Use Board Permissions to Grant Board Access

Board permissions control a Member's access to Boards. This article explains these permissions and guides you on how to assign these permissions to Members at both Application and Board levels. 

Table of Contents 

What are the different Board permissions?

There are three different Board permissions. In increasing levels of allowable actions, these are:

• Can open. Allows a Member to open a Board.
• Can comment. Allows a Member to open the Board, and to participate in conversations using the comment functionality.
  For more information, see Add Comments on a Board. 
• Can configure. Allows Members to open Boards, leave comments, and to access the Edit Board button, for example to add widgets. This permission allows Members to apply the Additional Options settings to limit certain functionalities.
  For more information, see Additional Options.

There is also: None. This is where Members have no permissions on the Board. However, if another permission Metric exists that grants access to the Board—such as the default permissions in the User Role Metric or another Board permission—the Member will be granted access. 

Additional Options

Members with the Can configure permission can restrict certain Board functionalities for Members with the Can comment and Can open permissions. This is done through the Additional Options settings. 

These restrictions apply specifically to: 

• Block Exploration. This allows Members to dive into the details of calculations, including Drill down functionalities and Block details and settings.
  For more information, see Block Exploration Options. 
   
• View Customization. This allows Members to customize their Views while in an active session. The changes which can be implemented are not visible by other Members and are not available after their session expires. 
  For more information, see View Customization Options. 

To apply the Additional Options settings, do the following: 

1. Go to the required Board. 
2. Click the menu (...) in the top right of the Board.
3. Select Members’ access. 
4. Click the Additional options icon in the bottom left.
5. Toggle off the features you want to limit.
6. Click Done.

How can I see which Member has access to a Board?

All Pigment Members can use the Members’ Access to view permissions. Click the menu (...) at the top of any Board and this displays all Members with Roles in the Application and their permission levels. 

However, any Member with the Define Application Security permission can also see the Permissions Metrics that define that Board’s access.

Members can use the Copy Link button to share a link to the Board. While this doesn’t grant Board access, it can be shared with Members who already have the necessary permissions.

How are Board permissions assigned to Members?

You can assign Members access to Boards through:

• Roles. The default permission for Boards is set in the Member’s Role.  If a Member’s Role has the Can configure permission, by default they have that permission level for all Boards within the Application. In your Application, open the Security folder, and then the Roles List. This displays the Board permission levels for each Role. 
   
• Permission Metrics. By default, the Board permission granted on the Role Dimension is applied to all Boards within the Application through the Users Role Metric. This is a Metric of data type Permission, and uses the Users Dimension List. 

How to use a Metric to define permissions for specific Boards?

The default setting for every Board is established through Roles, and is applied through the Users Role Metric. You can customize individual Board’s permissions by creating permission Metrics.

Here are some key points when setting using a different permission Metric: 

• Metric must have a Data type of Permissions and use the Users Dimension List.
   
• If multiple permission Metrics are used, including the Users roles Metric, the highest level of permission is granted. 
  
  For example, if one permission Metric has a Member with a permission set to None and another permission Metric has the same Member with a Can configure permission, then the Member will have the Can configure permission. The hierarchy of Board permissions from lowest to highest level is Can open, followed by Can comment, and the highest level is Can configure.
   
• In order to remove default permissions from an individual Board, you can remove the Users roles Metric from the Board using the Share link at the top of each Board.
  However, a Board always requires a permissions Metric. If the Users role Metric is removed, a new section is displayed in the Roles, permissions & access page in your Application indicating from which Boards this permissions Metric has been removed. The Users roles Metric can be restored at any time.
   
• If default permissions are removed from a Board, for example by removing the Users roles Metric, the newly applied permissions Metric determines all Board permissions for that Board.

How to create and apply a Board permission Metric

1. Create a new Metric with the User Dimension List and set the Data type to Permissions.
2. In the new Metric, assign the required permissions for each Member.
3. Go to the Board where you want to apply the new permissions.
4. Click the menu (...) in the top right of the Board.
5. Select Members’ access 
6. Click + Add Metric and select your new permissions Metric.
7. (Optional) To apply only this Metric's permissions to your Board, click the Remove icon next to the User Role Metric.
   This removes all default access given through Roles. 
8. (Optional) To apply this Metric's permissions to multiple Boards at once, do the following: 
   a. Open the Roles, permissions & access page in your Application.
   b. Open Board access configuration and go to the Additional Board permissions section. 
   c. Click + Add a new permissions rule for Boards, select the Metric and the required Boards.

View all Metrics used in Board Permissions

Open the Roles, permissions & access page in your Application. You can configure your Board Permissions and view the Metrics used in Board permissions in the following sections: 

• Board access. Go to your required Board, hover over it, and click the Edit icon. This opens a list of Metrics that define permissions for your selected Board. If you want to add more permission Metrics, click Add Metric.
   
• Board access configuration. The Additional Board permissions section lists the rules used to define Permissions on each Board. Click + Add a new permissions rule for Boards to add rules for specific Boards. These rules apply on top of Roles’ default permissions.