Users are the people with access to your Phrontex system. 

There are three ways to add users —

  1. One at a time: display the list of users then select New user from the Actions list.
  2. Bulk upload: prepare a CSV (spreadsheet) file with details for all your users. Display the list of users then select Import form the Actions list.
  3. Single sign-on. If you enable single sign-on for your system, then user accounts are created automatically in Phrontex on first access by any user granted Phrontex access in your single sign-on identify provider service.

User properties

General

Title

This is the user’s name as you normally want to see. Usually First Last.

Login

Not case-sensitive

Password

Note that normal users cannot change their password if Strict Single Sign-on is in effect.

List name

This is the user’s name as it should used in lists, when the names should be in alphabetical order. Usually Last, First, but may be something else for non-European names or for names containing more than two words.

Email

The email address will be used to send—

  • Notifications of system events, subject to the Notifications setting below
  • Reset code, if the user selects Reset password on the login page.

Phone number


[Custom properties]

See below

Settings

Menu

Select the menu for the user. Use system default means the menu selected in System settings.

Landing page

Select, or drag-and-drop from the menu, the page to be displayed following login.

Notifications

Select how often notification emails should be sent, if ever. The user can also see their notifications by selecting the option on the user drop-down.

Time zone

Select the time zone for the user, if different from the time zone selected in System settings.

Control

Enabled

If the user is not enabled, they cannot log in to the system. See Disabling and deleting users below.

Authority

Select the authority level for the user —

  • Auditor: may view all approved content
  • Normal user: has permission to view, edit, and approve content as granted through the permissions system
  • System manager: has universal authority to view, edit, and approve content

See Permissions to learn more about authorities and permissions.

Single sign-on ID

If using single sign-on, enter the ID provided for the user by the identity provider service. There is no need to provide this value if the ID is the user’s email address as entered above.

Disabling and deleting users

You have two choices for dealing with users who should no longer have access to your Phrontex system: disable them or delete them completely. If you disable the user account, the user’s name is retained in the system. This might be important if there are records of user actions in Phrontex — such as page approvals — that you need to keep. If you delete the user account completely, there will be no name associated with the page events carried out by the user.

A user whose account has been disabled cannot access your system, even by using single sign-on. By contrast,  if you delete a user account but that user still has Phrontex permission in your single sign-on identity provider, a new Phrontex account will be created for them when next they access Phrontex.

Import and update users

You can import and update users in bulk from CSV file. Use the Export function to see an example of the file format.

There is no harm in re-importing existing users: if nothing has changed in your data, nothing is updated in Phrontex. If your personnel list is changing often and your HR system can produce a file in the appropriate format, the least effort approach is to simply to import your entire personnel list as often as necessary. New users are added, personnel no longer in the list are disabled (if you select that option on the import page), changes are applied, and unchanged records are ignored.

Note that you cannot use the import function to change the login, email, password, role, or status of the system owner account.

Custom properties

You can add additional properties to your user records, such as location, employment status, seniority, etc. These properties can serve two purposes —

  1. You can use these properties when creating user groups for permission or notification purposes. For example, you might have content to be viewed only by ‘Senior managers’ or ‘Head office personnel’; or you might want to send notifications to ‘Branch office managers’ or ‘Contractors’.
  2. If the user list serves as a directory of your organization’s personnel, add whatever properties will be useful.

See Custom properties to learn more.