ISSS Student: User Management – Terra Dotta

Overview

User Management is a centralized interface from which administrators can configure their site's user groups, the members of these groups, and the permissions associated with these groups. Permissions are used within the software to assign and restrict access to specific actions, features, and data.

This article discusses the following topics related to User Management:

Access and Permissions

To access User Management, navigate to Staff > Staff Permissions in the classic administrative menu.

To view the User Management option, the admin must have the following permission:

Staff Permissions (View)

To make changes to existing groups and users, the admin must have the following permission:

Staff Permissions (Edit)

To create new users, the admin must have the following permission:

Staff Permissions (Add)

Restriction & Visibility Options

Important Note: Restriction and Visibility options do not apply to ISSS Student functionality. Restrictions to user data cannot be applied to ISSS administrators from this interface.

Users Overview

The "Users" section of the User Management interface gives admins the ability to create a site user, invite one or more users to a permission group, and manage permissions at the user level.

The "Users" interface is organized as follows:

User Search Tools

Search for Users: Keyword search field.
Filters: Choose to search by username, email, first name, or last name.
Show Staff Members Only Toggle: When enabled, only a list of users who have been assigned at least one permission is displayed. When disabled, all site users are listed. If you search for someone and they do not appear in this listing, then they likely do not yet have a user ID in the site. If a user has been invited and is pending registration, then they will not appear in this listing until after they've completed their registration.
Pagination: Adjust the number of items listed per page.

Columns

Username
First Name
Last Name
Email
Actions: Edit or delete user.

Invite Users

Use this option to add multiple users to one or more groups and notify them of the update. Existing users are notified that they've been added to one or more groups. New site users are prompted to complete their registration and create a password.
See the "Inviting Users" section of this article for full details.

Create Users

Use this option to create and add a single user to one or more groups.

Pending Users

If you've used the "Invite Users" feature to invite users who need to complete their registration, then the "Pending Users" section will allow you to view any pending invitations, their registration link status, and take such actions as resending or deleting invitations as needed.

Editing a User

To modify an existing user, click on the edit pencil for the respective user in the "Actions" column. This action will route you to an edit page with the user's full information:

Edit User

In this section, the information of a user can be modified. After making your changes, click "Save".

Groups

In addition to the options for editing the user's information, a "Groups" section appears from which you can manage the groups to which the user belongs.

To add the user to a group, select the group from the drop-down menu and click on the "+" icon. The group will drop to the table, and the change will be automatically saved.

To remove the user from a group, click on the "Remove Group" icon. This change will be automatically saved.

Show Advanced Settings

To manage individual permissions for the user, click on the "Show Advanced Settings" link. This action will expand an "Access and Permissions" section where permissions, restrictions, and visibility options can be managed on the user level.

Offices are encouraged to manage permissions at the group level.

Important Note: When the user has a restriction assigned at the user level, an alert icon will appear next to the "Show Advanced Settings" link:

Creating a User

To create a user to add to one or more groups, navigate to the "Users" tab and click on the "+" icon.

This action will open a page from which you will be able to populate information about the user, manage the groups to which they belong, and modify any user-level permissions as needed.

Inviting Users

Regardless of whether a user is integrated or not, the Invite Users option allows an admin to generate a list of users to add to one or more groups at once. Invitees are notified, and those users who are not already registered in the system will be invited to complete that process and generate a password.

To get started, navigate to the "Users" tab and click on the "Invite User" button at the bottom of the page.

This action will prompt the Invite Users wizard to open.

Follow these steps:

1. User Group(s)
Select one or more groups to which you will add your users. A minimum of one group must be selected. An ISSS Admin must be added to the Facilitator Group. Department Admins should only be added to their department-named group:

2. Email Addresses

Enter an email address for each user that you wish to invite to the group(s) selected in step one. Each email address must be comma-separated with no spaces between.

After entering all desired email addresses, click "Validate". This action will prompt a table to display with information about each user in columns as follows:

Type: Non-Integrated or Integrated
Email:
Username
First Name
Last Name
Actions: If a user was selected and you no longer want to include them in the invite process, use the delete option to remove them from your invitation.

Non-integrated users are those whose information is not in the SIS/HR file sent from the institution. These users will use an email address for their username and log into the Terra Dotta site with credentials provided to them. For the invite process, an admin would only enter an email address for a non-integrated user. The first and last names will be entered during the registration process by the user directly.

An integrated user has information being sent from the institution's SIS/HR file, and they must authenticate through the institution's Secure Campus Login (SCL). An integrated user will have a UUUID username needed for authentication. Their information will be fully populated in the validation table as follows:

4. Invite Users

When you've confirmed that your desired user group(s) and users have been selected, then you must click on the "Invite Users" button in step four to complete the invitation process.

This action will prompt an automated email to be sent to all invited users, instructing them to access and log in to your site.

Groups Overview

The "Groups" section of the User Management interface gives admins the ability to create a permission group and manage any restrictions to that group along with members of that permission group. Think of each user group as a unique cohort to which a specific set of permissions have been assigned.

The "Groups" interface is organized as follows:

Group Search Tools

Search by Group Name: Keyword search field.
Filters
- System Group
- Custom Group
- Show All
Pagination: Adjust the number of items listed per page.

Columns

Group Name
Actions: Edit and delete

Create Group

Use this option to add a group.

System Groups

System Groups are permissions groups that have been pre-made by the software and carry a label to differentiate them from custom permission groups that an admin might create on their own. System Groups cannot be deleted, nor can their label be modified.

The Facilitators group is the only system group relevant to ISSS Student.

Custom Groups

A custom group is one that an office creates on its own. It does not automatically receive new permissions added to the system. However, you can edit the permissions assigned and even delete the group.

Editing a Group

You can modify a group by clicking on the edit pencil in the "Actions" column for the respective group. This routes you to an interface with four tabs:

Permissions
Users

Important Note: Restrictions and VIsibility functionality do not apply to ISSS Student.

Permissions

Under the Permissions tab, you can view the assigned permissions for a group.

A system group's permissions will display in a list format and cannot be edited.
A custom group's assigned permissions can be modified by adding or removing the desired permissions.

If a site is using multiple products, such as Study Abroad and AlertTraveler, then the option to filter by a specific product line is available.

Restrictions

A restriction is an option that can be assigned to a group as a way to limit which applications the group's users can access. This means that a restriction impacts the applications that a user is able to see. If a program or applicant parameter is assigned as a restriction for a group, then users in that group will only have access to applications for the selected programs and applications where applicants have the selected applicant parameter value.

For full details, see the "Restrictions and Visibility Options" section of this article.

Visibility

Visibility is an option that can be assigned to a group as a way to limit what data a group's users can view within an application. This means that a visibility option functions in the same way as a Data Access Object (DAO) in the classic permissions system as it impacts what a group's users can see in applications.

For full details, see the "Restrictions and Visibility Options" section of this article.

Creating a Group

A new group can be created manually or by copying the permissions and users from an existing group. To get started, click the "+" icon.

This navigates you to a page from which you can get started creating a group with these steps:

1. Enter a name for your user group.

2. Select the option which corresponds with how you wish to set up your new group.

Set Up Manually:Select the specific permissions for your group. Set any desired restrictions and/or visibility options. Add users one by one to the group.
Copy Settings from Another Group:Save time and select a group from which your new group will receive its assigned permissions, restrictions, and visibility options. It is also possible to copy users from an existing group to your new group.

3. Click "Create" when ready to create your group.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Are users always notified when they are added to a group?

No, they are not.

In the following scenarios, existing users are not notified when they are added to a group:

Groups > Edit Group > Users > Add User to Group.
Groups > Create Group > Search for Existing Users.
Users > Edit User > Select Group to Add.

In the following scenarios, users are always notified:

If you use the "Invite User" feature, which adds both existing and new users to a group, then the Invite User email notification will always be sent.
If you use the "Create User" option, then the User Created email notification will always be sent.

3. If a user is a member of multiple groups, one which might have more restrictive permissions than the other group, then how will this be managed in the site?

Everything is additive in User Management. Therefore, it is not possible to restrict a user to a subset of features in one user group and then not honor that restriction elsewhere.

4. Have data access objects (DAOs) been replaced in User Management?

DOAs are historically most important for ISSS Classic clients; DOA functionality does not apply to ISSS Student.

5. Is there a limit to the number of users who can be invited at once using the "Invite User" feature?

The limit is based on the character limit of 500 for the email addresses in step two of the invite process.

6. When users are invited as part of the Invite User process, how long does the password link last before it expires?

The link will expire after 24 hours. An admin can navigate to the "Pending Invitations" section of the "Users" tab and resend an invitation if the link has expired before the user has been able to take action.

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