Note: The teams working on Union VMS try to keep the manual as up-to-date as possible. If you see any differences in the current GUI, please help us by contributing to the manual with the latest information.


Due to a known bug in Confluence, the Table of Contents macro will render wrongly at times (not showing all the chapters). The Atlassian team is on it.

Welcome to Union VMS!

What is Union VMS? 

Union VMS provides you with real-time information on ship movements and ports. It allows you to track active assets through live position reporting.
Union VMS also allows you to view, export and print reports to secure that responsible and legitimate fishing is performed.


Who should use Union VMS?
It is intended that the on-site team who is responsible for the asset tracking and reporting system, is to be responsible for maintaining the Union VMS. It can be used by several users with different accounts.


Using the Union VMS manual
This guide will help you learn how to use the Union VMS software and navigate through the system. For information on specific Union VMS features, refer to one or more of the following sections or appendices.

Section 1: Login Instructions on how to login to Union VMS.
Section 2: Main navigation & Settings A brief overview of the system, understanding the navigation and how to configure the basic settings.
Section 3: Assets Step-by-step guide on how to search for assets and how to add new ones into the system.
Section 4: Mobile terminals Step-by-step guide on how to search for terminals, how to add new terminals to the system and how to link assets to terminals.
Section 5: Reports Shows a live view over the geographical position of the sending assets. This page displays all the accessible reports for the user in a manner similar to other GIS (Geographic Information System) applications.
Section 6: Positions Step-by-step guide how to search for position reports and how to send out manual reports.
Section 7: Polling Step-by-step guide how to send out poll requests to active mobile terminals.
Section 8: Alarms How to set what rules the system should check to be followed. Any infraction results in an alarm notification.
Section 9: Exchange Overview of all incoming and outgoing messages in the system. Exchange is working as the systems communication hub.
Section 10: Area management How to create, save and manage user and system defined zones.
Section 11: User management Step-by-step guide of the user authentication, user authorisation and the management of user data and related data.
Section 12: Glossary A glossary list of all technical terms and shortenings used in the system.

Section 1 Login

Login

Incorrect credentials

Forgot your password?

Section 2 Layout description & Settings

The picture below provides a brief overview of Union VMS. It also provides instructions for basic language and user account settings.

1 Main navigation bar

6 Search fields

2 Date and Time

7 Actions dropdown list

3 Active Alarm Icon

8 Result list

4 Language Settings

9 Export list

5 User Settings

10 Page navigation


Main navigation bar

Date and time

Active Alarms Icon

Language Setting

User Settings

All personal user settings are listed in a dropdown list under the username found up in the right corner of the page. For more information, see Section 10: User management.

Update contact details

Change password

Change security answer

Sign out

Symbols

There are recurrent symbols throughout the system. They are illustrated with each function description in the Table 1 below.

Table 1: Symbols

Settings/Configure Click on it to configure the list item.

Mark report as default Click on it to make the selected report your default one. This will automatically be run when you log in to the system.

Share Click on it to change the visibility of this report to either: Public, Private or restricted to your Scope.

Run report Click on it to run the selected report. Clicking on the right arrow will give you an option of running the report in a new tab.

Close Click on it to return to the previous page.

EditClick on it to open up for editing information.

View Click on it to view details. Unlike the editing icon, this means the information in the modal can only be viewed and not changed.

ExportExport the information to CSV format. A file will be downloaded into the computers downloaded files.

PrintSend the page to printer.

DuplicateClick on it to duplicate selected item.

RemoveClick on it to remove selected item.

CommentClick on it to view comment regarding selected item.

Alarms/NotificationsClick on it to view all rules notifications.

HelpClick on it to view guides and help on using the system.

Log outClick on it to log out from the system.

Section 3 Assets

The Assets view provides a list of all existing assets. This is where to add new assets to the system.

1 Search for assets

3 List of existing assets

2 Create new asset

4 Filter result

Search for assets

Advanced Search

Expanded search area to reveal advanced search options.


Save assets in a dynamic group

When performing an advanced search, it is possible to save that search as a dynamic asset group. What this means is that the assets in this Dynamic Asset Group will update based on whether they fulfill the search criteria or not.
For example, saving a search for Flag state = "SWE" & Gear type = "Demersal" & Length = "12 – 14,99m" as a dynamic group, would mean the group always updates when new assets are added/removed in the system that match that criteria.

Note: All search criteria can be used to form a dynamic group, however using too specific criteria will lead to having just one asset perhaps that fits the search.


Save assets in a static group

Selecting out specific assets in the results list and saving them as a group will result in a "static" group. As opposed to the dynamic one, the assets included in this will always be the ones you selected.

Adding assets to a group

Removing assets from a group

Sort assets

Export asset selection

It is possible to export one or multiple mobile terminals from the list to a CSV file.

View details

Update details

Add new asset

         

Assign mobile terminal to asset

Archive asset

Section 4 Mobile terminals

In order to access the mobile terminals page, click on "Mobile terminals" in the main menu bar. The default view of this page shows an overview of registered mobile terminals and their current status.

1 Search fields

5 Sort in descending order

2 List terminals per asset group

6 Mobile terminal not linked to asset

3 Actions dropdown list

7 Mobile terminal status

4 Add new terminal

8 Details

Detailed information

Status

The status of a mobile terminal can be Active or Inactive. When a mobile terminal has been made inactive, it will be greyed out in the list.

View terminals by asset group

By selecting a group, all terminals assigned to the assets in that group get listed.

Search for mobile terminals

Use the search fields to find mobile terminals.

Add new mobile terminal

When adding a new terminal, click on the "Add new" button to reach the "New mobile terminal" page.
Please follow the following instruction steps in order to add a new mobile terminal to the system.

Note: It is always possible to cancel and go back to the previous screen. Click on the close icon .


1. Select transponder system Select which transponder system to be used. The list of available systems will be shown as a dropdown menu when clicking on the icon. This list is dynamic and is based on whether your system has a plugin installed for a certain transponder system. See picture below.

Note: the amount of information fields shown in the next screen will vary depending on selected transponder system.

2. Insert relevant information.
Select ocean region from the four available options in the dropdown list. It is possible to select multiple alternatives. Continue by adding mobile terminal information in their respective fields.

3. Add communication channels At least one communication channel must be added in order to complete the form. It is possible to add several channels.

Note: The transponder systems AIS and IRIDIUM do not have this requirement.


Assign mobile terminal to asset

The first communication channel in the list should be the main one used by the terminal to communicate. This is marked by the Default checkbox. The user can select which channel to use for manually Polling the asset and which to use when sending Configuration polls.

4. Save the mobile terminal Save the mobile terminal by clicking the Save button in the upper right corner.

Unlink asset from mobile terminal

Access mobile terminal history

Activate mobile terminal

Inactivate mobile terminal

Section 5 Reports

The "Reports" in the main menu shows a live view over were reporting assets are located. This page displays all the accessible reports for the user. The "Reports" page is divided into "Line view" and "Reports"

Live view

Map


1 Refresh2 Eraser – Clear map highlights3 Enable map graticule4 Fetch alerts from current map5 Open tabular view
6 Bookmarks7 Search places8 Measure distance9 Export map10 Toggle full screen
11 Open map on new tab12 User preferences13 Zoom in/Zoom out14 Previous extent/ Next extent15 Zoom to full extent

Measure distance

Allows calculation of estimated time of arrival based on the criteria selection of measure configuration panel (supported units are meters, nautical miles and miles):

Export Map

Export the current map view to an image format (supported formats are PNG, JPEG and PDF):

Bookmarks

Bookmarks helps the user to save the current state of the map

Zoom in/out

Zoom in/out the map (also works with "+"and "-" keys and mouse wheel)

History

Go back/forward between map navigations (keeps track of the latest 50 steps)

Eraser

Clear map highlights (related to the zoomTo and panTo functionality)

Full-screen

Activates full-screen mode

Layer tree handle

Opens the layers tree and legend panels:

On the layers panel you can specify which layers are visible. Here you can also order the layers (drag and drop) to control the order of the layers over the map.

select the position node to view all the positions and click on any position to see the position details.

For the segments, you can do the same but instead you have to select it on the segments node:



click on the  icon to watch the same information in the table .

There are 4 types of tables

 

Now, we will briefly look into the trips tab.

Trips 


1 Fishing Trip - displays the details of the current trip
2 Vessel details - displays the details of the Vessel
3 Roles - displays the "master" details of the vessel 
4 Cronology - displays the list of available trips
5 Trip map -  displays the fishing activity deatils on the map
6 Catch - displays the details of all the catch in charts and table format
7 Reports - displays the list of fishing activities in the current trip
8 Messages - displays the statistics of reports in the reports panel
9 back button-  to go back to the trips table view
10 print - prints the trip summay report
11 table icon - on click will take to the catch details page

Catch Details

catch details page display the details of the cathes in the tabular format.

Report List

This page displays all the accessible reports of the current user to search, update, run and delete existing reports and create new ones.

Creating a New Report

There are two types of reports:

Standard Reports:

On this page the user can create a report and configure different filters. These filters will be applied to the result when the user runs the report.


Areas Filters

Area There are two types of area filter. They are System areas and user areas.

An example of the areas filter is shown below:

Assets Filter

Assets are selected either by selecting assets or asset group from the dropdown.



Positional Data Filter

Fill all the required fields as per the requirement. see the below example of positional data filter

Fishing Activity Data Filter

select all the required filters as per the requirement, see the below example of fishing activity data filter:

Map configurations

The following are the different map configurations available. See the picture below. click on the ">" icon to add different configuration settings.

Summary Reports:

On this page the user can create a report and configure different filters. These configurations will be applied to the result when the user runs the report.

 

Note: "select area", "select assets" and "select fishing activity data" are same as the filters of standard report. please refer the standard report for the detailed description. 

Output Criteria Filter

Filters can be added from the right side dropdown and then all the selected options are displayed in a tree structure.See illustration in picture below

Section 6 Positions

In order to find all incoming position reports, click on "Positions" in the main menu bar. The page will automatically update every minute. The Position reports are divided into "Positions Reports" and "Manual Reports".

Position reports

Position reports show all incoming position reports listed in a table. It is possible to search through different search variables and sort functions.

1 Create new manual report

5 Actions dropdown list

2 Search field

6 Saved search dropdown list

3 Set timeframe for search result

7 Export data into CVS format

4 Save search link

8 View details

Search


Search result


Advanced search

Save search

Export position reports

The Export Selection creates a CSV file with the selected position reports' information.

Manual position report

Click on "Manual Position Reports" under "Positions" in the main menu. Manual position reports show all the sent position reports as well as the drafts that have been saved locally. A manual position report can be created when an asset cannot report automatically.

1 Add new manual report

3 View details

2 Search fields

4 Remove report

Search for locally stored manual position reports

Create new manual position report

It is possible to create a new manual position report under the Manual Position Reports page.

Edit manual position reports

A saved report can be reopened and edit until it is send. It can also be deleted. However, as soon as the report is send it cannot be edited anymore.

Export manual position reports

The Export Selection creates a CSV file with the selected position reports' information.

Section 7 Polling

In order to ask a mobile terminal located on an asset for information, click on "Polling" in the main menu bar. The page will show currently running program polls. The Polling tab is divided into "Polling logs" and "New poll".

Polling logs

1 Running program polls

3 List over polling logs

2 Start and Stop running polls

6 Notes

New poll

Create a new poll in order to ask a mobile terminal for current updated information. Go to "New Poll" under "Polling" in the main menu.

Choose assets to poll

 

Select Polling options

Note: the text field "Comments" is required and must be filled in. Type in reason for the new poll (s).

Polling results

Section 8 Alarms

Click on "Alarms" in the main menu bar to see all active alarms or to set a new rule with demands for the system to track. The Alarms tab is divided into "Holding table", "Notifications" and "Rules".

The alarm system works as follow;
The "Rules" tab shows activated rules that the system is supposed to check that they are being correctly followed. It is also where settings for new rules are found. For more information, see "Rules" in this chapter.
"Holding table" lists registered rules that are put in quarantine since they are for some reason incomplete. For more information, see "Holding table" in this chapter.
"Notifications" shows the alarm reports from discrepancies from the active rules. For more information, see "Notifications" in this chapter.
For more specific information about each of these functions, see the following pages.

Holding Table

Holding table shows set rules that are automatically put in quarantine by the system since they in some way are incomplete.

1 Time period from when to get data

4 Holding table result list

2 Set specific date and time

5 Status

3 Action dropdown list

7 Resolve issue


There is mainly one of three things making a rule incomplete and appearing in the Holding table;

Incomplete data

The position report misses information.
Action:

Asset not found

The position report cannot be matched against an asset.
Alternative actions;

Mobile terminals not found

Alternative actions;

Searching the holding table

Rules

Rules shows activated rules that the system is supposed to check so they are being correctly followed. It is also where settings for new rules are found.

1 Create new rule button

4 Text field for e-mail notification

2 Action dropdown list

5 Status Active/ Inactive rule

3 Notification setting

6 Edit, Duplicate, Delete

Create new rule



Edit rule

When edit an already existing rule, click on the "View Details" button to open up a new window with the rule information.


Subscribe on rule

It is possible to subscribe on rules in order to get notification regarding them.


Export rule

Notifications

In notifications shows the alarm reports from discrepancies in the active rules. There are search fields in order to enable the user to find older notifications as well as new ones.

1 Alarm status

4 Date the alarm was triggered

2 Set specific date and time

5 Rule the alarm is based on

3 Object

6 Resolve notification

Search and sort among notifications

Close notification

Section 9 Exchange

Click on "Exchange" in the main menu bar to get an overview of all incoming and outgoing in the system. Exchange is working as the systems communication channel.

1 Transmission status

4 Manually resend messages

2 Stop and start transmissions

5 Search fields

3 Sending queue

6 Sort on All, Incoming, Outgoing.

Transmission status

The transmission status list shows all communication plugins.
The user can start and stop transmissions here.
The sender name is shown to the left and the transmission status is shown to the right. See picture below.

Stop plugin

Start plugin

Sending queue

The sending queue is showing all outgoing messages that have not been send properly and ended up in a queue.


In order for the messages to be sent, check that all plugins are running in "Transmission status". If they are not, set the transmission status to "Started".

The system will automatically try to resend the messages in the sending queue, but it is also possible to do it manually. Click on the "Resend group" link illustrated in the picture below.

Section 10 Area Management

In Area management is user defined zones to save specified.

Note that this section is still under construction and will be updated in a later version.

My Areas

Create new area

Draw

If the area is drawn on the map, the coordinates will be automatically filled in.

Coordinates



Import

Editing existing areas

To edit an already saved area, click on "Edit existing area" illustrated in the picture below.

Now perform the changes and click on the "Update" button to finish.

Reference Data:

select "Data type" from the drop down.

Now, there are three options which are as follows

  1. Upload new area data
  2. Update metadata
  3. Create Dataset


To "Upload new area data", follow the below steps:

Now, click on the "upload" button. The following message is displayed if the upload is successful



The dataset can be created either by "select area on map" or by "search by area properties".

select the area on the map, automatically the name of the selcted area is displayed under "selected area" as shown below

Now, name the dataset and click on the "create dataset" button. A new dataset is created and an alert is displayed if the dataset creation is succesful or not.


click on the "create dataset" button to create the dataset. An alert is displayed showing whether the dataset was created successful or not.

Area Groups

select the "Area Groups" tab

Now, select "Area Type" from the drop down then

click on the "Edit" button to edit the area group as shown below:

click on "Details" icon to view the details as shown below:

Section 11 User management

This section is a basic user guide for the USM (User Security Management) application v1.7.1, called the User (Management) module when integrated under U-VMS. Operations that can be performed in the user web interface are described in this section.


The main roles of USM cover the user authentication, user authorisation and the management of user data and related data. More precisely:

Profile: Normal User

This list of actions may be triggered by any user of the U-VMS application.

How to change my security answers

Option 'Change security answers' from the user contextual menu:

A pop-up displays a list of questions and answers (mandatory fields are marked with a red '*'):

When activated for the first time, the list is empty. The user must choose a question in a list of predefined questions and provide an answer. The number of questions to be replied by the user is a parameter of the system (cfr Policies).
If it is not the first time, the list is filled with the previous answers of the user. The user may modify the reply and/or to change the question.
The system verifies that a question has not been selected more than once and that an answer has a minimum of three characters.
This list of security questions is used when the user has forgotten his password (cfr How to request a password).

How to update my personal data

Option 'Update contact details' from the user contextual menu (mandatory fields are marked by a '*'):

A pop-up displays the following user information that may be modified (mandatory fields are marked with a red '*'):


The "Password" field is not used to modify the password. It is a security channel to confirm the identity of the user. The 'save' button to commit changes is only active when the password has been filled in.

How to change my password

Option 'Change password' from the user contextual menu:

A pop-up appears where the user must enter the current password and two times the new one (mandatory fields are marked with a red '*'):

Depending on the password policies put in place in the system (cfr Policies), the system performs some controls based on: a minimum length, minimum number of digits, minimum number of special characters (!""£$%^&'*(),./:@~<>+=-#), recent occurrence in the password history…

How to request a password

Two cases are possible:

  1. The first time: the user must follow the procedure put in place by the organisation for such case. If there is no official procedure, the administrator of the system must be contacted.
  2. Forgotten password: In the login screen, the option 'Forgot your password?' can be activated:


A pop-up is displayed to request the username (mandatory fields are marked with a red '*'):
Therefore, two cases are possible:

  1. The user has already filled-in the security questions (cfr How to change my security answers): if so, the security question panel is displayed with the set of questions chosen by the user. The user must enter the answers and two times a new password. If no problem is detected (i.e. the answers are correct and the new password respects the password policies (cfr How to change my password), a successful message is displayed. The user can enter in the log in screen again with the new password.
  2. The user has no security questions (cfr How to change my security answers): the email address of the user registered in the system is used to send him an email with a temporary password. At first log in, the user must change it.

Example of email sent by the system:
Here is your new password:
u2y#rNs*T8
Please login and change it.

How to know my different profiles

Option 'Switch context' from the user contextual menu:

The list of contexts (role and scope) attached to the user is displayed:

The user may choose any context during his session. Depending on the selected context (and the permissions contained in), the web interface is automatically adapted to see only the options that the user may use.

How to log out from the system

Option 'Sign out' from the user contextual menu:

Profile: Administrator

This list of actions may be triggered by a user with special rights on the USM system.

How to find back User information & Access Rights

User information is accessible through the 'USERS' option from the main menu:

The web screen provides a set of filters to find back the users:


The result of the search is displayed below the set of filters:

When there is no data corresponding to the search criteria, the message 'No result found.' is displayed.
If the search is successful, the list of users matching the criteria is displayed. For each user, the icon gives access to detailed user information in three tabs:

How to change a User password

Note that this feature is not possible through USM if the system use an Identity Management (IDM) system.


If so, the management of passwords must be done in that system and the corresponding option(s) in USM are not active.
If the management of passwords is delegated to USM, the following actions should be done:

  1. To find back the user: cfr How to find back User information
  2. For that user, to select the option for detailed user information. In the web screen, the option 'Set Password' is visible.
  3. The administrator may enter twice a new password for the user.


The communication of that new password to the user is not covered by the system.

How to create a User

The following actions should be done:



There are two ways of creating a user depending on the technical environment in place:

  1. Using a IDM

The user interface allows a USM Administrator to pull (copy) information from an external Identity Management (IDM) system (e.g. LDAP, Active Directory) to complete the user information stored in USM.
With an IDM, some user information (depending on how USM is interfaced with: cfr the USM Admin guide & USM IDM setup guide) will be copied into USM. When imported, such information should not be updated anymore because the official source is considered to be the IDM. (a next version of USM will prevent that action)
The procedure is the following: the username must be inserted first. Then the option 'Copy Info From LDAP' is triggered. User information from the LDAP is copied in USM if the username entered in the web screen matches an existing username in the IDM. If not, an error message 'User not found' is displayed.

Some other user information needs to be filled in before finally saving the data (cfr next point).

  1. Using USM as source for all user data

The following data should be provided (mandatory fields are marked by a red '*'):

When data is saved, the user has still no password and no access right. Please see the corresponding entries in this document to complete the process.

How to give access rights to a User

The first action is to find back the user: cfr How to find back User information.

Then, two options are possible:

1. To clone an existing user profile

In such a case, all access rights (more precisely the contexts) from another user will be copied to this user. To do so, the action is triggered by clicking on the following icon at the level of the user entry in the user panel:
A pop-up is displayed where the administrator can pick-up a reference user from whom the contexts (role/scope/preferences) must be copied to the user. All the contexts of the reference user are displayed for information. When the 'Copy profile' option is triggered, a message indicates that any previous access rights of the user receiving the new profile will be deleted.
The new profile of the user can be later extended (cfr next option).

2. To create or change contexts

To do so, the action is triggered by clicking on the following icon at the level of the user entry in the user panel:
In the 'Contexts' tab, the permissions (if any) of the user are available:

A new context can be added to the profile of the user with the 'New' option:
A pop-up is displayed where the administrator must choose a role and optionally a scope:

The system verifies if the context (role/scope) does not exist already for the user. If not, the profile of the user is modified. If the user is connected in U-VMS when the operation is performed, the impacts (new permissions …) will only take place at the next user session.
The same screen is proposed when updating a context with the icon:

Deletion of a context is also possible with the icon:
By clicking on the existing roles or scopes, the corresponding screens to view the content ( permissions or datasets) are displayed with options to manage them. It should be noted that in such case, the modifications done on a role or a scope affect all users having the element in their context(s) (Cfr How to manage Roles and How to manage Scopes).

How to manage Organisations and related information

The option 'Organisations' in the main menu is the entry point:

An organisation may provide technical information for one or multiple endpoints. Each endpoint may have one or more communication channels and a list of contact people.

Organisation

The web screen provides a set of filters to find back an existing organisation:

The result of the search is displayed below the set of filters.
When there is no data corresponding to the search criteria, the message 'No result found.' is displayed.
If the search is successful, the list of organisations matching the criteria is displayed. For each entry in that list, the following actions are available:
The creation of an organisation is done by selection the 'New' option:
The edition of an organisation is done with the icon closed to the organisation entry in the organisation panel:
For both options, the following pop-up is presented: (mandatory fields marked with a red '*'):

The deletion of an organisation is done by the icon closed to the organisation entry in the organisation panel:
A deletion is only possible if there is no user belonging to that organisation. In case of deletion, all endpoints and communication channels associated with the organisation are deleted as well.

Endpoints

The additional information attached to an organisation is visible when selecting the icon closed to the organisation entry in the organisation panel:

The creation of an endpoint of an organisation is done by selection the 'New' option:
The edition of an endpoint is done with the icon closed to the endpoint entry in the endpoint panel:
For both options, the following pop-up is presented: (mandatory fields marked with a red '*'):

The deletion of an endpoint is done by the icon closed to the endpoint entry in the endpoint panel:
In case of deletion, all communication channels associated with the endpoint are deleted as well.

Communication Channel

The additional information attached to an endpoint is visible when selecting the icon closed to the endpoint entry in the endpoint panel:

The creation of a communication channel of an endpoint is done by selection the 'New' option:
The edition of communication channel is done with the icon closed to the entry in the communication channel panel:
For both options, the following pop-up is presented: (mandatory fields marked with a red '*'):

The deletion of an organisation is done by the icon closed to the organisation entry in the organisation panel:

Endpoint contacts

The web screen showing the detailed information of an endpoint is made of two tabs. The second tab is about contacts.
The contact panel shows (if any) all the contact points of an endpoint:



A new contact can be associated with an endpoint by selecting the 'New' option:
A pop-up shows the list of all existing users with their first/last names and the email address. A selection of an entry creates a contact point:

A contact point can be deleted by selecting the icon closed to the contact entry in the contact panel:
In such case, only the reference to the user (contact role) is deleted, not the user itself.

How to manage Policies

Policies are accessible through the 'Policies' option from the main menu:


The web screen provides a set of filters to find back the information:

The result of the search is displayed below the set of filters.
When there is no data corresponding to the search criteria, the message 'No results found.' is displayed.
If the search is successful, the list of policies matching the criteria is displayed. For each policy, the following data is available:


A policy can be modified by clicking on the icon closed to the entry in the policies panel.
A pop-up is displayed where the description and the value can be modified. A definition of each policy and information about possible values are given in the USM Admin guide:

How to manage Roles

Information about roles is accessible through the 'Roles' option from the main menu. See picture below.


The web screen provides a set of filters to find back the roles:

The result of the search is displayed below the set of filters.
When there is no data corresponding to the search criteria, the message 'No result found.' is displayed.
If the search is successful, the list of roles matching the criteria is displayed with the following information:

The creation of a role is done by selection the 'New' option:
The edition of a scope is done with the icon closed to the scope entry in the scope panel :
For both options, the following pop-up is presented: (mandatory fields marked with a red '*'):

The deletion of a scope is done by the icon closed to the scope entry in the scope panel:
When deleting a role, the system raises a warning if the role is associated with a user context. The message mentions the number of users but it is not a blocking issue. It is possible to go forward. If so, there is a risk of having users without any access rights if they had only that role.

Features/Permissions

The additional information attached to a role is visible when selecting the icon closed to the scope entry in the scope panel:


For each permission in the role, the following information is available:


It should be noted that a role can be based on permissions coming from multiple applications.

Modify a role definition

In the screen for consulting the datasets of a scope (cfr previous point), the following icon is available to modify the list:
A screen displays a set of filters to search for features proposed by all applications:

The result of the search is displayed below the set of filters. The list of permissions is displayed with at the end of each entry of the list a check box which is ticked if the permission is already in the role being modified. The management of permissions of the role is done by selecting or deselecting the check boxes for permissions.
This process shows that a role can be based on permissions coming from multiple applications.

How to manage Scopes

Information about scopes is accessible through the 'Scopes' option from the main menu:

The web screen provides a set of filters to find back the scopes:


The result of the search is displayed below the set of filters.
When there is no data corresponding to the search criteria, the message 'No result found.' is displayed.
If the search is successful, the list of scopes matching the criteria is displayed with the following information:

The data from/to is a general filter of the scope.
The creation of a scope is done by selection the 'New' option:
The edition of a scope is done with the icon closed to the scope entry in the scope panel :
For both options, the following pop-up is presented: (mandatory fields marked with a red '*'):


The deletion of a scope is done by the icon closed to the scope entry in the scope panel:

Datasets

The additional information attached to a scope is visible when selecting the icon closed to the scope entry in the scope panel:

For each dataset in the scope, the following information is available:

Modify a scope definition

In the screen for consulting the datasets of a scope (cfr previous point), the following icon is available to modify the list:
A screen displays a set of filters to search for datasets proposed by all applications:

The result of the search is displayed below the set of filters. The list of datasets is displayed with at the end of each entry of the list a check box which is ticked if the datasets is already in the scope being modified. The management of datasets of the scope is done by selecting or deselecting the check boxes for datasets.
This process shows that a scope can be based on datasets coming from multiple applications.

How to view Application information

Information about applications linked to USM is accessible through the 'Applications' option from the main menu:

The web screen provides a set of filters to find back the applications:


The result of the search is displayed below the set of filters.
When there is no data corresponding to the search criteria, the message 'No result found.' is displayed.
If the search is successful, the list of applications matching the criteria is displayed with the following information:

How to view data exposed by Applications

Information about applications linked to USM is accessible through the 'Applications' option from the main menu:


Data exposed by each application and registered in USM for defining roles and scopes, basis of the user contexts (access rights), are visible by selecting the icon closed to the entry in the organisation panel.
The web screen shows a tab by type of data exposed by an application:

How to validate user changes

The system can be configured in such a way that any changes of personal data done by a user must be validated by a USM administrator before to be registered (cfr Policies).
If this setting is active, the option 'Changes' appears in the main menu:

The list of following information is available when new changes to be validated are pending:


The icon available in each entry of the list gives access to the validation screen.
The old and new values are displayed with options to reject, accept or cancel the operation:

If accepted, the user information is immediately updated in the system.
In this version of USM, the user is not notified about the decision of the administrator.


Section 12 Activity

Activities list

When the user accesses the activity tab, the first view is the activities list where the user can search for fishing activities.


After thebutton is pressed, the list of fishing activities is displayed according to the applied filters.


Filters



Field typeDescription
1

Communication Channel

Data source

2From (ID)Country code
3Owner
4Start Date
5End Date
6Vessel Identifier
7Vessel Group
8Purpose Code
9Report TypeNotification or declaration
10Activity TypeFishing activity type
11Reported area
12Port
13Gear Type
14Species
15Master
16Weight range - Unit
17

Weight range - Min


18

Weight range - Max


Columns visibility

In order to make easier to see only the most relevant columns, the user can hide columns from the table:


Fishing activity

From the activities list, it’s possible to access its details by pressing the  button.


There are many types of fishing activities:

-Departure;

-Landing;

-Arrival;

-Fishing operation;

-Area entry;

-Area exit;

-Discard;

-Joint fishing operation;

-Relocation;

-Transhipment.


In each one of them the layout differs depending on the information to be displayed.


Widgets

In the fishing activity views, there are several tiles to display the different details of each fishing activity. Next, you will find them:

Fishing activity details

Describes the global details of the fishing activity.

Area information

Displays the times about the area entry.

Location

Tells the locations where the fishing activity occurs.

Gears

Describes the gears used in the fishing activity.

Report details

Describes the report document details.

Catch details

Displays the information related to the catches.

Gear shot and retrieval

Describes all the information related to gear shot and retrieval (including their gear problems).

Vessel details

Description related to vessels.

Processing and products

Table with all the information related to processing and products.

Fishing trip overview

Information about the trip of the fishing activity.


Section 13 MDR (Master data register)

MDR contains data structures and lists of fisheries codes to be used in electronic information recording and exchanges among Member States and for Member States' communications with Norway with the purpose to record and report fishing activities. In UnionVMS, there’s a module to cache all this lists of codes in order to be used in the application without depending on the European commission.

To access the MDR configuration view, the user has to be administrator privileges. In the admin tab of the main menu -> Configuration -> MDR.

This cache can be synchronized with the European commission in 2 ways: automatically or by the user through the application’s interface.

Synchronize automatically with a cron job

Depending on the system needs, the admin can schedule the synchronization to happen every:

-minute;

-hour;

-day;

-week;

-month;

-year.

In case the user doesn’t want to auto-update all the code lists, it can  /  in the auto-update column.

Manually

The admin can synchronize all code lists or only some of them depending of its needs.


It’s also possible to visualize the contents of every code list by pressing the  button:


Section 14 Configurations

The configurations are present in several levels: admin, user and report.


Admin - these configurations are set by an administrator and they are the default settings of the application.

User – the user settings are defined by any user with permissions. These settings override the default ones defined in admin configuration.

Report (map configuration) – settings defined in a specific report. These settings override the previous ones.


There are several sections in every configuration view:

-General settings;

-Map settings;

-Style settings;

-Visibility settings;

-Layer Settings;

-Reference data settings.


General settings

In this section, the user can set the Geoserver URL and the Bing Maps API Key. It’s available in the admin configuration.

Map settings

This section has all the settings related to the maps in the application and it’s available in all the configuration levels (admin, user and report). The auto-refresh configurations are only present at the admin and user levels.


Style settings

It’s possible to stylize the different components in the map (positions, segments and alerts).

For positions and segments it’s possible to set different colours depending on some properties:






We can also change the segment’s styles in the map but selecting a new line shape and width:



For the alerts, the user can define a different colour for each state and its size in the map:


Visibility settings

This section controls the visibility of the properties in the vms table, popups and labels from map. These settings can be applied differently to positions, segments and tracks.


It’s also possible to change their order, depending on the user preferences, by dragging the field to another place.


Layer Settings

We have four different types of layer settings. They are backgrounds, Additional cartographies, areas and ports.

The examples of all types of layer settings are shown below:

Reference data settings

This section manages the visible areas in every reference data layer. The user can selected them all or customize its selection by selecting only some areas in the following ways:

 




Section 15 Glossary

Term as used in Union VMSExplanation
Applicationit is a computer program designed to perform a group of coordinated functions, tasks, or activities. An application can be linked to USM. If so, it means that:
The application delegates the user authentication task to USM;
The application can request to get or to verify the access rights of a user; 
The application exposes through a USM service a set of information used by USM to create user contexts;
Communication channel

A medium through which a message is transmitted to its intended audience. A communication channel in USM is attached to an endpoint and it specifies the type of messages that could be transmitted through.

Context

a context is always for a user but a user may have multiple ones. It is a container of three elements defining his framework for one or multiple applications. In basic terms, the container defines the WWH for each user: 'What can he do', 'What can he see', 'How he wants to see data'. The three elements are: 

Role: list of permissions to limit the actions of the user (The first W). It is the only mandatory element of a context;
Scope: list of datasets to limit the access to data for the user (the second W); 
User preferences: list of options configured by the user (the H);

Datasetit is a business information of an application that can be used to limit the access to data for a user, so a kind of filter. An application linked to USM may register in USM the list of his datasets that are used to create the context of a user;
Endpointit is a technical node in a network used for message exchanges. Technical information is stored in USM at the level of an organisation. 
Featureit is a function of an application. An application linked to USM must register in USM the list of his features that are used to give permissions to a user;
IDM systemIdentity Management system used mainly to manage user data and credentials.
LDAPLightweight Directory Access Protocol system used to share corporate data like user information across an organisation or over internet.
Moduleit is a synonym of "application" but this notion implies usually that a module is linked to a parent application. 
Optionit is a parameter of an application that can be used by users to customize the layout (color of lines …) or the behaviour (refresh rate of a report …) of the application. An option has always a default value. When included in a user context, the option (with a specific value chosen by the user) becomes a user preference. An application linked to USM may register in USM the list of his options that are used to configure the context of a user;
Permissionit is a feature in a role affected to a user;
Profileit is the set of all contexts attached to a user;
Roleit is a set of permissions on one or multiple applications;
Scopeit is a set of datasets from one or multiple applications. The scope is defined to limit the access to data when used in a user context;