We are adding a vehicle patrol feature to our mobile app. To set this up, you first enroll employee vehicles into our Vehicle Management system and apply RFID stickers to the inside of your employee's car windshields. These can be custom printed with your company logo if desired. Officers can then scan those stickers through the windshield with their SOVA mobile device while doing parking lot patrols. This automates your vehicle checks, builds reports automatically, and can quickly flag if a vehicle is parked improperly. The new feature will allow you to issue parking violations from your mobile device, and will send alerts to the employee automatically with a copy of the violation.
We are adding
gamification elements to the mobile app to make it more fun for everyone. For example, one feature will reward an officer based on the level of randomness they apply to their patrols, based on past activity. A leader-board will allow officers to keep track of other officer stats, giving them bragging rights for being the winner. Other similar features are planned, because if you have to work, why not have some fun doing it? We are regularly inspired by other successful offline incentive programs being used by our clients which include "button blitzes" where officers are rewarded by the count of tour checkpoints (i.e. buttons) they are able to scan in a given period.
By default, in a multi-campus environment encompassing multiple U.S. states or countries, all logged in users are shown in the dispatch screen. For clients operating SOVA at more than one location, we are adding the ability for a local dispatcher to filter the dispatch activity feed and map to only show users that are at the same facility as they located at. Each dispatcher will be able to filter the user list according to their needs and these settings persist with their login. Additionally, we will add the city the logged in user is located in and place that in the dispatch activity feed which should help in a multi-campus environment if a dispatcher chooses to not filter the activity feed.
We are adding an optional feature to require scanning an RFID keyfob or badge to gain access to the web app. This will be yet another layer of protection in helping to prevent unauthorized access to your web portal. When activated, users must present their keyfob or badge for scanning during login. By maintaining control of keyfobs or badges at your location by keeping them in an electronic key box, this is a very good way to keep your users from logging in from outside the facility. To that point, we also have the ability to set IP restrictions so login requests must come from within your computer network. Let us know if you need assistance setting this up.
As you might be aware, all
activities your officers do in SOVA are assigned a point value. This
allows us to generate charts showing activity levels throughout the day and send reports for prior day activities. To improve operational awareness, we are adding to our notification system so you can get targeted alerts within 60 minutes by email and/or SMS if activity levels are below a threshold that you set for any hour of the day. Lets say your overnight shift starts at 2300 and
activity levels average 40 points between 2300 - 0000 hours. You could set a trigger at 20 points and by 0000 hours, if the activity levels are below 20 points for this hour, recipients that you select get an email and/or SMS alerting you all to that fact. Moving from what WAS to what IS can make all the difference in the world.
We are finalizing our AED management system where we will have a medical
director for the required oversight component, loaner AED's,
registration with local EMS and AED's mapped to show their locations and mobile AED inspections. A
shopping cart will be integrated into SOVA which allows purchasing
AED devices and supplies. Training
courses will be available for purchase as
well from the AED vendor we are partnering with. This upgrade allows us to compete on a level playing field with other cardio vendors offering similar AED management systems.
We are adding a chatbot to our toll free number and one particular useful feature will allow an employee to send a text message (SMS) for a call-off. The chatbot will ask relevant questions, and the employee's responses will add call off records in our system and automatically send notifications to department managers so they can begin looking for shift coverage.
We are testing a
Mobile Device Management (MDM) platform that will enable better control over corporate and employee-owned devices on your
network from procurement to retirement. MDM allows us (and you at the hotel level) to protect devices and corporate data with remote device lock, full or selective data wipe and geotracking of lost assets.We will be able to push app updates to mobile devices silently (i.e. without user intervention at the hotel side), run reports to see that regular anti-virus scans are being done, and
black list apps that aren't enterprise-approved. New device setup is a snap with MDM as it allows us to setup a profile for your location and assign a device to your group. Many of the Android settings can be controlled, resulting in a consistent look and feel across all devices. By controlling and protecting the data and configuration settings of all
mobile devices in a network, MDM can reduce support costs and business
risks. The intent of MDM is to optimize the functionality and security of a mobile communications network while minimizing cost and downtime.
In lost and found, we are adding address validation via an integration partner to ensure addresses entered are deliverable when processing shipping through SOVA. Our current solution uses Google address validation, which simply shows the point along a road that matches the address entered. After we launch the integrated API, the system will be able to determine if the address is actually deliverable. This should help reduce charge-backs we encounter from the shipping carriers when there are errors in shipping addresses.
We are working on integrating SAML 2.0, so clients can use "Single Sign On" (SSO) to use their corporate identity to gain access to SOVA without having to login separately.
We are adding indoor maps so you can view activities of your security team on a floor plan of your building. Get me those floor plans so we can add this feature for your property!
We are adding an "Investigative Report" as an addendum to an IR, where you can create a chronological sequence of events strengthening your investigation.
We are adding a "Use of Force Report" that can be added as needed in an incident report. This feature walks an officer through a series of questions documenting their use of force in self-defense or in subduing a suspect.
Look for a new drawer accessible to managers and above called "Financials" when creating an incident report. Here you will be able to categorize losses and assign dollar values. We will use a customizable algorithm to determine revenue losses, if for example a hotel guestroom has to be taken out of service for a number of days to cure damage caused by a hotel guest.
Your managers will soon be able to add audio notes to a checkpoint to convey specific information to officers touring the areas to watch for certain things. These audio files will appear on an officers' mobile device while at the checkpoint. Managers can expire these messages if they only apply to a given time frame.
When uploading large files to attach to an incident report, you will soon be able to run that in the background instead of having to wait for the file to upload.
Soon you will be able to add a list of keywords or phrases and be alerted if these keywords occur anywhere in the web app. Take for example, the word "fire" or the name "Bob Smith"
We are adding a full featured chat application which will replace the static message board found in the dashboard screen. This chat app will allow your team to remain connected both on the web and mobile. Features like group messaging, do not disturb, image attachment, etc. will be included.
In the visitor module, you will soon be able to scan driver licenses when enrolling visitors. Values for name and address should be displayed automatically in the add visitor screen after scanning. This should speed up the process of adding new visitors considerably. Also, when scanning a driver license that has already been scanned, the app will allow you to quickly check in the visitor.
You are now able to customize the percentage when a tour is considered "complete" in the dashboard tour chart. Previously, SOVA considered tours completed if more than 80% of the checkpoints available on a tour were scanned. Maybe you only want to show a tour complete if 100% of the checkpoints are scanned? You now have that option. Admins can click the link above the "Tours completed today" chart entitled "Chart Settings" to set a custom percentage (previously that link was hidden). Using this link, admins can also set max values for all 4 charts you see at the top of the dashboard when logging into the web app.
We've added a quick change menu bar in lost and found allowing bulk changes to records. Let's say for instance you wanted to change the storage location for a few stored lost and found items. Now you can select the items from your lost and found list, and change the storage location for all selected items in a single step. Previously, you had to open each lost and found record individually, edit and save.
Desktop notifications are enabled for expired daily tasks, so you now receive a popup in all web app screens once an unfinished task is expired. We have extended this feature to non tour tasks as well, so you have the option to receive a popup notification when certain tasks are recorded. Let's say you want to know the minute a security officer is responding to a guest injury. You can enable a web notification for this task type, and get notified in your web browser via the web app when this task is recorded.
We adjusted the logic in our Expired Daily Task email report that gets sent out at 0000 hours to those requesting it. Previously, subscribers would receive an "empty" report even if all tasks were completed on time. Now you do not receive an emailed report unless there were tasks that were not completed on time.
We've added a tabbed UI to our lost and found screen and cleaning up the design a bit. This should improve the usability of this screen when searching for a particular lost and found item as we now have tabs for Lost, Stored, Claimed, etc. We also added a visual indicator on that screen to notify you if you have a guest inquiry that has come in within the last 24 hours so you can contact the guest to let them know that you are looking for their item. You can also make changes to lost and found records directly from the list view now, without having to open the individual records directly, saving you time.
In lost and found, you can now communicate via email with the person who lost their item, and SOVA maintains a record of these communications.
In the DAR screen you are now able to see user activities by clicking on the users initials. Previously, this information was only available when accessing a user profile. This change puts important information just a click away for department managers who want a snapshot of what happened on a prior shift.
In vehicle management, we have integrated an API that allows vehicle lookups from the 1950's to the present using a third party api to ensure accuracy when entering make, model and year.
In our packages module, we added a disposition status of "Outbound" to indicate a package that was received, delivered to a guest or event vendor and now is prepared for outbound shipment. This was added by request of a client working at a busy event hotel to help track event equipment like projectors, displays,lighting, etc. that is being sent out.
Added Vehicle Management to the Logs menu to track vehicle permits issued to employees, print permits, add expiration dates, etc
We have begun testing our property inspection module, allowing you to scan an RFID token at a department in your facility to begin an inspection of that area. Clients are able to establish a list of questions to present to the employee/inspector, and the survey is done directly on the SOVA mobile device with results stored in the cloud.
Added Locker Management to the Logs menu to help manage locker assignments to employees, track locker inspections, maintain a list of lock ID's, lock combinations, etc.
Added email notifications to a list of recipients when a guest submits a lost and found inquiry
Finalized the Employee Accident Report (EAR) module. Employees and managers can add their details of the incident and track corrective measures to help prevent recurrence. Developing an API for guest and employee accident data to integrate with other legacy systems