Environments

In the MobileTrack Nexus platform, environments are used to logically group resources ^[1] such as users, devices, and data. A treeview structure offers a hierarchical visualization of these environments, making it easier to manage and navigate the organizational structure.

• Root Node: The topmost level in the hierarchy represents the main environment of the whole company. It acts as the central point from which all other nodes branch out.

    Note

  There is no need to create sub-environments if there's very little going on; a single environment with a single user and a single device is perfectly fine.

• Branch Nodes: Intermediate levels that represent logical groupings within the environment, such as locations, departments or geographical regions. These nodes help organize resources into meaningful categories.

    Note

  The groupings are flexible and can be customized to fit the organization's structure and needs. They're based on business logic, not on the technical implementation of the platform. Also, one may freely assign a new parent for an environment, as long as it isn't a child of itself.

• Leaf Nodes: The endpoints of the tree structure, representing individual resources like user accounts, devices, or specific data points. They provide detailed information and actions related to the resource.

• Intuitive Navigation: Users can expand and collapse nodes to easily access different levels of the environment, facilitating quick navigation to specific resources.

• Logical Grouping and Management: Resources are organized by their function, location, or role, aiding in efficient management and administration.

• Hierarchy and Inheritance: Permissions and policies set at higher levels can be inherited by child nodes, ensuring consistent application across the organization.

• Scalability: The treeview structure can easily accommodate organizational growth, allowing new branches and nodes to be added as needed.

• Visualization and Reporting: Provides a clear visualization of the organizational structure and resource allocation, useful for reporting and analysis.

• Security and Access Control: Supports Role-Based Access Control (RBAC), ensuring that users have appropriate permissions based on their role and location within the hierarchy.

For a company representing an elderly care group, the treeview might look like:

• Root Node: "Elderly Care Group Main Environment"

• Branch Nodes:

  • Location B

  • Location A in a different city

  • The account of the manager, devices and employees (nurses, caregivers, etc.) in location A.

  • Room 2502: A sub-environment for a single room belonging to a patient. Let's call her "Mrs Jones".

    • The devices (fall detector, door sensors, etc.) active within the room.
    • Account(s) for family members of Mrs Jones, who can access the data and receive alerts.

Let us examine the structure in more detail:

• Facility A is a branch node under the root node, representing a geographical location. The manager of Facility A has their account under this node, and based on their RBAC permissions is allowed to manage all resources within Facility A.
• Other employees (nurses, caregivers) are also under Facility A have less permissions.
• Employees of facility A cannot see or manage resources in Facility B, unless their RBAC permissions allow it.
• Family members of Mrs Jones are confined to the sub-environment of Room 2502, where they can access data and receive alerts. However, they cannot manage any resource, nor can they see data from other rooms or locations. They cannot see who is handling the alerts, except that it is 'an employee from facility A'.

This structure allows the IT administrator to manage all IT-related resources, while regional managers can focus on resources within their specific geographical area.

Reference