User licenses, profiles and permissions

Learn about the factors determining what you can do in Phocas.

• If you have a Viewer license, ask your administrator about upgrading to a Full license.

• If have a Full license but think you need more access to the features within Phocas, talk to your administrator about changing your profile or getting additional permissions.

• If you're an administrator, see these pages for related information: Users, User permissions and Profiles.

Your user license and profile work together to determine what UI items you can see in Phocas (such as menus and action buttons) and therefore, what you can do.

Related page: Data access controls what data you can see in Phocas.

License

There are two main types of user licenses, as described in the table below. Separate, add-on licenses are required for the CRM and Rebates modules.

Viewer license	Full license
Designed for users who primarily need to consume data.	The most common type of license; designed to allow users to get the most out of Phocas.
Restrictive, allowing view-only access to shared dashboards and favorites.	Includes all Viewer capabilities plus the ability to perform other actions. Prerequisite for module-specific functionality.
Ideal for users who need insights but don't perform deep data analysis or customization.	Ideal for users who need to slice and dice the data, such as analysts and decision-makers.

Both Viewer and Full license users:

• Need a Phocas user account.

• Need to sign in to Phocas.

• Are subject to database permissions and restrictions, which determines what data they see.

• Can access the Phocas platform, which includes the homepage, navigation menu and user menu.

What Phocas looks like to a Viewer license user

The Viewer user will see the same core Phocas platform as Full license users, but they'll only be able to view dashboards and favorite that have been shared with them.

Homepage

Analytics menu

Dashboards and Favorites menus from a Viewer's perspective

Expand the sections below for a visual comparison of what each user can see and do a dashboard and favorite.

Comparison of dashboard and favorite-related actions available with each license

Note that even with a Full license, your user profile (including permissions) specifically controls what you can do.

Action	Viewer license	Full license
Set a dashboard as your home dashboard	Yes	Yes
Set a favorite as your default view	Yes	Yes
Interact with data on the dashboard (hover and filter)	Yes	Yes
Interact with the favorite (sort, hover, and select cells)	Yes	Yes
View the underlying query details for dashboard widgets and favorites	Yes	Yes
Analyze the dashboard (drill down into underlying data to slice and dice the data)	No	Yes
Customize your view of the data in the favorite (change the properties, stream, measure and so on)	No	Yes
Slice and dice the data in the favorite	No	Yes
View the underlying transactions, provided they are in a Transaction mode favorite	Yes	Yes
Apply a custom date range (period) in a dashboard	Yes	Yes
Apply a custom date range (period) in a favorite	No	Yes
Refresh a dashboard	Yes	Yes
Print a dashboard	Yes	Yes
Print a favorite	No	Yes
Create, edit and clone a dashboard or favorite	No	Yes
Share a dashboard or favorite	No	Yes
Subscribe to a favorite	No	Yes

Visual comparison of what each user can see and do a dashboard

This example supports the table above, showing you the differences in the UI. Note that the Full license user has all the dashboard-related user permissions.

1. Focus, reset and navigation options: Available for both users.

2. Dashboard-related actions: The Viewer has restricted functionality but the Full license user can access all functionality, such as share and clone the dashboard.

3. Widget-related functionality: The Viewer can only view the query details and collapse the widget but the Full license user can access all functionality, such as copy and delete the widget and open the underlying data for analysis.

Visual comparison of what each user can see and do on a favorite

This example supports the table above, showing you the differences in the UI.

• The Full license user can see the menus, toolbars and dimensions, allowing them to customize their view and slice and dice the data.

• The Viewer license user can only see the shared data in its preset format.

User profile and permissions

Profiles are predefined sets of permissions that administrators can assign to user accounts.​

Your user account might have a default system profile (for example, Basic or Advanced) containing a default set of permissions or a user-specific profile with permissions hand-picked for you.

• By default, if you have a Viewer license, you'll get the Viewer profile. This is a system profile with two user permissions that give you read-only access to dashboards and favorites.

• If you have Full license, your assigned system or user-specific profile will contain a set of permissions that determine what you can do in Phocas. For example, you might have permission to analyze a dashboard but not share it. Similarly, you might have permission to view budgets but not create your own.