This article provides an overview of the Aeon Web Client application. The Aeon Web Client supports many of the user management, reading room sign-in, and appointment scheduling features included in the Aeon Desktop Client application, as well as several additional customization options and security features exclusive to the web application. Click on a section below to learn more about the features included in the current version of the Aeon Web Client.
This article reflects the functionality included in the initial release of the Aeon Web Client. Support for the full range of features included in the Aeon Desktop Client application will be added to the web client application in future releases.
Installing and Accessing the Web Client | Multi-Factor Authentication | Navigation and Searching | User Record Management | User Sign-In and Reading Room Management | Appointment Scheduling | Customizing the Web Client | Accessibility Information | Troubleshooting Information
Installing and Accessing the Web Client
The Aeon Web Client is installed and updated via the Aeon Server installation/update process and does not need to be installed or updated separately. After the web client application is installed by the Aeon 6.0 server installation/upgrade, it will be accessible using the following URL: https://servername/aeonstaff/.
Users with Aeon staff accounts configured with Client Access permissions in the Aeon Staff Manager can log into the Aeon Web Client using the username and password associated with their account. By default, multi-factor authentication will also be required for staff logins to the web client. For more information, see the Multi-Factor Authentication section below.
Multi-Factor Authentication
By default, the Aeon Web Client will enforce multi-factor authentication (MFA) for all staff user accounts to provide an extra layer of security for logins to the web client application. Each user will be required to configure MFA for their account using a third-party authentication application such as Microsoft Authenticator on their first login, and then enter a 6-digit one-time password (OTP) generated by the connected authentication application on each subsequent login. Aeon administrators can reset the MFA configuration for a user, if necessary, from the Aeon Web Client Staff Administration page.
Configuring the MFA Requirement on the Aeon Server
Multi-factor authentication provides an important extra layer of security to your Aeon system by requiring all users to log in with two forms of authentication: their username and password credentials and a time-based one-time password (TOTP) code that is generated by an authentication application and is harder for potential attackers to obtain or duplicate. The TOTPs enforced by the MFA requirement are important in that they provide additional protection against potential security breaches to your Aeon system if a staff user’s username and password are compromised. Given these security implications, the configuration options for the MFA requirement on the Aeon Server will vary based on your hosting provider as follows:
- Atlas-hosted Aeon sites: For security purposes, MFA is required for logins to the Aeon Web Client and cannot be disabled on your server. If you have any questions about this policy, please contact support@atlas-sys.com.
- Self-hosted Aeon sites: It is strongly recommended that the MFA requirement is left enabled on the Aeon Server for the extra layer of security it provides to the Aeon Web Client. If necessary, the MFA requirement can be disabled on your server following the instructions in the documentation, however, please note that disabling the MFA requirement will significantly reduce the security of your Aeon system.
Navigation and Searching
The home page of the Aeon Web Client is called the Dashboard. This page contains sections for viewing request information and managing signed-in users and appointments. A navigation menu and toolbar are displayed on each web client page with various options for navigating the web client, performing page-specific actions, viewing system alerts, and changing user settings. The toolbar also contains the search button used to perform searches for user, activity, and request records.
User Record Management
New user records can be created from the Aeon Web Client using the New User option available in the navigation menu on each page. You can modify an existing user's information, change a user's clearance status, and view the full user record including user details, notes, history, appointments, and requests from the User Information page. This page also includes options for emailing the user and logging into the user's account in the Aeon web interface.
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User Sign-In and Reading Room Management
Users can be signed into and out of reading rooms, assigned seating locations, and marked as present or away using the user sign-in options available on the User Information page and Signed In Users section of the Dashboard. The web client will display a warning when an uncleared, blocked, or disavowed user is signed into a reading room, providing an extra layer of security to the user sign-in process.
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Appointment Scheduling
The Aeon Web Client contains a full appointment calendar for each reading room on the Calendar page, which is accessed using the Calendar option in the navigation menu. Appointments can be booked, rescheduled, confirmed, cancelled, and modified directly from this page. As in the desktop client application, the Appointment form is used in the web client to create new appointments, modify the information for existing appointments, cancel or confirm an appointment, view and manage appointment notes, and view appointment history.
In addition to the full appointment calendar on the Calendar page, a mini-calendar agenda tool is also available within the Appointments section of the Dashboard that lists the appointments for each day and contains several user and appointment management options for each appointment. Appointments for an individual user can also be viewed, created, and modified from the Appointments grid on the User Information page.
Customizing the Web Client
Aeon administrators can create and assign customizable profiles to staff accounts via the Staff Administration page of the Aeon Web Client. A user's assigned profile determines:
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The layout that is displayed for the customizable pages and grids within the web client.
Custom fields configured in the CustomFieldDefinitions table of the Aeon Customization Manager can be added to the custom layouts created for the Aeon Web Client. See Unlimited Custom Fields Overview for more information. -
If access to view and modify information in certain fields or database tables in the web client is restricted for that user via any restricted field groups assigned to the profile.
Note: The custom layout templates configured and assigned to staff accounts in the Aeon Staff Manager will only control the layout for the user in the Aeon Desktop Client. Custom layouts for the web client must be configured and assigned separately for each user using the tools on the Staff Administration page as described above.
For multi-site Aeon installations, the Staff Administration page is also used to configure and assign site groups to each staff user that will determine which individual sites that user will be able to see when using the web client. Users assigned to multiple site groups can easily change the active site group view from the web client toolbar.
Each individual staff user can use the customization options available in the User menu on the toolbar to set the display theme for the web client (light or dark), switch between their active site group view (if assigned to multiple site groups), and configure several additional accessibility settings for their account.
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Accessibility Information
The Aeon Web Client adheres to WCAG 2.1 & Section 508 compliance standards. Please see the Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT) for full details and exceptions. The web client application supports standard keyboard controls typically used to navigate web-based applications and also supports a range of additional keyboard controls for various tools, menus, and fields. Individual users can also change several accessibility settings for their account from the Accessibility Settings option in the User dropdown menu on the toolbar.
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Troubleshooting Information
The Aeon Web Client logs troubleshooting information to the Aeon API log file, located by default at C:\Program Files (x86)\Aeon\Logs\ on your Aeon Server. To assist with troubleshooting, the amount of data collected in the log can be adjusted to include more detailed information.
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