User Interface

Users do business with “Clients” – these can be companies, or employees of those companies, or personal contacts, or colleagues. These are displayed on the form and when a Client is selected, documents associated with that Client are displayed. These documents include currently letters, invoices and emails, but the list will be extended to include other structured documents such as proposals.

The users may perform actions which are dependent on the items selected on the form. For example, if an employee of a company is selected, the user can create an invoice addressed to that employee. Or if an invoice is selected, the user can view the details of the invoice, or the invoice which was actually sent.

Role based security

To be granted rights to use the system, the user needs to log on.

At the heart of SuperSec is the belief that not all users of the system should have the same access rights to documents, or may be restricted in the actions they can perform. A variety of roles are recognised – user, power user, office manager, senior manager or company owner, or system administrator.

Document security

Documents are assigned a privacy level ranging from unclassified (or unrestricted) to a level where only specific individuals can view a document, or even be aware that it exists. Access to the documents is controlled either by the originator of the document, or by the administrator, office manager, or senior manager, depending on the classification assigned to the document.

Document integrity

Documents such as invoices and letters are created using Microsoft Word and emails are created using Microsoft Outlook. The user has the full power of these applications available to create the document (formatting and layout etc), but SuperSec ensures that company standards are adhered to.

Once a document is created and sent to the Client, it cannot be changed. It remains in the system as a facsimile of the document the Client received. Access to the document is logged. It can be made invisible to the users of the system (“deleted”) by an administrator or office manager, but it still remains in the system and can be restored at any time.

The only way to remove documents from the system is to archive them on a backup database. Once archived, the documents are outside the operational system and can be stored in secure vaults or disposed of – just like ordinary paper documents.

Context based operation

The program contains a rich set of features and capabilities. Based on the client and document selected, and the privileges and access rights granted to the user, SuperSec allows only those actions which make sense in the circumstances. This not only reduces complexity and clutter on the screen, but it also ensures that the users are not able breach the controls and security built into the application.

Administration

A rich set of administration features are available to control the privileges and access rights of the users. Office Managers and Administrators have rights to manage the day to day operation of the system, but overall control is always retained by the Senior Manager. In many cases in small companies, this will be the proprietor or owner who will not be burdened with the day to day management of the system but will always be able to ensure the confidentiality and security of information managed by the system.

Network access

The system will run on a single PC, but it is expected that it will be based on a network of PCs (in a single office or across a wide area network). In the latter case, one of the PCs will act as server managing the database. Automatic backups are built into the system to ensure data integrity and minimise user involvement.