OS EDU - Dear CSM - I need Help With Workgroup Permissions!

Question :

I have a section called Human Resources and we’d like to add a person to be able to edit a portal page under that section. I see there are many check boxes for permissions but I don’t see any that are specific to that page. Is this possible or would that person have to be added to editing the entire section. 

Answer: 

You are correct – there are a LOT of check boxes underneath Manage Permissions for Workgroup Assistant Managers. We can get super-granular in the portal. You didn’t say WHAT island the information is in on the page, so I’ll make assumptions for my Example below.

The Portal is divided into Workgroups.  Most organizations have a Main Workgroup (often called All Staff, or similar) and several departmental or office-based workgroups.

Quick Language Check:

Workgroups are a collection of one or more Pages.

Pages are comprised of one or more content-holders, called Islands.

The Workgroup Manager (or Owner, usually the person who CREATED the Workgroup initially) will automatically have ALL permissions, including the ability to create Assistant Managers and decide what each of them is “allowed” to do via permissions.

I am assuming you are either the Workgroup Manager or a very powerful Assistant Manager for the HR Workgroup.

It also sounds like this Workgroup has more than one page, and if THAT page is like most pages, it has more than one Island on it. (example: Portal Text Editor, Carousel, Image Island, etc)

• Assistant Manager permissions are Workgroup-wide, for all pages in that Workgroup (but ONLY that Workgroup)

So, knowing that… here’s some options…

Does the Island show up elsewhere in the Workgroup? If the staffer is just changing say… the Calendar, and the Calendar only lives on ONE page in the Workgroup, then make sure the staffer only has Calendar permissions set up and you’re good to go. They can’t change Calendars in ANY other Workgroup. Just this one.

Well yeah, we do have a few of this particular Island… Maybe the Island that the Staffer needs to change periodically is an Image Island – and you use quite a few on these pages. Well, yes. If the staff can change ONE Image Island on a page, he/she can change all Image Islands on ANY Page (though ONLY for Pages in THIS Workgroup) so… can you trust the staffer?

But it’s an IMPORTANT Island… Oh. So – it’s like a List Island or a PTE? Well. Okay. Much like above, if the staffer can change one, they can change them all (though only for the pages in this Workgroup)  And depending on that content and the level of trust – you might not want to allow that. I can see that. I get protective of my pages too.

If that’s the case, here are your Options:

Option One – Training and Trust Pretty much what it says on the tin. Explain very clearly to the staffer that he/she is not to do what he/she is not supposed to. Reinforce that the portal tracks all activity. I mean – you’re a Financial Institution! :) People understand clear guidelines.

Option Two – Move the Page to Another Workgroup Set the membership to match the other, set the Managers up the way they need to be. Make the page “Public” if you need to (if you’re not sure what that means or why you might want to , let me know, that’s a different thing) or maybe set it up in the other workgroup as an iView… not sure how that would look, but we can try!

If that’s the only page in that Workgroup, then that’s the only page that can be impacted by that Manager.

Thank you to Dustin at Great River for a GREAT question! -S