Roles & Permissions

Article contents:

• Creating a New Role
• Tree Node Permission Types
• Edit an Existing Role

Within this area of Client Administration, Roles and Permissions are established which are then assigned to users on a project-by-project basis by the Project Administrator(s). Roles define access Permissions (view, add, edit, delete) for every Client, Project, and Building within rAbstract and for various Reports. Users for each Project are then assigned a Role by the Project Administrator(s), thereby inheriting the access Permissions defined for the Roles.

When a new Client is added, the Client is created with a set of system-defined Roles which represent the most common Permissions among rAbstract users. These Roles may be edited and new Roles may be added by a Client Administrator.

System-defined Roles include the following:

• Client Administrator - read/write access to all Client pages plus Reports.
• Project Administrator - read/write access to Project, Building and Lease pages plus Reports.
• Abstractor - read/write access to all Building and Lease pages plus Reports.
• Reviewer - read only access to all Building and Lease pages plus Reports (any user assigned the Roles of Reviewer cannot edit previously entered data).
• Reports Only - access to Reports only (and the ability to view scanned images that have been uploaded into rAbstract).

Creating a New Role

Step 1

Select Roles and Permissions from the Navigation Tree and click “Add” in the Pane 1 Toolbar; a new row will appear in Pane 1.

Step 2

When creating a new Role, the following fields must be completed: 

• Role Name: Enter a brief but descriptive name for the Role being added.
• Role Description: Enter a description of the Role that will assist the Administrator when assigning Roles to users.
• Role Type: From the drop down box, select “Client” or “Project.” Client Roles have Client Administration rights and may only be assigned to users by a pre-existing Client Administrator on the “Client User Security” page. Project Roles have Project Administration rights and may only be assigned to users by Project Administrators with the Project Administration section of rAbstract.
• Role Category: Specifies whether the Roles can be assigned to users with a User Status of “Full Access” or “Reports Only” (see “Adding a New User” within the Organization Administration section for additional details on assigning a User Status).

Step 3

1. Highlight the new Role in Pane 1. Pane 2 displays the access Permissions for the selected Role and is divided into three sub-panes: “Tree Permissions,” “Tree Node Permissions,” and “Tree SubNode Permissions.” These three sub-panes are nested, which means that when “Tree Permissions” are assigned, the “Tree Node Permissions” are activated, and when “Tree Node Permissions” are assigned, the “Tree SubNode Permissions” are activated.
2. In Pane 2, highlight the first “Tree Permission” for which you would like to assign Role rights. Click “Edit” and then check whether the Role will have View, Add, Edit and/or Delete rights for the highlighted Tree Permission. These rights are described in further detail as follows.

Tree Node Permission Types

View Permissions - view items

Add Permissions - add additional items

Edit Permissions - edit any existing items

Delete Permissions - delete any existing items

1. In Pane 2, highlight a “Tree Permission” for which you have assigned rights via step 2 above, and highlight the first “Tree Node Permission” for which you would like to assign rights in the Tree Node Permission sub-pane. Click “Edit” in the Tree Node Permission sub-pane and then check whether the Roles will have View, Add, Edit and/or Delete rights for the highlighted Tree Node Permission. Repeat this procedure for each of the Tree Node Permissions related to the highlighted Tree Permission. Then, highlight any other “Tree Permissions” for which you have assigned rights per step 2 above, and assign rights as applicable for each of the “Tree Node Permissions.”
2. In Pane 2, highlight a “Tree Permission” for which you have assigned rights via step 2 above and a “Tree Node Permission” for which you have assigned rights per step 3 above. If records appear within the “Tree SubNode Permission” sub-pane, assign rights as necessary (Not all Tree Node Permissions will have Tree SubNode Permissions. If this is the case, the words “No records to display” will appear in the Tree SubNode Permission sub-pane.

Example: If “Reports – Administration” is selected in the Tree Permissions section and rights have been granted, and “Building Reports” is selected in the Tree Node Permissions section, the Tree SubNode Permissions sub-pane displays each of the Building Reports available in rAbstract. The Roles can be assigned rights to one, some or all of these reports.

Editing an Existing Role

1. Highlight an existing Role and click “Edit” in the Pane 1 Toolbar, change the data as necessary and click “Save” in the Pane 1 Toolbar.
2. To edit rights for an existing Role, highlight the existing Role record in Pane 1, highlight the applicable Permissions in the sub-panes, click “Edit” in the applicable sub-pane, change the rights as desired and click Save” in the applicable sub-pane.