Object Properties in SAS Law Enforcement Intelligence
Have you ever heard the story attributing Einstein to saying he didn’t think things like the numerical value of the speed of sound was worth memorizing when it could simply be looked up in a reference book? I don’t know if that is a true quote or if it was made up about him along the way, but either way I sure do resonate with the sentiment! My husband often tells me I single-handedly keep Post-it in business. I write something down for a later reference and then move on to the next thing. In this post, we’ll look at SAS’ Law Enforcement Intelligence Object Properties control where an administrator can configure the control to any object where the intent is to system generate details about the object like who created it, when it was created, who was the last user to update the object, and when it was updated.
In law enforcement, at times this data may be critical to unlocking information that can be used to show the history of that object. Let’s say the object is a missing person named Mark Green that disappeared from his family vanishing without a trace. A few years later, a John Doe appears at a hospital with no ID but matches the description of Mark Green, the missing person. When the search in the system pulls up the matching object, the properties show exactly who entered the initial report, when it was created, and who last updated it. That clear record along with object details makes understanding the history and who to collaborate with more reliable. Not only was that initial entry captured in a fast and efficient way, guaranteeing the accuracy of the information, it also ensured the information left a footprint in the system that no one can alter or delete without leaving a digital footprint.
As the administrator, let’s look at the Object Properties control. In the Manage Investigate and Search interface, I clicked on Pages to open the Page Builder.
Select any image to see a larger version.
Mobile users: To view the images, select the "Full" version at the bottom of the page.
Then I opened a page, and in the Controls list, I selected the Object Properties control and dragged it onto the page canvas. With the Object Properties control selected, in the properties panel, you can see that I specified the fields I want to use to populate each object property. I also had an option to hide the control, if preferred. The information would still be in the system but wouldn’t show on my screen. But for Person objects, I want the properties to show on the screen for reference, so I left the Hidden box unchecked.
Here’s the User’s view of the Object Properties for the Person object Mark Green. Notice that the object MUST be saved for the first time for the object’s properties to be available.
Not only can the Object Properties control be Hidden, but the administrator can choose which objects to add the control to and who can see the properties. Object properties support shared intelligence which is crucial to law enforcement in knowing and being able to analyze how relevant the objects’ information is. Knowing the history of who, what, and when isn’t just helpful, it’s essential.
Find more articles from SAS Global Enablement and Learning here.
