This week’s blog was prompted by a support call we received. A customer was enquiring what was the best way to ensure they were keeping up with the latest information related to Passwordstate Builds and renewals.
This post references a number of different areas, from the main Click Studios website, to our internal licensing portal as well as our forums and your own Passwordstate instance.
Change Log
On our website, located under the Download menu, you’ll find our Change Logs. We publish 2 Change Logs, one for the current major version, Passwordstate V9, and one for the previous major version. The image below shows the Change Log for V9,
The Change Log details all changes that are included in each build of Passwordstate. This enables customers to review the changes and make informed decisions on associated change, impact and / or risk associated with updating to that build in their organization.
The information provided includes the build number, release date, descriptions of the changes, along with flagging any associated database schema or security updates.
Change Log entries are posted when Click Studios releases each new build and publishes the matching SHA-256 based checksum for the latest download file.
Nominated Contacts
Click Studios has an internal licensing portal that holds the licensing details for each Passwordstate Registration. The customer related details that are stored are the registration name (Customer Name), the Country and Industry sector (used for marketing purposes) and up to four (4) sets of contacts.
These are referred to as Nominated Contacts, and contain a First Name, Surname and business email address. They serve as the primary points of communication, receiving all license keys, critical product updates, and automated renewal notifications. Customers can elect to use a generic email address as one of their four (4) Nominated Contacts if they chose.
Maintaining accurate and up-to-date Nominated Contacts is the responsibility of each customer.
Forums
Our externally hosted Forums site enables customers to assist one another by sharing knowledge and information, submit requests for future functionality, and subscribe to content.
To access the Forums site, select Forums from the Community menu on our website.
Then login, or if you don’t have an account Sign Up for one (it’s free).
You can view each of the Forums including Announcements,
If you have an Account, and are logged in, you can Follow the content. This allows you to set the frequency of emails sent to you advising of the new content. For example, in the image below we’re following the Announcements Forum, and want to receive An email when new content is posted.
In doing this you’ll receive an email every time we release a new build.
RSS Feed
Click Studios provides an RSS feed capability from our website. An RSS feed is a web feed format used to publish frequently updated content like blog posts, or announcements. It allows users to subscribe to a website’s feed and receive updates without constantly visiting the site.
To access the RSS feed, navigate to Advisories at the bottom of the Media menu. At the bottom of the Advisories page, you’ll find the RSS feed URL. This will need to be added to your RSS reader.
As an example, you can use Microsoft Outlook (classic) and right-click the RSS Feeds folder, select Add a New RSS Feed, paste the URL from the website shown above and click Add.
Now, when new announcements are released, you’ll receive an email like below,
New Build Alerts
Lastly, if your Passwordstate instance has access to the Internet, it can be configured to reach out to our website to determine if a newer version of Passwordstate has been released. If a newer build has been released a message will be displayed in the Notifications area, see below,
You can set the frequency of this check to 7, 14 or 30 days, or set Do not check for new builds (this is not recommended). You can also show new build alerts to all users or just your Security Administrators.
In summary, by ensuring your Nominated Contacts are up to date, subscribing to either our Forums and / or RSS feed, and enabling Check for New Builds you should always be notified of the latest information related to Passwordstate Builds and renewals.
Then, it’s simply review the changes as advised in our Change Log and plan the change in accordance with your organizations Change Management policies and procedures.