and new systemwide capabilities. A large percentage of these new capabilities were developed based on direct user feedback, so thank you for taking the time to let us know what you think!

Thank You!

Image Management / Image Galleries

Overview: The Facilities assets we manage in InVision are more than just records in a database. Being able to see images of a facility record provides important context for business users and visitors alike, and at the 2019 release you can now easily manage images for any of your data in InVision. Whether its photos of a Building, multiple images of a classroom interior, or a picture of an HVAC asset location, these attractive visual elements help you understand facility information better than ever.

• Add Images – When enabled, users can upload images to a record in InVision to provide quick visual context. These images can then be displayed across the InVision system when looking at details of a record.
• Create Galleries – You can also choose to create image galleries for records, adding as many photos as you want. When launching a gallery, users can scroll through all the images and choose to magnify any they want.
• Capture Photos in the field – In addition to desktop uploads, users in the field can use the camera on their mobile device to capture an image.

Tech Requirements: These features require the 2019 release of the Foundation to be installed.

Enhanced Editing

Overview: New at the 2019 release are a number of enhancements to Editing support in InVision. Users can now configure the Explorer app template to edit different geometry types, arrange multiple templates in an easy to choose menu, and control different levels of editing permissions. Users can also now edit attributes of individual records in the Asset Manager app template.

• Line & Polygon editing - In addition to Point feature editing, Explorer now supports Line and Polygon feature editing as well.
• Streamlined Feature picker – Instead of multiple Add Feature buttons in Explorer, users can now pick from a scrolling feature picker which includes all editable entities.
• Additional Permissions levels – More granular editing permissions can be set for Explorer apps, so that users can only edit attributes, or have full control over creating, updating, and deleting records.
• Editing in Asset Manager – Users can now edit individual assets in Asset Manager, in addition to bulk updating and editing of related records.

Tech Requirements: This feature requires that InVision 2019 is installed

Document Management

Overview: One of the most common challenges across an organization is being able to quickly find documents related to the Facilities records you care about. At the 2019 release, InVision includes a new Document Management capability. Similar to Image Management, this feature lets you enable documents for different types of Facility records, and then make those documents available to users in different apps. Behind the scenes, InVision auto-tags content when it’s uploaded so it’s easy to find in the future, as opposed to searching through folders on a network share drive.

• Manage Documents – Users with permissions can upload and manage content for records in InVision, and behind the scenes InVision tags them with all relevant context data.
• Provide Access – Uploading content to the Public container makes it available to general users, providing easy access to documents for the campus community
• Understand Context – Because InVision tags documents behind the scenes, you never lose the context of what a document is related to.

 Tech Requirements: This feature requires that InVision 2019 is installed and setup in ivAdmin.

Indirect Cost Recovery

 Overview: For organizations supporting grant funded research, the 2019 release includes major enhancements to support for Indirect Cost Recovery data management. Based on user feedback this expanded approach includes additional data elements, streamlined workflow, and the ability to establish split-space Allocations which can then be functionalized by Departments.

• Department Allocations – Org Space Managers can create department Allocations for shared space, with defines the percentage Allocated to each department. Department Space Admins can then add details to their Allocations.
• Associated PI, Budget, and Functional Use – Principal Investigators can now be associated directly with the places where they are performing research, making it easy to add/remove them as projects come and go. You can also add budgets and functional uses independently.
• Improved Workflow – Instead of requiring Functional Use, Department, and PI to be defined all at once, users can now add the information they have and continue to update each component independent of each other.

Tech Requirements: This feature requires that InVision 2019 is installed and that this feature has been enabled in Space Manager.

Adapter for Cartegraph

Overview: Cartegraph provides a robust asset and work management platform for high performance government, and at the 2019 release InVision includes and optional adapter for Cartegraph OMS. This adapter uses the Cartegraph API to communicate between the two systems and brings a comprehensive set of capabilities to InVision facility assets. Leverage the power of Cartegraph to take your asset management to the next level and visualize vertical assets across your portfolio.

• Synchronize data – As you create an asset inventory in InVision, they are automatically synced to Cartegraph where you can manage them. You can choose to share attribute information between InVision and Cartegraph, which means Asset Maintenance staff can see things like building occupancy, and Building Managers can view info like cost of maintenance year to date.
• Visualize information – Choose to create viewbys for attributes in Cartegraph, making it easy to visualize complex information from external systems.
• Create Tasks – Create and update tasks for Facility Assets in InVision and see their status update as work in performed in Cartegraph.

Tech Requirements: This feature requires that the Adapter for Cartegraph is configured and that an organization has an existing Cartegraph instance.

Automated Blockplans

Overview: In addition to printing, InVision now has an optional capability which can generate standard Blockplans for all your Floors. This automated process pre-produces files on the server which can then be downloaded by end users, and eliminates the time usually taken for a print job to run. Through configuration this process can be run on a scheduled or transactional basis.

• Standard Blockplans – Ensure that your users have consistent high quality blockplans by using this standard layout template. Can also be set up to have multiple blockplans available.
• Reduce Time – Instead of running print tasks every time a user needs a new floorplan rendering, this gives users instant access to download PDF’s of a floor.
• Update Automatically – Data in blockplans stays up to date through automated backend processes, ensuring that information is current without additional manual effort.

Tech Requirements: To configure this capability, check out the Automated Blockplan setup article here.

Asset Manager Updates

Overview: Used along with Explorer, Organizations can quickly inventory and assess the assets they care about in the field, and then use Asset Manager to begin to analyze, report, and plan for the future of those assets. Enhancements at 2019 make it easier now to also understand records related to those assets, such as individual field assessments done in InVision, or historic work orders from an external system.

• Create/Edit Related – If configured, users can create and edit related tabular records for the assets they are working with.
• Edit Attributes – In addition to being able to bulk update asset records, users can now edit individual record details when in Details View. This editing dialog includes all the configured lookups and field validation checks to ensure only quality data is entered.
• Manage Images – Users with editing permissions can now manage images for the assets they manage. This includes being able to upload multiple images, choose which is the primary image, and delete images.

Tech Requirements: These features require the 2019 release of the Asset Manager application template be installed.

Explorer Updates

Overview: The Explorer application template is the swiss army knife of the InVision system and has been configured for an impressive array of highly diverse needs across problem types and industries. Because this template gets used by so many different types of users, we have added some additional core capabilities at 2019 which should make it even more valuable across the board.

• Performance Optimization – The underlying code of Explorer has been modernized, making it generally faster and reducing the overall file size of the application. You will also notice other design updates to reduce the number of clicks, like the new basemap picker in the map.
• Expanded Editing – In addition to Point feature editing, Explorer now supports Line and Polygon feature editing as well.
• Updated Permissions – When configuring an app with editing, you can now choose to give users full control (create, update, delete) or limit permissions to “update attribute only”.
• View Image Galleries – For entities that have images enabled, you can now access rich Image Galleries in Explorer, available on both desktop and mobile devices.
• Manage Images – For users with permissions, Explorer can be used to upload and manage images for any entity that has images enabled.
• Manage Documents – You can now use Explorer to manage documents related to entities, both in mobile and desktop mode.

Tech Requirements: This set of features requires InVision 2019 be installed.

Space Manager Updates

Overview: Focused on the core needs of users managing and assigning space across their organization, the Space Manager application has added a couple major enhancements at the 2019 release. These features focus on rounding out the already robust capabilities in the application today based on end-user feedback.

• Image Management – Users with editing permissions can now manage images for the facility records they manage. This includes being able to upload multiple images, choose which is the primary image, and delete images.
• Indirect Cost Recovery – For organizations supporting grant funded research, the 2019 release includes major enhancements to support for Indirect Cost Recovery data management. Based on user feedback this expanded approach includes additional data elements, streamlined workflow, and the ability to establish split-space Allocations which can then be functionalized by Departments
• Move Workspace – This new feature has been designed around the way space managers work, giving you a parking lot where you can add people while you’re looking for spaces to assign them. This intuitive drag and drop interaction means less clicks and more streamlined workflow for how assignments work.

Tech Requirements: This set of updates requires the 2019 release as well as a login to the InVision Online Help Center

ArcGIS Enterprise Support

Overview: As more organizations choose to implement Esri’s ArcGIS for Enterprise, there’s a need to be able to consume Federated services from ArcGIS Server. At the 2019 release InVision has been updated to support federated services, as well as still support standalone ArcGIS Server services.

Tech Requirements: This feature requires that ArcGIS Enterprise be set up to use enterprise authentication via Integrated Windows Authentication (IWA) or SAML. Portal authentication is not supported at this release.

InVision Admin Updates

Overview: For the Administrators setting up and configuring InVision, the 2019 release includes more control over

• Enable Entity Images – Administrators are now able to specify which Entity Types have images enabled, which is honored by all InVision apps. This simple entity type level toggle can easily be switched over time as images become available.
• Manage Users/Roles – For those organizations that choose to use ArcGIS Enterprise, InVision now includes a new Admin section for managing users and roles.
• Enable Entity Documents – For entities you want to manage documents for, admins can now enable that feature in IvAdmin. This simple entity type level toggle can easily be switched over time as documents become available, or requirements change.
• Asset Manager CCA – The Asset Manager CCA has multiple changes to make is easier to choose and configure Filter fields, Summary fields, as well as choose and configure Related entities for display
• Explorer CCA – The Explorer CCA has two new enhancements at the 2019 release, one for choosing the default panel for a new app instance, and another to enable or disable the Draw to Measure tool.
• Optimized Images – InVision Foundation has new API’s for serving optimized images at 19, which will serve an appropriately sized image based on the size of the viewport of the device requesting it.

Pre-requisites: These features require Foundation 2019 be installed.