Custom Data Sets Part I: Custom Data Set Security

Custom Data Sets Part I: Custom Data Set Security

1. Custom data sets are fields that you/your staff create in your CRM system to capture data when there is no other place to put that data. See our Part I and Part II tutorials on creating custom data sets.
2. These custom fields can be grouped together into a "data set." Those groupings may be topical (information about contacts' education, pet ownership, art interests, etc.) or functional (the fields on an intake or survey form or questionnaire, for example).
3. In addition to user created custom data sets, our CRM comes with several out of the box custom data sets. There are no "data within the data set" security settings for these custom data sets. They are treated as UNSECURE datasets and anyone who has permission to view and/or add/edit data to the module to which each of these items is tied will be able to see the data set fields, the data within them, and add data to the fields when viewing/editing a contact record and/or completing a related transaction:
   
   • Program Recipient - tied to the program recipient contact type. This data set is for tracking related to benefits constituents/contacts may receive from your organization or a program within your organization (such as rental assistance, coaching, counseling, food pantry items, scholarship or stipend payments, etc.). Permission to view these fields and add/edit data to them is tied to permission to view and/or add/edit contact records.
   • Client - tied to the client contact type. For organizations using the Meal Delivery Module. Permission to view these fields and add/edit data to them is tied to permission to view and/or add/edit contact records.
   • Mentor and Mentee - tied to the mentor and mentee contact types respectively. For organizations using the Mentor Module. Permission to view these fields and add/edit data to them is tied to permission to view and/or add/edit contact records.
   • Committee Member and Board Member - tied to the committee member and board member contact types respectively. For tracking information related to committee and/or board involvement such as start and end dates and position. Permission to view these fields and add/edit data to them is tied to permission to view and/or add/edit contact records.
   • Gifts Additional Information - tied to the Add/Edit Gift screen. For tracking custom information related to donations. Permission to view these fields and add/edit data to them is tied to permission to view and/or add/edit DONATIONS.
   • Grants Additional Information - tied to the Add/Edit Grant screen. For tracking custom information related to grants. Permission to view these fields and add/edit data to them is tied to permission to view and/or add/edit GRANTS.
   • Membership Additional Information - tied to the Add/Edit Membership screen. For tracking custom information related to membership. Permission to view these fields and add/edit data to them is tied to permission to view and/or add/edit MEMBERSHIPS.
4. Once the user-defined custom data set is created, data is entered into it from the EDIT CONTACT screen. Please Note: you cannot enter data into a custom data set from view contact. Data can only be entered from edit contact.
5. There are two layers/elements to custom data set security:
   • Who has the ability to view, add/edit, delete, and/or manage security of custom data sets themselves (at Main Menu: Custom Data Sets)
   • Who has the ability to view, add/edit, and/or delete data within each custom data set
6. These two layers of security are set and work independently of each other:
   • A user may have no permission to manage custom data sets (view the list of custom data sets in your system, edit or create custom data sets, set permissions to individual data set data, and/or delete custom data sets) and still be able to view those data sets on individual records and/or add data to those data sets via individual contact records.
   • Conversely, a user may have the ability view the list of custom data sets in your system, edit individual custom data sets, delete custom data sets, create new custom data sets, and assign permissions to view, add/edit, and delete data within those custom data sets and not have the ability to add data to those custom data sets.
7. Control over who has the ability to view the list of custom data sets in your system, edit existing custom data sets (change the name, description, add/edit/delete fields, and/or link the data set to contact types) is set from within your system's Application Roles settings.
   • Click on the drop down next to your user name in the upper right corner of our CRM screen (the account/support log in)

     

   • Select Account

     

   • Select Application Roles from the list on the left

     

   • Click on the CRM tab and scroll down to the custom data set section

     

     

   • The permissions here related ONLY to the ability to manage custom data sets. They have NO relevance to each user's ability to see the custom data set fields and any data contained within when viewing and editing contacts. Those permissions are controlled from within the custom data set configurations (see Step # 8).
   • If "View" is set to Deny, the user will not see the Custom Data Sets option on the Main Menu of your CRM and will not be able to access custom data set configurations at all.

     

     

   • Giving the user View permission but not add/edit and/or delete permission means the user can see the list of custom data sets but the Edit and/or Delete options on the drop down to the right will not be present.

     

     

     

   • Giving the user Edit permission means that the user will have the ability to add/create new data sets, edit datasets, and copy datasets. You must also give the user View permission to data sets, however, in order for them to access the Custom Data Sets index screen.

     

     

     

   • Denying the user permission to Manage Security (but giving them the ability to edit the custom data set) means that when the user edits the custom data set, they will not see Tab 1: Security (Tab 1 will be hidden).

     

     

     

   • If the user ONLY has permission to Manage Security for custom data sets (they will also need View permission to access the custom data sets index screen), then only "Manage Security" option will be present to the right of each custom data set and when they Manage Security/"edit" any custom data set, they will only see Tab #1: Security.

     

     

     

   • You can have any combination of the above permissions (someone can manage security but not be able to create or edit custom data sets, someone can have permission to view and edit data sets but not delete them or manage security settings, someone can have access to view, add/edit, delete, and manage security, etc.).
   • For more information on Application Roles and setting User Permissions in general, see this tutorial.
8. Control over who has the ability to view, add/edit, and delete DATA within individual custom data sets when viewing/editing a contact record (or event registration form, membership form, or viewing the event attendee export) are set within each custom data set's configurations at Main Menu: Custom Data Sets.
   • There are two levels of security for data set DATA - non-secure data set data can be seen and data added/edited to the data set by any user with permission to view and/or edit contacts. Secure data set data can only be seen and/or edited and/or deleted ONLY by users with those specific permissions to that custom data set. Users with access to the Custom Data Sets index page can see if any given data set is secure (blue locked icon) or non-secure (red unlocked icon) based on the icon; secure data sets will also list who has permission to the data set's data.

     

     

   • Setting whether or not a custom data set is secure or non-secure is done on Tab #1: Security  of Add/Edit custom data set by toggling the Secure/Non Secure slider at the top of the screen. This setting can be changed at any time. Please Note: permission to access/set Tab #1: Security of add/edit custom data set is grants to users via their application role as described above in Step #7.

     

     

   • For secure custom data sets, to configure the security settings start by adding/editing a custom data set (from Main Menu: Custom Data Sets) and slide the toggle at the top of the screen to Secure.

     

   • Next, set the Applies To slider to "user" if you want to assign an individual user permission to the data in the data set or "role" if you want to assign the permissions to ALL users who are assigned to that user role.

     

     

     

   • Then, from the Select User(s)/Select Role(s) drop down, select which user(s)/role(s) will have the specific permissions you are about to grant. Keep in mind that selecting Add/Edit and/or Delete will automatically auto select View as well (as one cannot add or edit or delete data without the ability to also view it.

     

     

   • Once you select a user/role, the Set Data Permission field will appear to the right of the user/role. From this drop down, select which permission(s) to the DATA in this custom data set you wish to grant to this user/users or role(roles). You can provide any combination of view the data, add/edit the data, and/or delete the data you with.

     

   • Once you select one or more permission type, a blue Add button will appear to the right of the Set Data Permission field. Click this button to add these permissions to the list of permissions granted in the lower half of the screen.

     

     

   • Permissions to that data set can be revoked for any user/role by clicking the Delete button to the right of that user's/role's permissions.

     

   • You can edit/change the permissions granted to any user/role by changing which boxes are checked next to any user/role.

     

   • After making any changes to the custom data set's security, be sure to click the blue Save (or Save & Next) button in the lower right.

     

   • For more information on creating/editing custom data sets, see our Custom Data Sets Part II tutorial.