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Manage a user's database access and restrictions

Owned by Former user (Deleted)
Last updated: Apr 24, 2024 by Denise McGettigan
4 min read

This page outlines how to manage user access and restrictions, for one or more databases, via both the user maintenance form and the Database view of the Users page. For other methods and more information, see the Overview of access to data page.

This action overrides any default database restrictions that might have been applied to the database.

Updating database restrictions for individual or multiple users might remove some external links to dashboards or favorites. You will see a warning about this before you confirm the change. The warning is not related to a specific link but is more of a generic warning to allow you to check whether there are any external links that might be affected before you confirm.

You can determine a user’s database access when you initially add the user, via the Databases tab on the user maintenance form. Alternatively, you can do it later, again via the user maintenance form (update the user) or the Database view of the Users screen.

From either location:

  1. Review the current access and restrictions:

    • If a period is selected for a database, it means the user has access to the database. If no period displays (a red outline displays on the period box), it means the user does not have access to that database.

    • If the lock icon (Restrictions button) next to the period is grey, it means no restrictions have been applied to the database. If a black button displays, it means one or more restrictions have been applied.

  2. Manage the access and restrictions as required:

    • Give access to the database: Select a period from the list of defined periods that have been set up for the database. This action grants the user access to the database and the period you select becomes the default period that is applied when the user opens the database. Learn more about periods, a core concept in Phocas.

    • Remove access to the database: Select the blank option from the dropdown list.

    • Add or update restrictions:

      • Click the Restrictions button (lock icon) next to the period dropdown list.

      • On the restrictions form, click the Dimensions, Streams or Measures buttons to view a list of their respective data items (entities).

      • Set the access as required: Clear (deselect) the checkbox to restrict access to the item (remove it from the user's view) or select the checkbox to enable access to the item (the user can view it). Expand the sections below for more information and examples.

      • Click Save to close the restrictions form.

    • Change the order in which the databases display for the user: This action can only be done on the user maintenance form. Select the database row, then use the Up (promote) and Down (demote) buttons on the top left of the grid to move the database to the required position.  

  3. If on the user maintenance form, click Save, then click Close. Any changes you make on the Database view of the Users page are automatically saved. The next query the user performs on that database will exclude/include the items as applicable.

At least one stream must remain available to the user. Below, access to Budgets has been removed, while Sales remains. 

Note that if the number of streams is reduced to one, Stream mode will not be available. 

It is common for administrators to want to prevent users from seeing information relating to profit. In the example below,  Cost, Profit and Margin measures have been deselected in the restrictions form. 

When removing access to dimensions, at least one dimension must remain available to the user. Rather than removing access to an entire dimension, it is more common to restrict access to a subset of data within a dimension (see next section below).

You can apply a filter, or multiple filters, to control access to properties and values within a dimension.

In the image below, the Sales Rep dimension has been selected. You click the green plus button to add a filter, then configure the filter as follows:

  • Use Code to select properties to which you will apply the filter.

  • Use Equal To to select any values included in the filter.

  • Any value can be manually entered in the filter entry field. Selecting 'more'  displays a list of values. Multiple values can be entered, separated by semi-colons (for example, 'AG;GH;KJ' would include the three values AG, GH and KJ).

Multiple filters can be created using a combination of the And/Or button, so you could create a filter that says 'Rep Code equals 001 or Rep Name equals FRED'. However, you can only specify filters against a single dimension (you cannot, for example, say 'Rep equals 001 OR Depot equals SE').  

If your applied restrictions don’t look or behave as expected, please contact our Support Team. We are aware that the application of restrictions differs slightly depending on where or how you apply them. We are working on making this more intuitive and consistent.