User maintenance form

You access a user’s account, known as a maintenance form, when you add a user and update a user. The form contains several details fields, permissions and other settings, organized into tabs. Depending on your profile, you might not see all of the tabs.

User tab

The User tab displays when you are adding a new user account (other tabs display afterward) and it is the default tab that displays when you open an existing user account. This tab has the following settings:

• Username (mandatory) - The name the user will use to sign in to Phocas. This usually matches the user's network sign-in name.

• LDAP Authenticated? - Only available on LDAP configured implementations, this setting indicates which authentication method is been used. If the checkbox is selected, the user is authenticated against the LDAP server. If the checkbox is not selected, the user is authenticated against Phocas. If the user is being added from a source other than Active Directory, an additional Password setting is available.

• Windows or SQL user name: Only required for older desktop versions of Phocas.

• Email* - The user's email address. The user needs a valid email address to be able to receive subscriptions. New users on the current version of Phocas will be asked to enter an email address the first time they sign in, unless one has already been entered here.

• Display Name (mandatory)* - The name that displays on the User menu.

• Phone, Cell and Home* - The user’s telephone numbers.

• Language* - The user’s language. Selecting a different language from the list will translate the text when the user next signs in; however, it does not translate the names of measures, properties or dimensions, as these are defined by the data in each database. If this setting is left blank, the default system language will be used.

• Timezone* - The user’s timezone.

• Home: The user’s default homepage. You can either leave this blank to present the user with a homepage listing the databases, dashboards and favorites to which they have access, or select a dashboard (to which they have access) as their default home screen.

• Show splash screen* - Controls whether a splash screen displays when the user signs in.

• Group, Territory and Team - Only available if you have the Administration > Users: All Users permission, these items make bulk updates easier and enable filtering in some areas of Phocas.

• Password - Determines if the user receives sign-in details by email.

  • Auto-generate password: If selected, automatically creates a password that conforms to your site's password policy (as long as your site uses the default Phocas authentication), which is always used in conjunction with the Email details to user setting below. See Manage passwords.

  • Force password change: If selected, when the user first signs in, the system forces them to enter a new password.

  • Email details to user: Only available if the SMTP details are configured and the user has an email address. If selected, sends the URL, username and password to the user in an email.

• License - The user’s Phocas license type (Full or Viewer) and access to the CRM and Rebates modules.

• Permissions - High-level, site-wide settings applicable to the user.

  • General > Account Locked: Controls whether the user’s account is locked.

  • General > Detailed Logs: Controls whether every query by the user is recorded. If selected, every query is recorded, along with the export activity. The logs are viewable in the user account’s Usage tab (see below). Caution should be used when enabling this option, as it can result in large quantities of data being collected, slowing the system down.

  • Folders: The folders that contain favorites and dashboards the user can access. You can manage these folders in the Administration > Folders page.

  • Custom Actions: The actions the user can access from the Analytics grid. 

*Users can change these settings later via their account settings.

Profile tab

The Profile tab contains the user permissions. This is where you control what the user can do in Phocas, from a functionality perspective. 

Profile type

Start by selecting a profile option from the dropdown list:

• One of the pre-defined system profiles: Viewer, Basic, Advanced and Administrator -

  • These are common profiles, sometimes referred to as shared profiles that can be assigned to multiple user accounts. You can customize these profiles to meet your organization’s needs.

  • Each profile has a different combination of user permissions, allowing you to quickly assign multiple permissions to the user at once.

  • If the user has a Viewer license (set on the User tab), the settings on the Profile tab are unavailable.  

• The blank profile - Selecting this option means the user has no functionality in Phocas. They can view favorites that are in the folders listed on the User tab and drill down on the resulting data, but they cannot create new favorites or change modes within the existing ones.

• The User Specific profile - Selecting this option allows you to create a profile specifically tailored for the user, as each of the permissions can be enabled or disabled. 

User permissions

The permissions are organized into the following sections:

• Dashboards - These permissions govern access to the Phocas dashboards and the actions users can take within those dashboards.

• Favorites - These permissions govern access to the Phocas favorites and the actions users can take within those favorites.

• Collaboration - These permissions allow users to share dashboards and favorites 

• Query - These permissions determine what users can do in the Analytics grid, such as perform queries, switch modes, select and set periods, change properties, export data, and so on.

• File Upload - These permissions allow users to upload files.

• Databases - The main Databases permission allows users to view the list of Phocas databases to which they have access, via the Phocas menu and homepage. The Default Period allows users to set the default period for those databases.

• Administration - These settings govern access to the Administration module and the actions users can take there. They are not for regular users, so should be rarely assigned.

• CRM - Dependent on the CRM license, these permissions govern access to the CRM module and the actions users can take there.

• Rebates - Dependent on the Rebates license, these permissions govern access to the Rebates module and the actions users can take there.

• Financial Statements - These settings apply to the Financial Statements module. They allow users to customize financial statements and access restricted account transactions.

• Budgeting & Forecasting - These settings apply to the Budgets and Forecasts module. They allow users to manage budget and forecast workbooks.

Databases tab

The Databases tab displays a list of the Phocas databases. This is where you control the data the user can access in Phocas. Even if a user has permission to do something in Phocas, such as view a favorite or dashboard, if that user does not have access to the underlying data, no data will display. See Manage user database access and restrictions.

Favorites tab

The Favorites tab displays a list of the favorites to which the user has access, which includes any personal favorites created by the user and the favorites shared with them. You can delete any of these favorites. See Manage favorites.

Dashboards tab

The Dashboards tab displays a list of the personal dashboards created by the user, if any. You can delete any of these dashboards. See Manage dashboards.

Usage tab

The Usage tab displays activity information for the user. See Monitor user activity.

Query Log tabs

The Query Logs tab displays details for each query the user makes. See Monitor user activity.

Other (hidden) tabs

The user maintenance form contains some additional tabs not typically available to administrators, which are used by Phocas implementation and support consultants. These include Settings and Audit.