3.15. Multi-user considerations

 

New IRM is a true multi-user system that allows live real-time collaboration among IRM users.  A Site can be considered to be a single on-line “document” (somewhat like a Google spreadsheet, just much larger) that can be simultaneously viewed and modified by several users from any suitable device that runs a web browser. 

 

 For example, one IRM user might be a manager that mostly views dashboard (summary) data on a desktop workstation.  Another IRM user might be a server sysadmin who works primarily off a laptop in the server room.  Still another IRM user might be a cabling technician who uses IRM on a full-size tablet to perform structured wiring within the building or on the outside plant.  All of these users can see the same Site data and same Areas, including real-time updates of changes made by other IRM users.

 

IRM provides features that make it easy for IRM users to change large amounts of data with little effort, such as Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE), import of new IRM Library release from Planet Associates,  import of large floorplans and siteplans from CAD systems, compound data operations like breaking all of the cable/port connections made to all equipment in a rack, etc. 

 

While IRM is designed for high performance and its server components can be run on high-end cloud servers, this is offset to some extent by the fact that IRM must handle large amounts of complex data (with a very large number of cross-references), which puts it in a very different category from simple transaction processing systems.  Therefore, some care should be taken before conducting operations that change large amounts of data and it is recommended best practice to only update the IRM Library during off-peak hours.