SIMS

SIMS Multi-User employs concurrent user licensing. Licenses are not required for every user; you only need as many licenses as there are simultaneous SIMS users at any given time. As a bonus, SIMS Multi-user offers unlimited, read-only, web browser-based client access with no licensing requirement. Security guards, entry control staff, scientists and engineers can simply look up information in SIMS without a license. This feature represents a significant cost savings when compared to competing products.

Additionally, SIMS Multi-User includes a free, browser-based feature for employees to submit outgoing visit requests to a SIMS Visit Request Administrator for processing. Employees will then receive e-mail notification of the status of their requests. A similar web-browser interface can also notify selected security staff of known incoming visitors.

SIMS’ Smart Client interface is superior to pure web-based or client-server architectures. It is intuitive, straightforward and provides a richer user experience than is possible with pure web-based systems. Perhaps most importantly, the Smart Client interface avoids discrepancies and variations in Java versions, browser versions, security settings, pop-up ad blockers, and other potential browser incompatibilities.

The SIMS Smart Client interface does not require administrator rights to install. It is invoked by clicking on a URL; Microsoft refers to this technology as “ClickOnce.” Users simply go to a bookmarked URL from their web browser to run SIMS. SIMS Smart Client updates are automatic and do not require any user or IT staff interaction. Whenever the SIMS Server application is upgraded, all Smart Clients are automatically upgraded the next time Smart Client is launched via the user’s web browser.

SIMS has built-in validations and business rules that enforce every aspect of the NISPOM requirements. Users are prevented from inadvertently making mistakes that could result in security violations (e.g., assigning a classified document to a person who doesn’t have the required access level). These rules are invoked by default, but they can be individually disabled by a SIMS Manager as needed to meet user requirements.

Once the validations have been established, SIMS can continually inspect database contents in the background to identify discrepancies and potential violations, and automatically generate e-mails to selected SIMS users, based on their data group relationship to the various data elements (e.g., discrepancies by business unit or across the entire enterprise).

SIMS generates reports incredibly quickly, typically within a few seconds. Longer reports with significant amounts of data are automatically queued to run in the background, freeing up the user’s workstation for other tasks. SIMS comes with over 200 built-in reports, all of which are customizable by the end user. Additional custom reports can be created and added to the drop-down Reports menu in each SIMS module. SIMS also offers a Quick Reports feature for the rapid creation of column-style reports that can be viewed, printed or saved as Excel spreadsheet files.

SIMS integrates with existing Active Directory/LDAP systems to eliminate user passwords from the database. You can also use SIMS’ built-in authentication and restrict passwords (based on length, minimum uppercase and lowercase letters, minimum numeric characters, maximum number of consecutive characters), validate against previous passwords, and set a password expiration date. SIMS also supports Single Sign-on (SSO), SAML 2.0 (SSO) and Common Access Card (CAC) authentication. SIMS Cloud 4.0 requires SAML integration. 

SIMS is compatible with 32-bit and 64-bit editions of Microsoft SQL Server 2012, 2014, 2016, 2017, and 2019, and the free SQL Express edition. All database changes are available in real-time since all SIMS users share a common database, securely located behind your corporate firewall and optionally partitioned by data groups or lines of business.

Different business units can share certain data elements across the entire enterprise (e.g. personnel information) while restricting other data elements to specific business units and users (e.g. documents, safes, containers, etc.). Each SIMS user account can be configured to provide no-access, read-only access or full read-write access by module and data group. This provides strict access control on a record-by-record and user-by-user basis.

SIMS Multi-User is a scalable solution that can grow with your organization. It uses a three-tier architecture: SQL Server, IIS middle-tier and Smart Clients. The SQL Server and IIS middle-tier are typically hosted on a common file server that runs MS SQL Server or MS SQL Server Express. However, the middle tier can be hosted on a separate, or even multiple separate computer platforms. This provides maximum flexibility for your enterprise requirements.

SIMS can integrate with existing systems such as PeopleSoft, SAP or other in-house systems. Share SIMS data via web services, SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) packages or SQL import scripts that process CSV and Excel spreadsheets.

SIMS Software provides SQL scripting development services to migrate data from current systems into SIMS, including data analysis, mapping and verification. SIMS Software’s technical support personnel can support initial data migration and integration at no additional charge. After the migration is complete, we continue to provide additional scripting support as needs arise. In conjunction with the scripting services, HR, Foreign Travel and Visitor Control databases can integrate with and automatically update SIMS.

SIMS Software’s scripting services provide capabilities to compare and analyze data, and to notify required staff through automatic e-mail alerts, workflow actions and scheduled reports. Specific scripting options include PR notifications, foreign travel and contacts notifications, security or insider threat concerns, employee training notifications, annual briefing requirements and much more.