Authorizing New Users

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When you click the New or Edit button in the Users browser, MainBoss opens a window where you can specify information about users at your organization. This window contains the following:

• Menu bar: The menu bar of this window is an exact duplicate of MainBoss's standard menu bar. When you look at any of the menus, you may see some menu items marked with checkmarks while others are blank. The user specified by "User Name" will be able to use the menu items that are checked, but will not be able to use the items that are blank. To add or remove a checkmark, just click on the menu item; the checkmark should appear or disappear.

  By checkmarking some items but not others, you can control what the user can do with MainBoss. For example, if a particular user is only going to be allowed to create work requests, you could checkmark Requests —> Open Request and leave every other menu item blank. (The easiest way to do this is to click Clear All Access to remove all checkmarks in all menus, then checkmark Requests —> Open Request only.)

  Note that MainBoss menus have been organized to make it possible to restrict access to various functionalities. For example, Requests —> Open Request only lets you create work requests; if someone is allowed to use Requests —> Browse Requests, the user can create new requests, but can also edit and delete existing work requests. By selecting appropriate menu items, you can usually tailor user authorizations to the actual work responsibilities of each user.

• User Name: The name of the user being authorized. The user will have to type this name whenever logging in. (For more information on logging in, see Logging In.)
• Password: A password to be associated with "User Name". This can be any sequence of letters and/or digits. The user will have to enter this password whenever logging in. Note that when you type the password, MainBoss will only display asterisk (*) characters, so that others will not be able to read the password off the screen.
• Confirm Password: Should be exactly identical to "Password" above. MainBoss asks you to type the string a second time in case you made a typing mistake the first time. Your "Password" and "Confirm Password" strings must be identical; if the new passwords are not the same, MainBoss will display an error message when you click Save and ask you to try again.
• Active: If this is selected, the specified user will be able to use any of the menu items checkmarked in the menu bar of this window.
• Disabled: If this is selected, the specified user will not be allowed to log in. This has much the same effect as deleting the person from the list of authorized users; however, it is only temporary, not permanent, since you can always click Active and activate the user once more.

  You might disable a particular user if that person is on an extended leave or on suspension. If that user comes back on active duty, you can just click Active and bring the user back, without having to set up permissions again.

• Select All Access: Checkmarks all items in all menus on this window's menu bar. This is equivalent to giving the user access to all MainBoss features. If you intend to give a user access to most MainBoss features, you could click Select All Access, then go to the menu bar to turn off the features that would be forbidden (for example, all the items on the Administration menu).
• Clear All Access: Clears the checkmarks on all items in all menus on this window's menu bar. This is equivalent to preventing the user from using any MainBoss features. If you intend to give a user access to only a few MainBoss features (for example, the ability to create a work request), you could click Clear All Access, then go to the menu bar to turn on the few features that would be allowed.
• Save & New: Saves the current record and clears fields in the window so you can enter a new record.
• Clone: Creates a new table entry that has the same information as the current entry. The "User Name" field in the new entry is blank, so that you can fill in a new code.
• Delete: Deletes the current entry.
• Save: Saves the current record, but leaves all data as is. You can then continue to edit the same record.
• Cancel: Closes the editor window. MainBoss discards any new information or changes that you haven't explicitly saved with Save.

For more on the User browser, see Browsing Authorized Users.

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