Roles and rights overview (r9)

The Roles applet is used to view survey roles and system roles in the IntelliSurvey platform. System roles grant the ability to perform a set of specific actions across the IntelliSurvey platform (e.g., the server level), and survey roles grant the ability to perform a set of specific actions with an individual survey. User accounts are assigned a single system role to control global access while having many different survey roles for different surveys.

Custom roles can be created to allow other users access to the Roles applet. If this is needed, you may reach out to a Support agent for assistance.

Accessing Roles

To access the Roles applet, use the left navigation menu. Expand the Administration group, and then click Roles.

The Roles applet contains the Roles and Rights Matrix, which allows users to search for and view both system roles and survey roles and their respective permissions ("rights"). Roles are displayed as the columns, and rights are displayed as the rows.

The Roles and Rights Matrix defaults to displaying All Roles and All Rights for system roles. To switch between the two sets of roles/rights, click on the System Roles or Survey Roles tabs above the table as needed. 

If there are any custom roles or rights created for your organization, they will also appear here.

Searching by rights

To view which user roles match a specific right, first use the rights dropdown menu to select which right to view. In the example below, we want to see which system role(s) could be assigned if we need someone to have the ability to create surveys. All user roles with the desired right will contain a green checkmark in the cell. In this example, Survey Creators and greater can create a survey; a Standard User cannot.

You can also select multiple rights in the dropdown menu if needed. This could be helpful if you know what tasks a team member needs to perform, but you are not sure which role to assign.

Searching by roles

Searching by role is similar to searching by right. Selecting a given system or survey role will show a list of all available rights. Any rights associated with that role will contain a checkmark in their cells. In the example below, we can see that the Fielder role has the right to view weights and respondent activity, but a Fielder cannot view datacuts from users outside his/her organization or any encrypted data.

Role comparison

You can also compare roles in a side-by-side column view by selecting multiple roles from the system or survey roles dropdown menu. This can be useful when you need to highlight the differences between similar roles. In the example below, a side-by-side comparison quickly shows that Researchers only have rights for data analysis, while Panel Coordinators and Fielders have rights for data analysis, plus permissions for managing respondents and quotas. From the comparison, it's also clear that Panel Coordinator is the most "powerful" of the three roles.

Layout viewing options

Although the default layout for viewing and browsing roles is the "matrix" view, you can also view system and survey roles in a minimalistic list view. To switch views, click on the Layout button on the right-side of the toolbar, and select List Layout.

The column on the left will display the role name, and the column on the right will state whether the role is editable or read-only. Note, the survey roles include both independent roles and "add-on" roles. If there are any custom survey or system roles created for your organization, they will also appear in the list.

Viewing technical descriptions

You can view a right or role's technical description at any time by clicking on the name found in the row or column. Once clicked, a description will appear in a pane on the right side of the screen. For example, the View Similar Users right explains that similar users are those having a "matching email domain," and it describes precise actions a user with this right can take.

Next steps

If you are ready to create or edit a user account, read User accounts administration.

If you are ready to add users to your survey or edit an existing user's survey role, read Adding survey users.