BusinessObjects Board

Trouble with user access levels to folders

security CMC
#1

I have created a new user, which by default had no rights to access any folders of the system. I added him as principal to a folder, say, Financial Reports, with View access level. This folder, however, was not displayed on the user’s InfoView workspace, presumably because he was not allowed access to the Public Folders, which is the root to all the folders in the system. However, giving him access to the Public Folders also means giving him access to all every folder of the system, and therefore, in order to restrict his access to the folder Financial Reports only, I have to revoke of him access to all the other folders in the system, one by one, which is such a daunting task. What is the best way to give him access to only the folder he is permitted to, without much ado?

MingHiew (BOB member since 2013-06-27)

#2

You do not say what version you are using, but for your problem I would suggest searching the forum using “closed system”.

I would also read the documentation to understand the software limitations and read the forums to get some idea of best practices.

Such as:

  1. Do not associate users directly with files.
  2. Do not associate users directly with folders/objects (i.e. use groups to do this).
  3. Do not associate groups directly with files (i.e. use the parent folders to do this).
  4. Use Custom Access Levels for assigning permissions.
  5. Establish a naming convention for groups.

Darth Services :uk: (BOB member since 2007-11-20)

#3

Good tips to follow Darth.

MingHiew,

I believe your answer lies in Darth’s 4th point. I have created a Custom Access Level that I call “Pass Through”. This grants “View” but on the far right, I select “This Object Only” checkbox and uncheck the sub-objects box. This can be applied to the Everyone group at the Top-Level of the Public folders. That gets the users through the door but then they’ll only see Folders they have been explicitly granted rights to. If your folder is buried multiple levels down, you’ll have to continue this process through the whole path.

As Darth alludes to, there’s a lot to learn about security. It can be as complex or as easy as you need it to be. Browsing the forum might help bring you up to speed. Can’t remember exactly what information it contains, but I do recall a post called “Security for mere mortals”. Maybe that’s a starting point?

ChrisW1204 :us: (BOB member since 2011-04-21)

#4

Here’s the link that Chris was referring to:

jwaterbury :us: (BOB member since 2007-09-21)