Velocity 3.0 (Build 3.0.0.31)

This CD contains Velocity 3.0 for NEW installations (Part number: VEL).  If Velocity 2.6 SP2 is already installed, this CD will upgrade it to Velocity 3.0. If you are currently running a Velocity system older than 2.6 SP2 you must contact your local Hirsch Dealer or Hirsch Sales representative to purchase the appropriate update CD’s.

To order a CD Set for an existing Velocity customer running an older version (1.0.9.60, 2.5.0.28, 2.5.0.35, 2.5.0.37, 2.6.0.15) who wishes to update to Velocity 2.6 Service Pack 2 you will need to use part number (s) VEL-UPD25 and VEL-UPD26 and VEL-UPD26sp1 and VEL-UPDsp2. Please contact your dealer or Hirsch Electronics representative for the part numbers for your specific needs

Installation Prerequisites:

Product Packaging for Hirsch Electronics part number VEL

• This CD contains Velocity 3.0 (for new installations and upgrades from Velocity 2.6 SP2).

Velocity 3.0 Operating System and Service Pack Requirements

• Windows 2000 Pro and Windows 2000 Server are no longer supported. If you are running Windows 2000 Pro for either Single Workstation Edition or Windows 2000 Server for Server Edition, an upgrade to Windows XP or Windows 2003 Server is required.

• Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 and Windows Server 2003 R2 for Velocity Server Edition installations.

• Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2 for Velocity client and Single Workstation Edition installations.

• Windows Vista is not supported while in beta. When Windows Vista is released, Velocity 3.0 may require a service pack release to support installation and compatibility.

Velocity 3.0 Database Platform Enhancements

• Velocity 3.0 no longer uses the MSDE 1.0 (SQL 7.0) database engine. It now uses Microsoft SQL Server 2005 (Express Edition is installed when other versions are not detected). If you are upgrading an existing Velocity installation using MSDE 1.0 (SQL 7.0) or SQL 2000 Database Engine, the installer will detect the older database version and perform a side-by-side installation of SQL Server 2005 Express, leaving the legacy version intact. It will not uninstall the older engine in the event it has been shared with other applications. If no other applications are using the older engine, you may uninstall it from the Control Panel in Windows. Your existing Velocity database will be backed up, detached from the legacy engine, moved to the new SQL Server data location, and reattached in readiness to perform the upgrade from Velocity 2.6 SP2. SQL 2005 Express does not have the server OS platform limitations as MSDE. The Database Manager component of Velocity (from the Console menu or toolbar) has been replaced with Microsoft Management Studio Express. More information on Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express Edition can be found at www.microsoft.com/sql.

• If you already have SQL Server 7.0 or SQL Server 2000 (non MSDE engine) installed, you must upgrade to or install SQL 2005 before running the installation of Velocity 3.0. The installer cannot upgrade a non MSDE engine to SQL Server 2005 Express Edition.

• Velocity 3.0 now supports and uses “Named Instances”. This allows Velocity to have an independent database engine separate from another application that may coexist on the same machine and use SQL Server 2005. If SQL Express is pre-installed, the installer will create a new named instance called “HIRSCH”. If SQL Server 2005 is pre-installed, you may choose to create a named instance for Velocity to use and select it during the install process or you may elect to use the default instance if you do not want a named instance.

• Installations of SQL Server 2005 Express Edition performed by the Velocity installer will enable server side "Forced Encryption" for protection between the server and clients. It will only do this with a HIRSCH named instance of SQL Server 2005 Express. You can configure this option yourself on a non Express edition. You may elect to install your own certificate for even greater security.

The following are the supported Operating System and Database Configurations for Velocity 3.0 Standalone Workstations and Servers only:

Velocity 3.0 CCM Firmware Requirements

The Velocity 3.0 release requires that you be running DIGI*TRAC CCM Firmware 7.4.0 or higher. At the time this version was packaged the currently shipping CCM version is 7.4.0. Failure to perform this update will result in unpredictable product behavior. The most recent firmware can be found in the \Velocity\Firmware\DIGI-TRAC directory on this Velocity 3.0 CD.

IMPORTANT CCM 7.3.0 or HIGHER FLASH UPDATE INFORMATION

Before you can flash your current 7.2.x version CCM to 7.3.0 or higher you must first check the BIOS level of the CCM. In order for the 7.3.0 flash update to work properly you must be running a CCM with a BIOS level of 7.1.20 or higher. If you are running a BIOS Level less than 7.1.20 you will need to replace your CCM (DO NOT ATTEMPT TO FLASH IT THROUGH VELOCITY). The current shipping CCM BIOS Level at the time of this release is 7..17. To determine the BIOS level of a CCM you will need to use the Velocity Diagnostic Window found under the Help Menu.

How to determine your CCM BIOS Level

1. Go to the Help menu on the tool bar and click on the Diagnostic Window option. Click on the RED button on the tool bar that is labeled Diagnostic Stream. The button will turn green.

2. From within the Diagnostic Window use the Controller list box and select the appropriate controller. Now go over to the Diagnostic Command list box and select option 1 - Date, Time, Version Number and click the button next to this list box. The controller will display system information in the bottom pane of this window. Please look for the following information below and determine the BIOS level of your CCM. In this example we were running CCM BIOS 7.2.19. The Firmware version number may be very different than the BIOS number. Please remember to only determine the BIOS Level.

1:24:40 PM 001:001:001 SNET Message 139 Device Info Device Type 3 M2
1:24:40 PM . ROM Sig. ffffffffffffffffx BIOS=7.2.19 Firmware Date=20041027 Vn. 7.3.01

3. If you are running BIOS Level 7.1.20 or higher you can use Velocity to flash your CCM to 7.3.0 or higher.

Velocity 3.0 SNIB2 Firmware Requirements

1. The Velocity 3.0 release requires that you be running SNIB2 Firmware 5.28 or higher. At the time this version was packaged the currently shipping SNIB2 Firmware version is 5.28.

IMPORTANT SNIB2 INFORMATION

If you plan on deploying the new SNIB2 high-security communication board you must update your controllers with DIGI*TRAC Firmware 7.3.0 or higher prior to installation of this board in your controller. Please refer to the DIGI*TRAC section on in the Velocity Browser's Velocity Learning Center and review the Configuration Guide prior to updating your controllers with the SNIB2.

Velocity 3.0 XBox Firmware Requirements

1. The Velocity 3.0 release requires that you be running XBOX Firmware 2.45/3.15 or higher. At the time this version was packaged the currently shipping XBox Firmware version is 3.15.

Installation Notes

• Confirm all your installed hardware meets the required firmware revisions for Velocity 3.0:

CCM Firmware must be 7.4.0 or higher
SNIB2 Firmware must be 5.28 or higher
Xbox Firmware must be at 2.45/3.15 or higher

Note:

When upgrading from Velocity 2.6 SP2, these upgrades should be performed before starting the upgrade process.

• Before installing Velocity, you must be logged into the Server with an "account" that has Administrator rights. If you attempt to install without such rights, the Installer will generate an error and terminate.
  During the installation process you will be prompted to enter a password for a Windows account the installer will create for the Velocity Services. This password must meet the complexity standards enforced by the Windows Administrator if it does not you may receive the following display:

The password does not meet the password policy requirements. Check the minimum password length, password complexity and password history requirements.

• If you are installing Velocity Server Edition or are installing on a Windows domain controller, you must be logged into Windows with an account that has Domain Admin rights in order for the installer to create the domain user group "Velocity Users" and the domain user account "VelocityServices" and group "Velocity Services" needed to log the Velocity services in when the system starts. This is also required if the SQL Server database is on a remote machine.

What's new in Velocity Version 3.0?

Security Enhancements

• Encrypted communication between SQL Server and Velocity clients

• SQL Server Application Roles

• SQL Server Named Instances

System Changes

• SQL Server 2005 Express Edition

• New Addressing Scheme

\\<device class>.<device address>
Where:
<device class> is a string representation of a category of device  
<device address> is dot delimited address specific to the type of device

Operator

• Consolidation of Operator Rights and Permissions into a Role (Velocity 2.6 had Rights and Permissions separated)

• Roles - Control over what features an Operator sees and what functions they can perform. A Role is made up of the following items and an Operator may be a member of one or more Roles.

• Add-Ins

• Application Permissions

• Cameras

• Command Sets

• Credential Templates

• DIGI*TRAC (New Operator restriction in 3.0)

• Door Groups

• Event Viewer Filters (New Operator restriction in 3.0)

• Function Groups

• Graphics

• Person Groups (New Feature in 3.0)

• Person Templates (New Feature in 3.0)

• Reports

• Status Viewer Groups

• Video Explorer Groups (New Operator restriction in 3.0)

• Partitioning - Velocity will provide the ability to control an Operator’s Right to view, add, change, or delete data related to people, credentials and topology objects like Ports, Controllers, Doors, Inputs, Relays, CCTV and DVRs will be defined by the Role they are assigned

• Alarm and Event Routing - Velocity will control the events and alarms that the operators can receive at a specific workstation during a specific time period (time zone. The rules for alarm and event routing will be specified in the Role Properties / DIGI*TRAC section. The DIGI*TRAC definition in the Role will define the Workstation where the Alarms and Events will be routed, the time zone that this routing will occur and the points and alarm/event types for which the alarms will be routed. Unlike all other Role permissions, where highest access wins, Routing will be bound by lowest access denies. If you are a member of a Role that has been denied access to an event for a point, even if another Role, with the exception of Administrators, has been granted access to the event, it will not be sent to the client.

Alarm Viewer 

• Photo Call up - On alarms that are related to persons/credentials the ability has been added to right mouse click on either an acknowledged or unacknowledged alarms and select a Photo Call-Up option. When selected the information defined by a badge template will be used to display a window that contains that information. The Template to be displayed will be selected in the Preferences section, General tab, and will allow a “Delay” or duration time the credential will be displayed.

• Go to Graphic – The ability has been added to right mouse click on either an acknowledged or unacknowledged alarm and choose a “Go-to-Graphic” menu option. When this option is selected, Velocity will:

• If Graphics is not open - Open Graphics and bring into focus the canvas and point selected.

• If Graphics is already open – Move Graphics to the foreground and bring into focus the canvas and point selected.

• If the point is not plotted on any Graphic Canvas issue a message indicating that “The point selected is not currently plotted on any canvas in the Graphics System”.

• Return to Normal – There is now an option, selectable in the Console > Preferences > Alarm Options section to Report or Not Report Return to Normal Alarms in the Alarm Viewer. If Not Reported selected, Return to Normal Alarms would be automatically acknowledge. This option will be system wide and will affect all workstation alarm viewer behavior.

• Alarm Escalation – Individual device alarms can have an “Alarm Escalation” whereby if the Alarm event is not Acknowledged in 30 seconds (default), that Alarm event will be sent to other Workstations where an Operator with the appropriate Role is Logged On. The escalation is sent to all Logged On Operators with the selected Role. Alarms to be escalated must first be point level customized in the Customization Manager. Once setup, the Role to escalate to can be defined. The 30 second default time is user definable and is set in the Service Control Manager > Settings > Advanced section.

• Alarm Response – Velocity has the ability for the operator to respond to a note request by selecting from a defined list of Alarm Reponses. One or more Alarm Responses may be selected, with the additional ones selected appended to the end of the Note. Operator entered text can also be entered and will be appended. All of the Notes information will appear in the appropriate Alarm Log by Date with Comments report.

Browser

• To tighten up security, the Browser in Velocity 2.6 has been removed. The Learning Center pages displayed in the legacy browser have been relocated to Help > Velocity Learning Center from the top menu of the Velocity client. It will not launch using the default browser if one is available.

Central Station Receiver

• Support for Central Station Receivers that support the Security Industry Association (SIA) Central Station to Host Computer interface. This protocol can be found in the following SIA document: SIA Digital Communications Standard – Receiver-to-Computer Interface Protocol (Type 2) – for Central Station Equipment Communications Document number: SIA DC-07-2001.04. Currently only the Radionics D6600 Alarm Receiver has been tested.

Console

• Icons controlled by Operator Permissions – They are grayed out if not available to the current Operator

• Who’s Inside Display – There is a new Velocity display window that shows who is inside a specific zone and the time they entered that zone. In the event of a site emergency allow an operator to check people out of that zone (Forgive) using either a card reader or operator command (Icon). The display is in a tree style format showing zone (with Address and the number of people in that zone), person name, and entry date. A properties dialog will enable the administrator to define the serial port for the check-in reader. There is an option to view an HTML report of the current information and print it.

• Threat Level added to Status Viewer for Controllers.

Controller

• Drag and Drop added to Topology tree – Velocity now supports drag and drop controllers from one topology type (XNET, SNET, Dial-up) to another or from one of the same port types to another port of the same type without impacting site programming. This feature applies to controllers only.

User Interface Behavior

• To relocate a controller - Hold down the left mouse button and drag the controller to a new point behind an XBOX or SNET port.

• To relocate multiple controllers – Hold down the CTRL key and click on multiple controllers. Position the mouse cursor on one of the selected controllers and hold down the left mouse button and drag the controllers to a new point behind an XBOX or SNET port.

• Door groups that contain doors from the moved controllers will have their addresses automatically modified so that the operator will not need to modify door groups.

• The ability to “Drag and Drop” controllers is controlled by the Operator’s Role.

• Duplicate or “clone” added - The properties of the duplicated controller are exactly the same as the source with the exception of the Velocity Address and Identity value. This feature is controlled via a right mouse click option from both the topology tree and in the controller window. The right click menu option is called “Duplicate”. The ability to duplicate a controller is controlled by the Operator’s Role.

• Controller Export/Import - A right mouse option has been added for importing and exporting controller configurations. When export has been selected the operator will be presented a dialog that asks for a path and file name to be specified. The file will be stored as XML data. When import has been selected the operator will be presented a dialog that asks for a path and file name of the controller configuration to be imported. The operator will receive a warning that current controller configuration is about to be overridden. The operator will receive a message that the import has completed. When the import is completed the operator will be asked if they wish to download that new configuration selecting YES will download the configuration to the selected controller – selecting NO will end the process. The operator will need to manually download the configuration for the new programming to take place. This is useful for applications that are consistent between sites and/or projects. If a customer has a standard high security 8 door system configuration, they can program it once, then re-use it, cutting down on programming time and cost.

• When editing a Control Zone in Controllers, the entire row is now highlighted. 

Customization

• Point level customization - Velocity 2.6 allows “Alarm Types” to be customized with Alarm Level, Audio WAV file, and Instructions. Velocity 3.0 has the ability to use the customization manager to uniquely customize an alarm for a specific point. In the customization manager the operator can customize a specific alarm point modifying the options, displayed values, level and instructions for that specific point. The user interface displays a topology tree where the operator can select the appropriate point. Only the points that are relevant to the specific Event ID are displayed. The operator would select the point and then be presented the values to customize. If a point does not appear in this list then the standard default for the Event ID would apply. If a point has been selected but a new value has not been chosen for a specific field then the default value for the Event ID would be used.

Doors

• Photo Call Up using Badge Templates - Velocity 2.6 uses a fixed display when Photo Call Up is enabled for a door. Customers have requested that they have the option to control the format of this display. Velocity 3.0 will support the ability to use a badge template as the mechanism to control the presentation of the information for the Photo Call Up. Badge Templates access data from the Enrollment Manager and can also display information unique to the credential being used. Badge Templates can be created to be any size and contain multiple photographs as well as signatures. The badge template to use can be found at Controller > Doors > Properties General Tab and there is an option to select a badge template to be used to control the format of the Photo Call Up window. When Photo Call up is enabled for that door the fields defined in the badge template will be populated from the person record and the information displayed.

DVR

• Support for the Integral DVXi Family of DVRs has been added. This interface enables the user to view live and recorded video via the Velocity user interface. In addition, you can cause a video alarm to be triggered based on events received by the Velocity system. These video alarms can then be viewed within the Velocity Alarm Viewer. Integral cameras and DVRs can be plotted on Velocity Graphics pages as well.

• Compatibility with the Intellex 4.0 API has been added to support Intellex DVRs running either the 3.2 or 4.0 versions of their software. 

Enrollment Manager

• New Device Configuration menu option

A new menu item has been added to the Velocity Enrollment Manger Tools menu. This new option, Device Configuration, enables the Velocity user to specify connections and the User Defined Field mapping to be used for these devices:

• Enrollment Stations

• Signature Capture Pads

• License Scanners

• PIV (Government-Approved Smart Card) Readers

To setup a new enrollment device you select Device Configuration from the Enrollment Manager Tools menu bar.

• Drag and Drop User Defined Field Mapping

To successfully enroll information scanned into Velocity from a business card, drivers license or passport the information or "fields" must be "mapped" to the fields within the Velocity Enrollment Manager. To do this you click on the Map UDF Fields button on the Device Configuration Dialog and then select the type of media being scanned.

• New User Defined Types

Six new User Defined Field types have been added to the Velocity Enrollment manager. These types are selected from the Velocity Enrollment Manger > Tools > User Defined Fields menu via a list box in the Type Column. These new types can be seen below and are as follows:

• Date - will validate that the data entered into this UDF is date formatted (MM/DD/YYYY)

• Number - will validate that the data entered into this UDF is numeric

• Unique Number - will validate that the data entered into this UDF is a unique number (not repeated in other user records for this specific UDF)

• Auto-unique - will automatically generate a unique random number within this UDF

• Auto-sequential - will automatically generate a sequential number within this UDF

• Unique Text - will validate that the data entered into this UDF is a unique text string (not repeated in other user records for this specific UDF)

• Supports the linking of User Defined Field data to Credential Records

• Linked Credential Templates 

In Velocity 2.6 there are 2 methods for creating a credential – Add New Credential and Add New Credential using Template. If a Credential Template is used the credential created using the information in the template and a unique card number/match code and/or pin. The rest of the data is controlled by the template. The disadvantage to using template is that you can create thousands of credentials using a template but if you need to change information in those templates later you must do so individually.
 
In Velocity 3.0 there is a Linked Credential Template. It works much like a Credential Template with the exception that a credential that is created using the Linked Template cannot be changed individually. A change to the Linked Template changes all credentials that were created using it. For example, you add a new door group to the Linked Credential Template and all credentials that were added with that Linked Credential Template are updated with the new door group and they are downloaded appropriately. If the operator wishes they may edit an individual credential created by the Linked Credential Template, but they will have to “unlink” the Credential from the Linked Credential Template that created it.
 
Credentials created from a template will remain linked to the template definition and fields specified by the template will be read-only on the individual credential records created from the Linked Template. Editing the definition for a Linked template will automatically apply changes to all credentials linked to the template.

A credential can be linked to another credential template.

• Person Templates

Person Templates are created in Velocity Configuration. A name is assigned, then data can be added to User Defined Fields on any of the Tabs. The Person Group or Groups may be defined as well so new people are added into the correct Person groups if User Partitioning is being used. When a new Person is added in Enrollment Manager, the Operator will be given the option to “Add Person” or “Add Person from Template”. If “Add Person from Template” is selected, a “Select Person Template” box will appear, displaying a list of previously defined Person Templates. Select the appropriate one and a new Person record will be created and the Person Template fields filled out. This can be used to greatly reduce the amount of data entry required where employees from the same company have the same data needing to be entered in their Person record. Once an employee has been added with a Person Template, changes to the Person Template will not change any previously added Person records, only new people added after the Person Template was changed.

• Person Groups

Person Group (partitioned group) which enables people to be placed in different Role controlled views. These views determine which Persons the operator can see in Enrollment Manager based on the operator’s Role.

• There is a default “Everyone” Person Group. This group shows all people within the group regardless of which subfolders they may be in.

• By default all people will be put in this Everyone group.

• A Person may be in more than one Person Group, but will always be in the Everyone Group so a System Administrator can view all people.

• Person Groups are created by right-clicking Root icon in tree.

• Person Groups are assigned to Roles in the Roles component.

• Root Person Group name can be edited by an Administrator by right-clicking the root icon and selecting rename.

• Guest and Unassigned Credentials are displayed in the people list view under Person Groups only (not person folders)

• Selecting a Person Group will show all people in that group, regardless of folders, in the people list view.

• Only way to move people from group to group is by editing Group/Folder tab of person.

• Group/Folder tab is designed in such a way to allow separate Add/Modify/Delete permission to be applied per operator Group. I.e. Tree view with checkboxes.

• Multi-person Edit 

This feature allows editing of 2 or more person records. Group edits replace all UDF data for the person records being edited. The UI for Group Edit is the Person Form.

Group Edit would be available by:

• Right-clicking a selection of two or more people in list view.

• Right-clicking person folder (this selects all persons in this folder and all subfolders). 

• Right-clicking search results folder

• New Search Options 

• Replaced existing person Find menu option with Report Manager style query builder

• Form based search (“Quick Search”) feature.

• There is a Quick Find option to type in a partial last name and matches will appear in a list where the correct person can be selected

• Search results displayed in Person List view contained in Search Results Folder (which is automatically opened and selected).

• Quick Search (person form) may be invoked by the following methods:

• Right-click group/folder – this searches the contents of the group/folder

• Search button icon at top of person group pane – this searches the highest most group/folder (i.e., Everyone if permission allows) by default. 

Event Viewer

• Permission added to restrict access to filters

• Photo call up added 

Graphics

• Significant Performance boost (added in Graphics Performance Update 1.0)

• Added Directory of all plotted objects

• VSO can be added to Custom Link or Command Set

• Will display name of person when access is granted

• More control over Badge Objects

• Added Host ID and Credential ID to Data Fields 

Import/Export

• User Import enhanced to support selection of Person Template when importing

• Controller Configuration Import/Export in XML format

• XML Support added to Person Import/Export Wizard

My Velocity

• Removed from product – When the Administration - Use option is unchecked in Roles, Operators will get a similar window to My Velocity with direct folder access to Doors, Relays, Inputs, etc.

Note:

When Velocity 2.6 SP2 is upgraded, existing Operator Groups rights will be migrated to Roles

Reporting 

• Heavily modified to support Roles

• Added ability to add company name and suppress Velocity Logo

• Added DIGI*TRAC date and time to all event reports

• Support editing of report criteria

• Added new date/time selection options

Scheduler 

• Support Email Report Delivery

• Default 30 Day Archive added to scheduler

• Support multiple executions per day 

Status Viewer

• New Layout option

• Masked Points

• New Columns – Threat Level and Relay Details 

Holidays 

• In-place editing without deleting first

 Video Explore Groups 

• Now controlled by roles

RSS Feed Added  

Many current mail clients and newsreaders can receive alarms and events from Velocity services via RSS (Really Simple Syndication) 

Microsoft Message Queue Support Added 

In addition to the XML Writer, the Velocity 1.0 XML data format can be pushed to a secured Microsoft Windows Message Queue

Updating Velocity 2.6 Service Pack 2 System (build 2.6.1.27) to Velocity 3.0

This CD only updates a Velocity 2.6 SP2 to Velocity 3.0

Note: Before updating Velocity, you must be logged into the Server with an "account" that has Administrator rights. If you attempt to install without such rights, the Installer will generate an error and terminate.

Suggested Update Steps:

• Backup your Velocity 2.6 SP2 (2.6.1.27) database using the Velocity SQL Manager or Microsoft Enterprise Manager if running SQL Server 7 or 2000.

• Verify that all Controllers are running CCM Firmware 7.4.0 or higher.

• Verify that all SNIB2’s are running Firmware 5.28 or higher

• Verify that all Xboxes are running Firmware 2.45/3.15 or higher

• Stop all Velocity services using the Velocity Service Control Manager found on your system tray.

• Exit the Velocity Service Control Manager.

• Do not stop the SQL services using the MS SQL Server Service Manager found on your system tray. The Velocity Update program needs this service running for the update process to complete successfully.

• Start the upgrade on the server by inserting the Velocity 3.0 CD in the CD drive and select the Upgrade to Velocity 2.6 SP2 to Velocity 3.0 option from the installation wizard.

• Run the upgrade on all client computers currently running Velocity 2.6 Service Pack 2 software.