Managing Staff Permissions

Important Note: This article covers classic functionality related to accessing staff permissions prior to the Terra Dotta Study Abroad 22.3 Release of User Management in October 2022. For information on available functionality after this date, refer to the User Management article. 

 

The Staff Permissions feature allows an admin to assign access permissions to features and functionality and manage user groups in Terra Dotta.

 

This article covers the following topics related to Staff Permissions:

• Navigating Staff Permissions
• Managing User Groups
• Managing Users in a Group
• Performing a User/Permission Search

For details on generating a report to audit users and assigned permissions on your site, refer to the Stock Report: Permissions Knowledgebase (KB) article. 

Navigating Staff Permissions

 

Staff Permissions can be accessed by navigating to Staff > Staff Permissions. From this page, a user groups table organizes information into two columns of "Group Name" and "Actions".

 

A listing of existing user groups appear in the "Group Name" column. Think of user groups as a unique cohort to which a specific set of permissions have been assigned. By default, the groups listed will appear as:

• Facilitators
• Maintenance
• Recommenders
• Reviewers
• Course Approval Administrators
• Departmental Management Administrators

Let's look at these user groups in more detail:

Facilitators

This user group typically consists of general site admins who work in the software regularly and should be included on the Staff Listing page on the public part of the site. Permissions granted to a Facilitator will vary depending on what permissions are granted to the group as a whole versus those that might be granted/restricted on an individual level.

An admin must be a member of the Facilitators group in order to have the following administrative functionality available to them:

• Public staff page
• Appointment scheduling
• Assignment of title/department

Maintenance

Members of this user group have the highest level of permissions and access within the software. For more details, refer to the Maintenance Permissions Knowledgebase (KB) article. 

Recommenders

Members of this user group have limited access to the site and only interact with the site upon request by an applicant. It is possible to grant a recommender additional permissions if needed.

Reviewers 

Important Note: This feature relates to reviewers functionality prior to the Terra Dotta Study Abroad 20.2 release of Reviewers Management. For information on available functionality after this date, refer to the Reviewers Management KB article. 

Members of this permission group might consist of faculty and other staff to whom the office wants to grant program-specific access for a specific reason. Reviewers log in to review applications before leaving feedback that assists an office with making final decisions as to who will participate in a program. 

Course Approval Administrators

Members of this user group have the ability to view and manage course approval and study plan requests.

Departmental Management Administrators

Members of this group can view and access the "Department Management" section of the main "Staff" menu.

From the "Actions column", an admin can click on a series of icons to:

• View Group Permissions ("eye" icon): A full display of all permissions that have been assigned to a specific user group.
• Edit Users in the Group ("group" icon): A list of all users currently assigned to a user group along with the ability to view the permissions assigned to each respective user as well as the ability to edit and delete those permissions.
• Edit the User Group ("pencil" icon): A full display of all possible permissions from which you can add and remove the overall permissions assigned to a user group.
• Delete the User Group ("X" icon): The ability to remove the user group from your site. All users in the group will lose their assigned permissions associated with this group.

Important Note: It is not possible to delete the default user groups of Facilitators, Maintenance, Recommenders, and Reviewers. 

Above the main "Manage User Groups" table, two buttons appear:

• Add Group: Used to create a new user group.
• User/Permission Search: Used to view a user's specific permissions or the users to whom specific permissions have been assigned.

Managing User Groups

User groups, as mentioned above, contain a unique set of permissions that grant and restrict access to features and functionality within Terra Dotta. Default user groups can be edited, but new user groups can also be added when the need arises for a unique set of permissions to fulfill a need.

Let's look at a few actions specific to managing user groups.

Adding a User Group

1) Navigate to Staff > Staff Permissions. Click on the "Add Group" button at the top of the page.

2) From the "Add Custom User Group" page, type in the name of your new user group in the "Group Name" text box and click "Add".

 

3) You will be directed to the "Permissions: Edit User Group" page where a full listing of permissions appear. Use the check box to the left of each permission to assign permissions. 

 

Permissions are grouped together based on the type of actions to which that set of permissions relate. For example, the "Applicant Admin" group of permissions contains permissions related to viewing applicant and application information. It is possible to assign a group of permissions at once by simply checking the box next to each permission group. This action will grant the user group access to all permissions that exist within this group.

 

To assign permissions on a more granular level, click on the "+" icon next to each permission group. This action will expand your view of all permissions that exist within this group from which you can review row by row those you wish to assign. 

 

Important Note: A checked box means the permission is assigned. An unchecked box means the permission has not been assigned. 

 

At the bottom of the "Permissions: Edit User Group" page, you can also set data access objects (DAOs) to assign to the new user group. These DAOs, when assigned, limit access to specific information related to programs and applications, profiles and applicants, questionnaires, and applicant parameters. If no selections are made, then users will have access to all program and objects in accordance with all other permissions that have been granted to them.

 

Data access objects can be assigned by:

1) Clicking the "+" icon to view the list of information available to restrict.

2) Selecting objects as applicable. 

3) Clicking "Update" at the bottom of the page to apply and save your changes. 

 

For more detailed information, refer to the Data Access Objects KB article.

 

Editing Permissions Assigned to a User Group

 

To make changes to the permissions assigned to a user group:

 

1) Click the edit pencil located to the right of the user group name that you want to edit.

2) From the "Edit User Group" page, make your desired changes by assigning or removing permissions.

3) Click "Update" to preserve your changes.

 

Deleting a User Group

To delete a user group, perform the following steps:

1) Click the "X" located to the right of the user group name that you want to remove. A dialog box appears asking you to confirm the action.

2) Click "OK".  All users in the group will lose the permissions associated with the group.

Managing Users in a Group

 

Add User to Group

 

Staff can be added to a user group with these steps:

 

1) Click the edit pencil next to the user group to which you'd like to add users. This will direct you to the "Edit User Group" page.

 

2) Click on the "Manage User Group" button at the top of the page. This will direct you to the "Edit Group Users" page.

 

3) Click on the "Add User to Group" button. You''' be directed to the "User Search" page from which you can locate and add your desired user. 

Important Note: Staff added to a user group will inherit the default group level permissions. These permissions can then be adjusted as needed on an individual level.

Remove User from Group

To remove an existing user from a user group and remove the permissions associated with the user group, follow these steps:

1) Click the edit pencil next to the user group for which you'd like to remove a user. 

2) Click on the "Manage User Group" button.

3) From the "Edit Group Users" page, click the "X" icon next to the user that you'd like to remove from the group. A dialogue box will appear asking you to confirm the action before proceeding.

Important Note: It is not possible to completely delete a user record. If the user does not belong to any group, they will appear on the Staff Permissions page in the section for '"Permission Users (no group)". You may wish to create a group with no associated permissions for admin who no longer work at the institution.

Editing Permissions for Individual Users in a Group

To edit permissions for individual users in a group, follow these steps:

1) Click "Edit Users in the Group" icon (which resembles a group of people) located to the right of the group name that contains the user you want to edit. The "Edit Group Users" page opens with a list of current users in the group.

2) Click the edit pencil to the right of the user name and select the appropriate boxes to assign or remove the desired permissions for the user. 

Important Note: A user cannot edit their own permission set. If you need to edit your own individual permissions, another administrator will need to do so.

Performing a User/Permission Search

To search for a user in order to view or edit their permissions, follow these steps:

1) Navigate to Staff > Staff Permissions and click on the "User/Permission Search" button. 

2) Enter a name or email address into the text field in the "User Keyword Search" section to search for a specific user and view their current site permissions. Click "Search" to proceed.

3) From the next display, you will be able to view the results of your search. Locate your desired user. From the "Actions" column, you have two options:

• Use the "View Users Permissions" icon to see a list of assigned permissions for this user.
• Use the edit pencil to make changes to the user's permissions.

To search for users who are currently assigned specific permissions, follow these steps:

1) Navigate to Staff > Staff Permissions and click on the "User/Permission Search" button. 

2) A list of site permissions will appear, organized by the permission group name, such as Applicant Admin, follow by a listing of all permissions associated with that group. From here, select all of the desired permissions. You can select more than one by holding down the "CTRL" key. Further down the page, the option is also available to search by any assigned Data Access Objects.

Click "Search" when ready to proceed.

3) A list of all users currently assigned the selected permissions will appear. From the "Actions" column, you have the option to view a user's permissions or edit them. 

How Group and Individual Assigned and Restricted Permissions Are Enforced

When an administrative user has permissions assigned and/or restricted both by a group (or groups) as well as at the individual level, it is always the assignment at the individual level that is the determining factor as to whether or not the user is able to access that functionality.

 

Examples:

• A new staff member is added to the Facilitators group. This group does not have access to Website Admin tools. After being added to the group, this new staff member's individual user permissions are edited and the Website Admin tools are checked off and updated. That user will be permitted access to the Website Admin tools based on the user-level assignment.
• A new staff member is added to the Facilitators group. This group has access to all Application Admin tools. After being added to the group, this new staff member's individual user permissions are edited and the "Stock Reports" function is un-checked and updated. That user will not be permitted access to the Stock Reports functionality based on the user-level restriction.

When managing permissions, it may be desired to transfer permissions that have been assigned at the user-level to a new methodology in which they are assigned at the group level. When this is done, the proper steps for doing this are the following:

1) Remove the users from all permissions groups. If they still have user-level permissions or overrides, they will appear on the Staff > Staff Permissions page under the "Permission Users (no group)" listing. Delete the user from this listing to completely erase all permissions and overrides.

2) Assign the permissions to the permission groups.

3) Re-assign the users to the permission groups.

4) Adjust the individual user-level permissions as necessary.

Important Note: When removing permissions from a user that are currently assigned to that user at the group level, a user level restriction on the permission is stored on that user's permission profile.

 

A user's overrides can be seen when viewing their permission profile. The permissions with "Disabled" in the "By user" column are the permissions for which they have a user-level override and will not be available when assigning them to a permission group with those permissions.