Covered in this announcement:
- Rollout of Multi-Factor Authentication and Unique account schema this year
- Audit of Asset QC User Accounts
- Change to True Peak spec validation
- Change to On Time Percentage Metric and Adherence
- (Proposed) Change to Download Fix Check SOW
Recently our Information Security team alerted us to an ongoing issue with facilities utilizing distro lists or email groups encompassing multiple users. This poses a security risk, specifically when it comes to file sharing and downloading, and also presents challenges from a user account tracking and sanitization perspective.
Over the next year, we will be partnering with our Info Sec team to implement multi-factor authentication for all external users interacting with our studio applications, including Backlot, Content Hub, and Asset QC. This will require all users to be onboarded under a unique account tied to a single email address. File sharing and downloads via distro lists or email groups will no longer be supported. We are still in the early discovery phase for this effort and will be weighing the impact and lift required by our partners to support this change. We are exploring multiple approaches to multi-factor authentication, which will NOT necessarily require your operators to have access to personal mobile phones in production areas, as we understand this may pose separate security concerns. This will affect the Asset QC Facility Download Manager role, as most of our partners are utilizing a distro encompassing their entire Data I/O and operations teams. So, we will need to update that role to be user specific with any and all team members providing unique email addresses for each person needing the Download Manager role.
As part of this effort, we are also looking to confirm and clean up ALL user accounts across our Branded Content QC Partners. We will send separate, individual emails to each of you with the current list of users we have onboarded and any associated approved task types for your operators/ verifiers. We will ask that Vendor Managers review and provide any required updates. Once we have confirmed current user accounts, moving forward ALL requests for new user onboarding or changes to user roles should be submitted via this form. We ask that you please also use this form to request account deactivation when you have members of your staff exit your facility or change departments. Ultimately, we need your help in maintaining an up-to-date record of all users associated with your QC operations.
Due to variances across audio meters and algorithm implementation into various auto QC platforms, we will be updating our QC and verification policy around True Peak flagging. Effective immediately, all QC partners should ONLY flag true peak out of spec if it exceeds -1.0 dBFS. This will hopefully provide a buffer for variances in measurements and reduce non-actionable rejections. Loudness spec flagging will remain unchanged with +/-3 LU or LKFS being the standard tolerance allowance for the -27 (dialog gated) or -24 (infinite all) spec. The True Peak update has also been reflected in this article and in the Error Code Glossary.
In addition to this, we will be implementing a change to our On-Time/ Timeliness metric adherence. We have messaged this was pending since last year, so this will hopefully come as no surprise. Starting February 10, 2021, we will be increasing the quarterly on-time percentage threshold to 95%. Full details around this change can be found in this article.
Finally, we will be implementing a change to our scope of work for Download Fix Checks. The full details of what is changing can be found in this article. We understand this may require more time and effort on the part of your operators, so we will look to adjust the rate for Download fix checks accordingly. We kindly ask that you review these changes with your teams and think about a fair quote based on the new SOW outlined. Please reach out to Rob and I with your quotes, which we will use as a baseline to establish a new equitable rate for these fix checks. We would ask that you please provide your quotes to us by February 17, 2021, so we can evaluate and establish a new rate prior to making this change official. To be clear, you are NOT expected to adhere to this new SOW until we have the rate established and communicate this is in effect at a later date.
Again, please don't hesitate to reach out to Rob, myself, and your Asset Management point person with any questions or concerns around either of these updates.