At the Boring Lab, we’re always working on ways to improve your experience using Milestone XProtect.
Our newest release, a browser-based dashboard, is no exception! We’ve had a lot of requests for this from our customers, and we’re excited to share the strategy behind why we built it, what problems it solves, and how our customers helped shape its creation.
Based on what we knew about what our customers needed out of a VMS tool, we started brainstorming moving Boring to a Web application back in 2019. But, we put the idea on the backburner to focus on building features that offered immediate value to our existing customers.
As time went on, the more we learned about our customers’ needs, the more it became clear how valuable data accessibility and shareability were for Milestone users. And so, in 2020, after seeing the excitement from our Boring community for the installable Boring Toolbox client, we revisited the idea of a browser-based dashboard.
We knew a browser-based format would afford us the flexibility, tools, and speed of development, that just isn’t available in a traditional software format. We strongly believe that it gives us the ability to continue improving and innovating The Boring Toolbox to be the best product it can be.
Without the Boring Toolbox, there is currently no easy way to share VMS health information from Milestone.
Sure, Milestone’s System Monitor is viewable in Smart Client, but health data there isn’t shareable in any other way. Teams outside of security would have to have Smart Client installed to be able to view this information.
The traditional Boring Toolbox gives you the ability to generate and schedule system-wide reports to easily share health data with your team. A massive improvement to workflow and accessibility of information, no doubt. But we wanted to take it one step further and provide the information in a more visual manner that could be easily accessed and understood by technical and non-technical users, alike.
Instead of needing a Milestone administrator to schedule or send an excel document with the report data, Boring for Your Browser, allows any authorized user to log in and view the status of their cameras, recording servers, and more. Allowing them to understand if there are any issues that could be putting their video in jeopardy. No software or technical training is needed.
Boring Lab CEO and Co-Founder, Ronen Isaac, said it best:
One thing that makes our products unique is that we actively involve our customers in the development process. We are committed to creating solutions to actual problems that our customers experience and finding new ways to innovate their workflows and lighten their workloads.
Many of the features you will see on the browser-based dashboard were inspired by requests we heard in support tickets, demos, conversations, and more. You asked, and we delivered.
The current layout of the platform was also made possible by customer feedback. We went through multiple iterations of the dashboard interface, interviewing customers along the way to find the most intuitive, easy-to-use design.
Here are just a few of the iterations that we went through to get to the final version of our web dashboard:
We’re dedicated to building the best and most accessible VMS management tool on the market. Thanks to our incredible customers, we’ve been able to make huge strides in making that goal a reality. And it’s a dream that we always hope to be chasing as technology evolves, new challenges arise, and solutions are needed. We believe the best way to set us up for a future of continued innovation is by expanding our browser-based application to be a comprehensive VMS management solution.
While it won’t be immediate, you can look forward to seeing all of the features you know and love within the windows-installable version of The Boring Toolbox (and more!) available on our browser-based application.
Your customer feedback is a guiding force in our product development. We want to hear it all: good, bad, situational, imaginative!
Reach out anytime at boredatwork@theboringlab.com
Here’s what you can look forward to:
Your go-to XProtect eXPerts. We learn the technical stuff that will save you time and make it less boring.
Your go-to XProtect eXPerts. We learn the technical stuff that will save you time and make it less boring.
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Getting Started with The Boring Toolbox #3: Learn about the various health monitoring insights and features you will find on…
Getting Started #2: Learn how to configure your parent and managed sites as well as connect Boring to Milestone XProtect…
Getting Started #1: This tutorial will teach you how to install The Boring Toolbox on your server and client.
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