Profiles

Use profiles, which are sets of user permissions, to determine what users can do in Phocas.

Profiles are preset combinations of user permissions. They allow you to quickly assign multiple permissions to a user at once. You can select from several default shared profiles, create your own (shared) profiles, or create a user-specific profile for an individual user.

Learn about the default profiles

Default profiles are pre-defined system profiles that can be shared across users:

  • Basic: Users can perform most standard queries in Phocas, and save a personal favorite or dashboard.

  • Advanced: Users can perform most queries, except for month-to-date. They have the same saving permissions as the Basic profile, plus permission to share and subscribe to dashboards and favorites, and export via clipboard, which allows copying and pasting from the grid.

  • Administrator: Users have most of the functionality in Phocas.

Information for advanced administrators relating to the default settings for the Administrator profile...
  • New installs: By default, the Administrator profile has all the administration permissions (settings) enabled, except for Audit, Configuration, Environment, Errors, Settings, Staging, Databases: Create Database and Databases: Build Database.

  • Upgrades: By default, the Administrator profile has all the administration permissions (settings) enabled, except for Audit, Environment, Errors, Staging, Databases: Create Database and Databases: Build Database.

  • If any users with the Administration permission have a user-specific profile, all administration profile settings are enabled, except for Audit, Environment, Errors, Staging, Databases: Create Database and Databases: Build Database.

  • Viewer: Users can view favorites and dashboards shared with them and see the homepage, but not open those dashboards or favorites to analyze the data, nor access any databases. Note that this profile has been simplified from earlier versions of Phocas, and some users with this profile will be able to do less in Phocas than they previously could. If you want these users to have extra functionality or access, you can either assign them a different profile or edit their individual permissions.

  • Blank (no profile selected): Users can view and open favorites that have been shared with them, but not access any other functionality.

Manage profiles

You can manage the shared profiles that can be applied to multiple user accounts. For example, you might want to have variations of the Basic or Advanced default profile or create a new profile for a team that has specific permissions.

In the Phocas menu, click Administration > Profiles. The Profiles page lists the default system profiles and any other profiles that you or other administrators in your organization have created.

These profiles are listed in the user maintenance form > Profile tab (image below left), where you can select one to assign the corresponding permissions to the user’s account.

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Add a profile

  1. On the Profiles page, click New.

  2. Enter a name for the new profile.

  3. Select one of these options:

    • Create a profile from an existing user-specific profile: Click Copy From > User in the top right corner, then select the user whose profile you want to copy and click Copy. Update the permissions as required (select or clear the checkboxes).

    • Set up a new profile from scratch: Select the checkboxes of the relevant permissions.

  4. Click Save > Close.

Edit a profile

You can edit the configuration of a profile to meet your organization’s needs in two ways. The second way is handy when you are editing the profile of a single user who has been assigned a shared or default profile and you want to edit the permissions in that profile, without losing your work on the single user’s profile screen.

  • On the Profiles page, click the profile name, then edit its configuration as required (see steps above) and click Save.

  • On an individual user’s user maintenance form, click the Profile tab, select the profile you want to edit, then click the Edit for everyone link. The profile page opens in a new browser tab, where you can proceed to edit its configuration (see steps above). You can return to the other browser tab to continue editing the single user’s profile settings.

Delete a profile

You can permanently a profile if it is no longer required. This action cannot be undone. You can delete multiple folders at the same time (left-click and drag to select the required rows).

On the Profiles page, select the row of the profile, then click Delete > Yes.

Assign profiles to users

While it's easier to assign one of the default profiles to user accounts, if none of them are suitable, you can create your own (shared) profiles that can be applied to multiple users in your organization or create a user-specific profile for an individual user.

Assign a profile, copy a profile, or create a user-specific profile

When you are setting up an individual user account, you have the option to apply a profile or create a user-specific profile. You can also copy the permissions in one user's profile directly into another user's profile, which will save you time when creating new user accounts, as you can copy another user’s profile, then make adjustments to the settings rather than starting from scratch.

  1. Click Administration > Users.

  2. Locate the user and click their name to open the user maintenance form.

  3. Click the Profile tab. If a user has a viewer license, the Profile tab on their user maintenance form is unavailable.

  4. Click the Profile dropdown list, then select the applicable option from the list:

    • Select a default or shared profile.

    • Select the Copy profile from another user option, then select the user whose profile you want to copy and click Copy.

    • Select the User Specific option, then proceed to select the checkboxes of the relevant permissions underneath.

  5. Click Save, then click Close.

Assign a profile to multiple users

You can save time by assigning a profile to multiple users simultaneously using the Bulk Update tool. On the second Bulk Update screen, select the required profile from the Profile dropdown list.

Edit a profile

On a user’s Profile tab, next to the Profile dropdown list, the Edit for everyone link displays. This is a shortcut to edit the configuration of the profile.

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