Tip of the Month: Announcing BarnOwl’s New, State of the Art, Web-Based Application

Did You Know?

BarnOwl’s eagerly awaited, state of the art, new web-based version has just been released. Version 11 offers our clients a fresh, modern and simplified web-based user interface utilising the latest web-based technology. In addition, Version 11, will over time, incorporate much of BarnOwl’s extensive desktop app ‘rich’ functionality including built-in reporting. We are very excited to announce the release of version 11.1. Some of the reasons for upgrading to BarnOwl version 11 include:

• Upgrade BarnOwl to the latest web-based technology
• Modern and fresh user interface
• Simplified navigation
• Standardised look & feel across all registers and forms (pages)
• Risk on a page simplifies risk taxonomy
• Performance enhancements
• Functional improvements

Version 11

The BarnOwl roadmap

Whilst, we continue to enhance the BarnOwl ‘rich’ desktop application (risk, compliance, audit) driven predominantly by client requests, industry standards and best practice, we have a parallel development stream focussed on moving as much of our ‘rich’ functionality into our new, modern look & feel web-based application. Version11.1 show-cases BarnOwl’s new, modern look & feel with all the essential risk management functionality. The following is an indication of BarnOwl’s version 11 roadmap:

• V11.1 (BarnOwl Web risk management) (February 2023)
• V11.2 (BarnOwl Web voting (RCSAs, Surveys, Questionnaires)) (mid 2023)
• V11.3 (BarnOwl Web reporting) (end 2023)
• V11.4 (Internet facing Votes, Surveys & Questionnaires) (end 2023)
• Administrative tasks will remain in the Windows App
• Standard reports will remain in the Windows App
• Standard Power BI and SSRS reports (*)
• Advanced Power BI reporting (**)

(*) included as part of the standard package on request – generated directly from the BarnOwl database

(**) additional purchased license – generated from the BarnOwl data warehouse

Version 11.1

What does Version 11.1 mean for me?

• V11.1 essentially replaces the existing web-based BarnOwl Lite interface with a new modern interface utilising the latest web-based technology.
• No changes have been made to the BarnOwl Rich desktop app. BarnOwl Rich will still work exactly the same way.
• The advantage of the new V11.1 web-based interface is that it is:
  -easy to navigate
  -easy to capture and maintain all risk related data (risk on a page)
  -performs well (i.e. is fast) over a slow network such as a VPN
  -V11.3 (scheduled late 2023) will include built-in reports
• Version 11.1 incorporates bug fixes / minor enhancements so it is advisable to upgrade to V11.1
• The current advantage of the Rich desktop app is that it includes:
  -built-in reporting
  -drill-down registers whereby you can expand a register (e.g. the risk register) to see detailed child registers (contributing factors, controls, KIs, action plans etc.). However this is also what makes BarnOwl Rich appear complex
  -administrative functions such as applying of processes, risk templates, votes etc

Features of BarnOwl v11.1

• Landing page giving the user a heads up of work items (Action plans, Votes, Key Indicators, RAPs) (v10)
• New look & feel organisational structure (option in SMC to include processes)
• Registers (Clean look & feel with column filtering, field selection, sorting, drag & drop columns, grouping, favourite views, global search (across multiple fields))
  -Objective Register
  -Risk Register (focal point)
  -My Key Indicators
  -My Action plans
  -Incident registers
  -My Voting
• Register menus:
  -Actions (Link record, Unlink record)
  -This View (Clear filters, Wrap all, Unwrap all, Reset, Export to Excel, Export to PDF, Add to My BarnOwl)
  -Favourite View (New, Update, Edit, Delete, manage, Select)
• Link / Unlink:
  -Easy to search library and link an existing record to a unit or create a new library record
  -Easy to unlink a record from a unit
  -Easy to maintain library records (new, merge, delete with administrator permissions) (v10)
• On loading a form / page:
  -Logical menu options: Action (Link, Save&Close, Save, Unlink), View (History, Model, Linked)
  -Logical tabs: Library record, Linked objects, Unit detail, Ratings, Owners, Custom fields
• Risk Structure:
  -Risk on a page with easy navigation to all associated objects (objectives, controls, contributing factors, action plans, key indicators, incidents, parent risks, child risks)
  -Context sensitive menus (including collapse all / expand all)

Latest web-based technology

Upgrading to V11.1:

• replaces the existing BarnOwl Lite interface with BarnOwl’s new web interface which is modern, user friendly and performs well over slow networks such as VPN.
• addresses minor bug fixes / enhancements
• has no effect on how you currently use the BarnOwl Rich desktop app (i.e. no changes have been made to the Rich desktop app).
• will enable users to transition to the new BarnOwl web app in preference to the BarnOwl Rich desktop especially when V11.3 is released (scheduled for late 2023) with built-in reporting. Administrative tasks will however remain in BarnOwl Rich
• will include standard Power BI and SSRS reports on request (are now included as part of the standard package – generated directly from the BarnOwl database)
• NB: Advanced Power BI and SSRS reporting (additional purchased license – generated from the BarnOwl data warehouse)

In Summary

• Modern look & feel: easy and familiar to use
• Easy navigation: embed risk management
• Risk on a page: manage your risks in a simple and structured way
• Performance: great performance over WAN / VPN
• Enhanced functionality: custom field documents, action plan linked object, search visible text fields etc.
• State of the art web-based technology: take advantage of leading edge technology

Useful links

Some useful links:
https://api.barnowl.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/BarnOwl-V11.1-202302-v2.pptx
https://api.barnowl.co.za/tip-of-the-month/frequently-asked-questions-about-upgrading-barnowl/
https://api.barnowl.co.za/tip-of-the-month/tip-of-the-month-working-over-a-vpn-virtual-private-network-and-wan-wide-area-network-with-barnowl/
https://api.barnowl.co.za/tip-of-the-month/introduction-to-barnowl-eclipse/

About BarnOwl:

BarnOwl is a fully integrated governance, risk management, compliance and audit software solution used by over 150 organisations in Africa, Australasia and the UK. BarnOwl is a locally developed software solution and is the preferred risk management solution for the South African public sector supporting the National Treasury risk framework.

Please see www.barnowl.co.za for more information.