No Longer Beta: New Version of Canopy Ready For All Users

- The latest version of Canopy includes improved data filtering, arbitrary attributes and enhanced options for customizations that put more power into the hands of users.

What is it?
We’re excited to announce that the redesigned version of Canopy is now out of beta and ready for all users.

If you had been using the old version of Canopy, you will notice that the new version is now the default version. While we’re encouraging all of our users to try the new version, you can still toggle back to the old version if you prefer.

Please note: If your organization uses a white-label version of Canopy, these changes will not affect you. Your Canopy experience will remain unchanged for the time being.

Why is this important?

We released the beta version of this update back in May of last year and we worked hard over the last several months to get everything ready for the general release. We took lots of feedback from lots of users and incorporated it into this latest version, which will be the default version moving forward.

Canopy has always excelled at helping users make sense of data and then act on the insights gleaned from that data. This latest version builds on that foundation. We’ve made it even easier to find the data that really matters by improving the navigation, the filtering and the access to key performance indicators. And, as many of you have already discovered in the beta version, we’ve also made it easier to build automations by redesigning the interface for that module.

What’s new?

We kept all of the functionality of Canopy but, starting with the beta version released last spring, we improved the presentation. Many of the improvements were the result of feedback from users and from industry experts.

During the beta, we built upon that feedback and incorporated more enhancements. Here are some updates that are part of this new general release that were not present in the beta version:

Filter Cards

Lots of our users enjoy digging into the data and looking for insights. You may already be used to using Canopy’s filtering functionality for finding the data that matters to you. Now, we have a new way of filtering data and we call them Filter Cards.

Basically, the Filter Cards allow you to build re-usable filter conditions that can be stored at the individual or the organizational level. And, because they are displayed individually at the top of the user interface, it’s easy to turn them on and off so that you can combine and refine the filtering until you hit upon the best way to display the data you want to see.

Separation of Duties

For organizations in controlled industries, the ability to comply with regulations concerning privacy and confidentiality can be costly and difficult. Canopy provides capabilities for users to overcome those privacy and confidentiality challenges by implementing a feature called ‘separation of duties.’

In short, the ‘separation of duties’ feature allows an administrator to add an organization and associated users to an instance of Canopy but, if the proper settings are in place, prevents that same administrator from viewing any data collected on behalf of that organization.

Let’s imagine a fictional example. Mary is an software administrator working for Banyan Hills Technologies. She is tasked with helping the staff at XYZ hospital get started using Canopy. Hospitals and healthcare are controlled industries with heavy regulations concerning privacy and confidentiality. The hospital staff wants to begin using the software but regulations prevent Mary from viewing any of the data collected by the software on behalf of the hospital.

With ‘separation of duties’ implemented, this is not a problem. Mary can add members of the hospital staff as users of the software but Mary will not be able to see the data associated with the hospital. This is done by implementing a special set of user roles, permissions and responsibilities inside Canopy. Only the hospital staff will be able to view and work with the hospital data.

Look in Canopy’s Settings to find and enable Separation of Duties:

Arbitrary Attributes

We’re making it even easier to customize your version of Canopy by adding a featured called Arbitrary Attributes. With this new feature, Canopy users can set up their own attributes of items inside Canopy.

In essence, Arbitrary Attributes are labels you create to help organize your entities. Entities are top-level ‘things’ that are being tracked in Canopy and typically are the named element in a module, such as Devices, Locations, Customers or Transactions. Arbitrary Attributes are highly-customizable, so you can create and assign them as you see fit.

Look in Canopy’s Settings to find and enable attributes:

Pinned Actions

In Canopy, users can perform tasks such as rebooting a device, scanning a network or installing an application. The actual tasks you can perform will depend upon how your instance of Canopy is configured and what types of devices you have in your network.

We refer to these tasks in Canopy as Actions. Sometimes, it’s not very convenient to have to go into a menu or a dropdown each time you want to perform an Action. It would save you a few steps if the Action could be ‘pinned’ to different parts of Canopy, making it only be a click away. Hence the idea for Pinned Actions.

Anywhere in Canopy where Actions appear, they can be pinned. The Pinned Actions will then display in the Operations table, in the Devices table and on a card on the Device Details page.

Device Action History

Speaking of actions, sometimes it’s helpful to know what actions have been taken. If you need to see a history of actions performed on a device, there’s a place to see that history in Canopy. Look for the ‘Action History’ tab on the Device Details page.

Updates History

For some time now, it’s been possible to push software updates through Canopy to your devices operating out in the field. Now, users can see what updates have been applied to what devices. If updates have been applied to your devices, look for the Software Updates tab on the Device Details page.

Organization Edit Mode

Sometimes, it’s easier and less time-consuming to make a change once and have it cascade throughout your organization rather than make lots of small changes in each part of your organization. This is particularly true if you have a large, hierarchical organization with several sub-organizations reporting up to a parent organization.

Canopy, of course, is very flexible and its user and organization settings can be configured to accommodate these complicated organizational hierarchies. If you want to make changes once and have them affect the entire organization at every level, using Organization Edit Mode will be key.

Luckily, it’s very easy to enter Organization Edit Mode. Please note: only admins with proper permission settings can use Organization Edit Mode. If it’s available, it will appear as a toggle under the gear icon in the upper right corner (see the red box below).

Other Features

While many of our users have already checked out the beta, there are some customers who have not seen the new version of Canopy. For those customers, here are some of the exciting things that were included in the beta that will be part of the general release:

• Main Navigation and Summary KPIs Moved Left: Our new design reduces clutter by moving the main navigation and the Summary KPIs from the top of the page to the left side in collapsible panels that open and close. This new placement allows the user to choose what information is most important to them at any given time. Want to know the summary KPIs? They are there for you ready to be revealed with one click. Want to keep the tables of data as the focus of the page? No problem. You can keep the summary KPIs tucked away until you want to view them.
• New Analytics Module: Our new Analytics Module includes everything you need to easily prepare, analyze and explore complex data coming in from multiple sources (or, devices). Customizable dashboards will display data at a glance in panels, most of which can be clicked on to drill down further into the underlying information. The Analytics reports can display data as bar graphs, charts or pie charts and they can be saved for future use.
• Operations Table Redesign: The operations table still has all the KPIs and data our customers have come to expect. What’s different now is that the tables have been redesigned to make it easier to view alerts and spot potential problems at a glance. Rather than expose the data in a flyout on the right side after clicking on the table, Canopy now displays that same data in a modal that opens in the middle of the page.
• Enhanced Customizations: We’ve gone back through Canopy to look for places where users can customize and enhance their personal experience using the application. To that end, we’ve made it easier to make changes in the settings for branding and we’ve added more ways to save what’s important to you (such as filters and dashboards). We’ve also streamlined the ability to define and manage user roles (more on that below). There will be more and more customization options added to Canopy in future releases because we feel it’s vitally important that users be able to control the overall experience as much as possible.
• IoT Automations: In addition to insights from data, the Internet of Things has an amazing ability to automate tasks when certain conditions are met. To that end, Canopy lets you build automaton into your IoT workflow through drag and drop functionality in our IoT Automations module. The new version of Canopy includes a revamped IoT Automations module that makes it easier to connect different pieces of your automation and see where you are in the process thanks to a floating navigation panel.
• Role Management Updated: Last but certainly not least, we’ve updated the way Roles are created and assigned in Canopy. Instead of having a unique page for role, we’ve put all of the roles on one page where they can be clicked through to display their different authorizations. The new layout makes it easier to quickly scan different roles and compare them to one another with fewer clicks and faster page load times.

Updated URL List

If you previously bookmarked the beta version in your browser, that URL will be redirected. You can update your bookmarks using the following list of updated URLs:

If you need help, please don’t hesitate to reach out through your normal support channel or send us an email at support@banyanhills.com.