Ecowise Technologies has recently released GIS-Lock, a tool designed to manage any medium to large ArcGIS installation. GIS-Lock is designed for the system or GIS administrator in an organisation. It provides a control centre from where an array of licence usage reports can be produced. Control over user access to ArcGIS functions can also be managed for the enterprise.
The Business Problem
Organisations are continually faced with the challenge of trying to make the most efficient use of their GIS investment, while ensuring that their assets are being protected. This also applies to ArcGIS environments where licence usage information is not readily available to administrators. Often, the powerful tools on offer within ArcGIS can compromise the security of the assets when they are accessed by inexperienced or unauthorised users.
GIS-Lock addresses these challenges through the Control Centre tool, which places control over the ArcGIS installation in the hands of the administrator.
ArcGIS Licence Usage Reporting
From the GIS-Lock Control Centre, the administrator can run a series of daily, weekly or monthly reports to determine the peak or concurrent licence usage across the enterprise. The administrator can select the features (or licence types) to report against, including extension tools where licence usage is recorded in FlexLM.
Reports can also be filtered down to 'groups' of users (e.g: by department), where the information could be used for charge-back purposes within the organisation.
The GIS-Lock Control Centre provides a graphic user interface into the FlexLM database via the Licence Viewer feature. This delivers a real time view on which ArcGIS licences users have taken (such as ArcView, ArcEditor or ArcInfo).
User Permission Profi les
GIS-Lock implements 'permission profiles' for ArcGIS users within the organisation. The administrator can configure users' profiles to restrict them to accessing specific ArcGIS licence types (such as ArcView only). Users can also be forced to enter a password to gain access to their ArcMap sessions.
Another powerful feature allows an administrator to control access to all tools and menus available within ArcMap. For example, access to VB editing tools and macros can be restricted to prevent the use of unapproved scripts.
This feature protects valuable data. In addition, it can be used to simplify the ArcGIS user interface for particular groups of users.
The permission profiles are enforced by exception only. If the administrator chooses not to apply any user restrictions, full access to the ArcGIS environment is provided.
Architecture
GIS-Lock is written in .Net and C++. It is scalable, SOA-ready and provides native ArcGIS 9 support.
The GIS-Lock Server is the engine to the solution. A single physical server is sufficient for most environments, making deployment simple and cost effective. It provides the licence monitoring function, as well as interfacing to an MSDE or SQL database containing the master permission profiles.
A GIS-Lock footprint is installed onto each client running ArcGIS. Permissions are smart-cached between the client and the GIS-Lock server, ensuring that network calls are kept to a minimum.
The GIS administrator uses the GIS-Lock Control Centre to administer the ArcGIS environment. This would typically be installed on the adminstrator's own PC, which already has a GIS-Lock client resident. The Control Centre interfaces to the GIS-Lock Server to generate licence usage reports, access the real-time licence viewer, or apply user/group permissions across the environment.
Business Benefits
GIS-Lock is aimed at organisations using ESRI's ArcGIS technology, in which there is a need to understand and control ArcGIS licence usage. By controlling access to the licences, more efficient usage can be realised across the enterprise. The investment in GIS technologies is significant for many organisations, and using the system to manage the ArcGIS environment can ensure that this investment is used wisely.
Security of the GIS environment is also a burning issue for many organisations. Data is high on the list of assets that need protection. GIS-Lock can address this through its ability to tailor the access granted to users. It ensures that only those users that have the experience or authority to manipulate the data can do so.
Being able to tailor the ArcMap interface for groups of users is a powerful way of improving security, whilst simplifying the interface for less experienced users.
The role of a systems/GIS administrator can be very frustrating at times, with limited resources available for assessing the use of their GIS environment. With GIS-Lock, an administrator has central control over the ArcGIS environment, and tools to assist in managing the system.
GIS-Lock Overview
GIS-Lock is a client/server solution that has been developed in response to real business challenges. The features and functionality of GIS-Lock include:
Lance Rees is the business development manager for Ecowise Technologies. For more information, visit www.ecowisetechnologies.com; email gislock@ecowise.com.au or contact ESRI Australia on 1800-447-111.
