4.2.1.2. Permissions - Concepts & Terminology

 
By Default when a user is granted Read Only when they or any assigned Team has no Policy or Grouping assigned.
 
A Grouping is a named list of Managed Objects in a Site which allow objects to be included in the following ways:
  • objects can be explicitly listed
  • objects can be added in bulk from an Area
  • objects can be added in bulk from another Grouping
  • objects can be added in bulk by using a Filter
 
By using the bulk addition mechanisms, very large numbers of objects can be added to a Grouping, conveniently. 
 
When building Groupings, the following rules should be observed to maximize performance:
 
  • A small number of objects (up to a few hundred) is best added using the explicit list, especially if the alternative is a complex filter.
     
  • Larger numbers of objects are best added either:
  •  by Area (best choice),
  • by another Grouping (next best choice),
  • by a simple Filter (with a small number of conditions) or
  • by a complex Filter (which is computationally the most expensive).
     
  • From a performance standpoint, the best option of all is to use Shortcut Permissions (see below) rather than Groupings.
 
Note: Grouping is a general-purpose mechanism that has uses outside the realm of Permissions.  In other words, IRM allows the same Groupings to be used for multiple purposes. While this adds some additional considerations for the Permissions system, it has powerful benefits for the IRM customer. 
 
For Example:
The customer can define a unit of administration, such as a company division or department once as a Grouping and then use that Grouping both to control permissions and for all IRM operations.
 
So, if  a customer has a Manufacturing Department and all equipment in that department is placed into a Grouping provides the following capabilities:
  •  IRM Users can be granted permission to make changes only objects contained in the Grouping.
  • The Grouping can be used to filter objects in the Object Grid.
  • The Grouping can be used to filter objects in the Design World.
  • The Grouping can be used to Filter results sent to the Report Interface.
 
A Site Grouping is an object that is used only as part of the Permissions system (do not confuse it with the more general Grouping object described above). A Site Grouping describes a set of Permissions for a single Site, using an underlying Grouping and/or a set of Shortcut Permissions.
 
Shortcut Permissions are flags in the Site Grouping that give permissions to broad areas of IRM, such as:
  • All Areas
  • All Equipment
  • All Cables
  • All Deployed Assets
  • All Spares 
 
A Policy is simply a collection of Site Groupings, which can be assigned to Users or User Teams.
 
See Permissions Model and Permissions Management for more information about the IRM permissions model.