New: Custom User Profiles in Borealis
Required Profile: Superuser
July 05, 2022
Do you manage user access rights for a large or ever-changing team? Have you found it a challenge to assign all the necessary permissions for the different types of users in Borealis? If so, we think that the new custom user profiles in our latest release will make your day!
What are custom user profiles?
Custom user profiles allow you to define a set of permissions once and then assign those access rights to your users in one step.
Why create custom user profiles?
The most important reason to implement user profiles is that they give you better control over your data – and consequently – the security of your platform.
There are two main problems when it comes to managing user access rights: if people have access to information they shouldn't see, it poses a security risk. On the other hand, when people don't have the necessary access to complete their work it can hinder the whole team's productivity.
Creating custom profiles also allows you to name each role using your organization’s preferred terminology. This eliminates the uncertainty that can arise when choosing a profile from a list of general options. When multiple members of your team manage user access, assigning a pre-defined role ensures that permissions are granted consistently to people in the same position.
And finally, if you manage a lot of users, or if your organization has several different modules activated, these pre-configured profiles can save you a LOT of time!
Getting started with user profiles
Profiles allow you to grant a specific set of permissions to someone based on their role in your organization. You can even specify whether you want to give them full access or read-only rights.
You may find it helpful to create different profiles for each type of user – for example, a land team member and a land team manager have different rights and responsibilities in the system, so you might want to create distinct profiles for each. At the same time, interns may only need the ability to enter data no matter what department they’re in, in which case you could create a single profile to assign to all interns.
Scenario 1: Creating new users
With custom user profiles, you can quickly add new users without creating each individual profile from scratch. Let’s say that every new member on your land team needs permissions to enter data in the Land Management module, read data in the Stakeholder Engagement module, and export lists to Excel. You can create a profile for this role – let’s call it “Land Team member.” Now whenever a new person joins that team, you can simply assign them this profile, and they’re ready to get to work!
Scenario 2: Updating permissions when someone changes roles
Profiles make it much easier to change permissions if a user moves to a different department or receives a promotion. If someone on your land team transfers into public affairs, they’ll probably need very different access rights in the system for the new role. If they are promoted to land team manager, they’ll probably have different responsibilities than a regular member of the land team.
When you define a specific profile for each role in your organization, updating access rights accordingly is simple. If a user accepts a new position, you can simply assign them the appropriate profile for their new role instead of rebuilding their entire profile.
Scenario 3: Expanding access after a probationary period
Or maybe your organization doesn’t grant new employees full access until they’ve completed a 3-month probationary period. You can create a profile for new hires to provide them with a basic set of permissions. You might want to let them enter data and grant “guest access” (aka, read-only rights) to information they need to see without allowing them to make changes. After the training period is over, you can simply switch their profile to give them all the rights of a regular team member.
To learn more about custom user profiles, please consult this article in our Help Center.
Announcements
The legacy interface has been discontinued as of June 30th
If you experience any difficulty with the new interface, please contact us.
Upcoming Webinars
And finally, be sure to check out the list of upcoming webinars in our Help Center. We’ll continue to update the page regularly as new events are planned. (You might want to bookmark that link and check back often to see what we have in the works!)