Setting Up Permissions with Admin User Roles

Emtrain allows you to set different permission levels for your Account Admins. This is helpful when you have a variety of Admins who need access to perform specific tasks. Rather than giving all Admins unrestricted access, you can be discerning about how much access you give them.

This article explores admin role access levels, and how to set up and manage them.

About Admin User Roles

When you set up an Admin User Role, you decide on the level of access that role will have. You can do this in two ways:

• Restricting the users that Admins can see and manage
• Restricting the permissions Admins have to access various areas of the app

You can restrict by either one, or both, of these levels, depending upon your account type.

User-Based Restrictions

An Admin User Role with user-based restrictions manages specific user groups rather than all users. These admins only need access to certain users to perform their job functions. Their access is tailored to the particular user group(s) they support. Once a role is restricted by users, permissions options will automatically be reduced to Reports and Users.

This type of admin user role is for Emtrain-hosted accounts only. LMS-connected accounts manage users through their LMS. Learn more about account types.

Use Cases

Consider these typical use cases when setting user-based restrictions for an admin user role:

• If you’re a large enterprise business, you may want the ability for some Account Admins to manage user data and track and report on training for their division, region or team—even if they’re not responsible for setting up training assignments. These managers need to be able to access reports and update user records for the people on their team. For this use case, you’d create an Admin User Role that is restricted by access to specific Groups(s) of users, and leave the role with permission to access Reports and Users.
• If you have an intern on your staff who is responsible for updating user data for a subset of your user roster but not involved in anything related to those users’ training activity, you can give them access to specific Groups(s) of users, and deselect the setting for permission to access Reports, so that this role only has permission to access Users.
• If you have support staff who are responsible for tracking and reporting on training for a subset of your user roster but is not authorized to update user data, you can give them access to specific Groups(s) of users, and deselect the setting for permission to access Users, so that this role only has permission to access Reports.

How to create

To create a new Admin User Role with users-based restrictions: 

1. Navigate to Site Config via the Manage menu.
2. Select Admin User Roles.
3. Select the Add Admin User Role button at the top of the list of existing roles.
4. Enter the Admin User Role Name. The name should describe the purpose of the role, like those in the Use Cases described above (for example, HR Intern).
5. Under Users, select the Group(s) of users that you want the role to be able to see.
6. Once you’ve restricted an Admin User Role by Users, its Permissions are limited to Users and Reports. You can further restrict the role’s access by deselecting one of these options.
7. Select the Save button. 

Permission-Based Restrictions 

An Admin User Role with permission-based restrictions can access specific areas of the app rather than all tools listed on the Manage Menu. These admins only need certain tools to perform their job functions. Their access is tailored to the particular tasks they handle, such as running reports or analyzing analytics.

Use Cases 

Consider these typical use cases when setting permission-based restrictions for an admin user role:

• You may have one or more staff members who need to review and approve training before it is deployed to employees. If these individuals don’t have other responsibilities that require use of the tools in Manage, you can create an Admin User Role that is restricted to Content Library access only.
• If your company is large, you may find it helpful to assign admin privileges to a group of HR specialists and their support staff who share campaign creation and management responsibilities. These Admins would need access to Campaigns, Groups, Content Library and Users.
• You may have an intern who is responsible for configuring training content, such as uploading workplace policies into selected content. In this case, the intern would need access to the Content Library.
• When your Emtrain account is set up, you may need support from your IT staff to test and configure integrations. For these individuals, you can create an admin user role that has access to the Site Config and Users areas only.
• HRIS Specialists
  Someone on your Human Resources who manages your HRIS will need to be able to verify data. In this case, they’ll need access to the Users area.
• Your company executives may benefit from reviewing analytics scores, follow-up recommendations, and industry research about how to improve workplace health. For this use case, they would need access to Intelligence and Resources.

How to create

To create a new Admin User Role with permission-based restrictions:

1. Select the Add Admin User Role button at the top of the list of existing roles.
2. Enter the Admin User Role Name. The name should describe the purpose of the role, like those in the Use Cases described above (for example, HR Intern).
3. Under Permissions, select which of the Manage areas you want Admins with the role to be able to access.
   
4. Select the Save button.

By default, all options selected. To remove permissions from one or more areas, deselect the setting.

Admin User Roles List

To view and manage admin user roles, navigate to Admin User Roles from the Site Config menu, where you’ll find a list of all of the admin user roles that have been configured for your account. For each role, the list shows:

1. Whether the role is limited by User Access
2. The number of users Account Admins with role can view and manage
3. A list of the Account Admins that have this role
4. A list of the Manage areas that Account Admins with this role can access

The first role in the list is the Unrestricted Account Admin role. This is the default role that comes with your Emtrain account. Any roles that have been configured for your account appear below this, in the order that they were created.

Reviewing the list of admin user roles can be a helpful reference when you are deciding what permissions to give a new Admin. For example, if you want to give the new Admin the same permissions as those of an existing Admin, you can use the role that already exists. If you want to give the new Admin permissions that are different from all of your existing Admins, you will need to create a new admin user role.

Assigning Roles to Admins

Once you’ve set up the Admin User Role that you wish to assign, your next step is to assign it to a user.

1. Navigate to Users and find the user in the Users Table.
2. Select the link to view the user's profile.
3. From the user's profile screen, select the Edit User button on the right.
4. With the user’s profile open, scroll down to User Role.
5. Select the Account Admin radio button, which shows the Admin User Role dropdown menu.
6. Select the desired role from the dropdown.
7. Scroll to the bottom of the page to select the Save button.

If you’re concerned about giving too little permission to a new admin, ask the admin to double-check that they can access the necessary areas of the app. If they can’t, you can either edit the Admin User Role to adjust the permissions or assign them a different role.

Editing an Admin User Role

If you want to make changes to Admin User Roles, you can update them at any time. You might want to do this to expand the scope of the role, or reduce it.

You can edit any existing admin user roles, with the exception of Unrestricted Account Admin. If you want to restrict the access of an admin with this role you must select a different admin user role for them.

To edit an admin user role, find the role that you want to update from the list in the Admin User Roles area of Site Config. Use the pencil icon to open editing mode, make your desired changes, then select the Save button.

Edits you make to an Admin User Role impacts all users associated with the role.

Removing an Admin User Role

You may want to remove an Admin User Role from the roles list if you’re no longer assigning that role to users. You won’t be able to remove the role If there are any admins connected to it. You must first assign a different role to those admins.