Brandworkz 8.6.1 is all about integrations and making your Brandworkz system the single source of truth for your brand and content. This release brings new connectors to the system and a new area within Brandworkz to make it easier to manage all of your integrations, and there are related improvements to our API.
We have also made it easier and nicer for admins to manage their Brandworkz system by redesigning the Settings section and adding search functionality to it.
In addition, this release features some improvements to Reports, and introduces our Product Portal where you can view and influence our future releases.
Integrations Area Brandworkz
8.6.1 brings a new sysadmin area for keeping on top of your integrations. More and more of you are integrating Brandworkz with your other platforms such as intranets and public-facing websites, so we have set out to streamline the process of setting up such integrations.
The new settings area allows you to see your active integrations, both custom integrations as well as other available out-the-box connectors such as Word Press and Sitecore.
You can now as a sysadmin create new custom integration credentials yourself – typically in conjunction with the developer at your end who will do the integration.
3rd party Connectors
One of the things you will see in the Integrations Area is the new CI-Hub Connector. The connector allows you to login to Brandworkz directly from Adobe products such as InDesign or Photoshop, browse and search for assets and download them to use in your documents. Other connectors that you might already be using such as Drupal, Sitecore, Templafy and WordPress will also appear here.
If you would like to find out more about any of our out-the-box connectors incl. pricing, please contact Brandworkz Support.
Integrations Login Page
We have added a login form that can be called via an API endpoint so you can use this in your integrations. The login form can be configured on your Brandworkz instance by an admin.
One of the major benefits of this if you already have Single Sign On/SSO to Brandworkz is that both your SSO and non-SSO users can log in via this login page.
API
One of the features added to the API is the ability to request JWT tokens using the Authorization Code Flow type, as some integration types requires this. If this is something your integration needs, you can find out all about it in our updated Authentication section over on https://apidocs.brandworkz.com/#authentication. While we were there, we updated various other endpoints descriptions and examples to help your developers get started:
• More detailed documentation on how to upload files https://apidocs.brandworkz.com/#uploading-files
• More detailed documentation on how construct an asset search/browse UI https://apidocs.brandworkz.com/#search-and-browse
SSO/SAML config improvements
One type of integration which the majority of our customers now have is login/SSO integration via SAML. This can often create significant friction and delays both when initially configuring it or if you as an organisation moves to a new Identity Provider such as Azure AD or Okta. We have in this version streamlined both our SAML config screens and the related documentation and have now opened this area up to you as a sysadmin which you can find in Settings -> Single Sign On. This means that you as the sysadmin can now sit down with your SSO admin colleague or temporarily give them sysadmin access and they can configure the whole thing in typically 15-30 minutes.
Admin area improvements
For the admins, we decided to spruce up the settings area and more importantly added a search bar to both the settings page and the settings menu. So, no more trying to remember where to go to do something, now you can search for it. While we were at it, we updated the bottom admin bar to the same look and feel. We’ve also rolled out a new admin masthead which takes up less space on the page which means less scrolling but still allows for straightforward navigation back to the main site content.
New search bar for Setting page
Redesigned Settings page
Reports
While you might not see much change in Reports, a lot of work has been going on under the hood. We have updated and improved many components of the underlying technology. This work has resulted in several performance, security and cross-browser compatibility improvements.
Product portal
To help the Brandworkz Product Team get valuable feedback from our clients, we have added a link to our new Product Portal from the admin settings area. Here you can leave comments, ideas and suggestions on how to make Brandworkz better. The Portal is a two-way street, as well as leaving comments you’ll be able to learn more about recently released features and gain an insight into the plans for future releases. To get to the Product Portal link go to settings page or search for “Product portal” in the settings search bar. For more information on the Product Portal and what happens when new ideas are submitted, please visit the help section.
Bug Fixes
• Numerous bug fixes
W2P Updates
Please find all the updates in the new W2P Release here
Future releases
As part of our improved prioritisation process, our minor releases (8.x.x) such as this one, will focus on addressing small improvements and ideas with a significant impact to the majority of our clients. These releases will primarily be based on the feedback and insights we receive on the Product Portal. So please do let us know what is important to you via the Portal to ensure we release features of value to you!
Our larger releases (8.x) will continue to focus on larger pieces of functionality and significant improvements to the technology stack. We are also currently working on something very exciting concerning managing your brand elements centrally and ensuring brand consistency in your documents. We will reveal more in the new year.