Testing Security Roles

This help file applies to an out-of-date version of MainBoss.
The most recent version of MainBoss is MainBoss 4.2.4.
For the latest version of this help file can be found here.

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It can be difficult to figure out the effects of various security roles, especially when a user has several different roles combined. To test what a particular user can and can't do, you can use the Evaluate Security As button in Administration | MainBoss Users. (You must have the Administration security role to use Evaluate Security As.)

If you select a user in the Users table, then click Evaluate Security As, your MainBoss session changes to have the same security roles as the selected user. If certain types of data are invisible to that user, they'll become invisible to you too; if certain buttons are disabled, they'll be disabled for you too.

In this way, Evaluate Security As lets you see all the consequences of a user's security roles. Once you've examined what the user can and can't do, you can return to your own security roles by going to the Session menu and clicking Reset to user YOURNAME security.

Note: If you use Evaluate Security As to evaluate the security roles of someone who doesn't have Administration or AdministrationView, the first thing that will happen is that you lose permission to see Administration | MainBoss Users and you may receive an error message. This may look as if you're being told that you don't have permission to use Evaluate Security As; however, it really means that the person you're evaluating doesn't have that permission.

Evaluate Security As gives you the same security roles as the selected user, but it does not change who you are. In particular, you keep your own set of assigned requests, work orders and purchase orders. It also doesn't give you SQL Server permissions if you don't already have them. This can lead to unusual error messages if you try to do certain operations. Since you're partly one user and partly another, we recommend that you avoid doing significant work while using Evaluate Security As; it can lead to confusion.

If you use Evaluate Security As to "become" another user, unusual results may occur if you already have other MainBoss windows open. For example, suppose you have a window open for editing work orders and then you use Evaluate Security As to become a user who has no access to work orders. If you try to use the other window to edit the work order, you may receive odd error messages—you are currently supposed to be a user with no access to work orders, so MainBoss is confused about how you can have a work order window open. While this probably won't cause any lasting difficulties, we recommend that you close all other windows before you start using Evaluate Security As.

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