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