The User Maintenance program is where you set up and maintain users.
To set up and maintain users:
Select Tools-Administration-Security-User Security. The Find User window opens.
To create a new user:
Click on the New button. The User Properties window opens.
In the User Properties window, key in the User ID, User's Name, Password, Default Store, and, if applicable, Security Group for the user in the blank fields.
Note:
The Default Store is the store you want associated by default with the user. For information on how to select parameters in a code-driven field, please click here.
The Security Group is the code-driven group you want this user attached to. For information on Group Security, please click here.
To set specific guidelines for this user's security:
Click on the Permissions toolbar icon at the top of the User Properties window. The User Permissions window opens. The different modules in [i] Merchant will be represented by icons listed at the top of the window. To establish security standards for the user, click on each icon, one by one, and go through the modules as needed. When you click on a module icon at the top of the User Permissions window, a list of programs associated with that module appears in the window. For example, clicking on "Administration" will call up the list of programs that fall under the "Administration" module, and so on.
The list of programs will appear under the "Description" column--these constitute the rows. (At first, they will be grayed out.) To the left of the "Description" column, there is the "Use" column. Check the box under the "Use" column for any of the programs (rows) you wish to define. Checking the box in the "Use" column essentially activates a specific row--it will no longer be grayed out. If you leave the "Use" box unchecked for a given row, that row will remain grayed out and deactivated. To the right of the "Description" column, there are four columns: "Display," "Delete," "New," and "Update." A list of little boxes appears under each column. The boxes correspond to the column and the row--the row being defined by the program name.
The columns are self-explanatory. "Display" refers to accessing the program itself. "Update" refers to altering data within a program. So, for example, a user may be able to open a program but may not be able to change anything within it. Perhaps a user can open the Product Properties program and look at records there but cannot change any information. "New" refers to adding new records. "Delete" refers to deleting records.
How the User Permissions program works depends on how you defined your store's default security model. Essentially, you only need to use the User Permissions program to set up and maintain exceptions to the default. So, for instance, if your default security model is Full Access and you want a specific user to have access to everything, then you would not need to define anything in that user's User Permissions. There would be no exceptions to define.
If, on the other hand, you had set your store's default security model as Restricted Access, then, for this same user, you would need to set up the exceptions in User Permissions. If you want this user to have access to everything, you would need to define that by clicking on every module icon button at the top of the User Permissions window and then activating each program listed underneath each module and manually granting this user access to do anything he wants in all of these programs.
For the sake of clarity, here is a more realistic example:
Let us assume your default security model is Full Access and you want to allow a certain user to do everything except have access to User Permissions and delete records from Product Properties.
In this example, you would do the following:
First, to restrict access to User Permissions, click on the Administration icon at the top of the User Permissions window. The list of programs under the Administration module will display--one of these programs is User Permissions.
In the User Permissions row, check the "Use" box to the left to activate the row. Once activated, check the "Display" box. This will restrict the user from accessing User Permissions. The other three boxes ("Delete," "New," and "Update") don't need to be checked (the user will not be able to access the program, so obviously he won't be able to perform any of these functions), but you can check them if you wish.
Now, for disallowing the user the rights to delete products from Product Properties:
At the top of the User Permissions window, click on the Product toolbar icon. The list of programs under the Product module will display--one of these programs is Product Properties.
In the Product Properties row, check the "Use" box to the left to activate the row. Once activated, check the "Delete" box, but leave the "Display," "New," and "Update" boxes unchecked, as you still want this user to be able to do all of these tasks. At this point, this user can access the Product Properties program, can change information to records in the program, and can add new records to the program. But she cannot delete records from the program.
Important:
There is one selection in User Security that works differently from everything else. This is "Cashier Only", found at the bottom of the programs listed when you click on the POS toolbar icon at the top of the screen. If you check the "Use" box for "Cashier Only", the user in question will only have access to the POS. So, when that user clicks on the [i] Merchant desktop icon, the POS module will fire up automatically. This user will not have access to the main [i] Merchant menus and programs--only POS. Whether your store default is set to Full Access or Restricted Access makes no difference, and the "Delete," "Display," "New," and "Update" boxes do not apply. Simply checking the "Use" box establishes that this user can only access POS.
Important:
There are three other security options that also have a twist to them. They are under the Returns heading, and they are: PO/Invoice Selection Not Required; PO Vendor is Not Required to Match Return Vendor; and Allow Cost and Price Changes.
Once you are through setting User Permissions for a user:
Click on the Save toolbar icon and Close out of the window. You are returned to the User Properties window.
Check to make sure all of the information is correct. Then, Save the information and Close out of the window. You are returned to the Find User screen. The new user has been added to the system. Repeat this process to add as many users to the system as you need.
Note:
To have user security take effect, the user whose security has been changed or added needs to log off of the system and then log back on.
Group Security works the same way as User Security. The only difference is that, in Group Security, you can bundle multiple users together into a group and then set the security for the group as a whole. This is a nice timesaver, if you have multiple users who will have identical security restrictions.
To access the Group Security parameter program:
Select Tools-Administration-Security-Group Security from the [i] Merchant Main Menu. The Find Group Security screen appears.
Create a new group by clicking on the New icon in the toolbar at the top of the screen. The Group Properties window appears. This is where you will enter the Group ID (code) and the Group Name.
After you've done that, click on the Permissions icon. This takes you to the User Permissions window for the group in question. Once here, set the security for the group exactly the way you would for an individual user. The difference here, again, is that you are establishing security standards for an entire group of users.
Important:
If a security setting for an individual user differs from the Group security setting of which that user is a member, the system will refer to the individual's security setting. If a user is a part of a group, you don't need to set up his or her user security as an individual. Simply place the user into a group and establish the security guidelines for the group as a whole.
Once you are through setting User Permissions for a group:
Click on the Save toolbar icon and Close out of the window. You are returned to the Group Properties window. If everything is set, simply close out of this window, too. The group's security has been set. You can create as many groups as you need.
To access an existing Group:
Select Tools-Administration-Security-Group Security from the [i] Merchant Main Menu. The Find Group Security screen appears. Choose the group you want to set security for. Once you have selected the desired group, the Group Properties window appears. You can change the Group ID and/or Group Name if you wish. If you want to check (or alter) the group's User Permissions, click on the Permissions icon. This will take you to the User Permissions screen.
To find existing individual users:
Define your search using the search fields under the Find User By: portion of the Find User screen. An easy way of finding all users in a particular store is defining the search by store number.
After you have defined the search criteria, click on the Find button. All users that match your search criteria display in the grid at the bottom of the screen.
Highlight the user you want.
Double-click on the user or click on the Properties button. The User Properties window opens for the selected user. At this point, if you have security access, you can make changes to the user's information or security, or you can delete the user from the system.
To delete the user:
Select Edit from the menu at the top of the User Properties window. A pulldown submenu appears.
From this submenu, select Delete. Follow the message box prompts to delete the user.
You can transfer one user's property settings, including User Security, to another user with one simple step.
Select the user whose properties you want to replace. At the top of the Properties window, select "Copy Settings." This calls up the "Copy user settings" window.
In this window, in the "Copy Settings from the following user" field, select the user whose properties you want to copy onto the user you have called up here. In the two check-box fields at the bottom of this window, make sure the boxes are checked in order to have the settings carried over from one user to the next. "Copy Sticky Settings" pertains to the user's default store and security group. "Copy Permissions" pertains to the individual user security settings. Check one or both of these fields--depending on which aspects you want to copy from one user to the next.