Enabling Your Clients To Browse For Records

You can enable your clients to search for records in your database using Browse, Find By. With a few simple changes to access rights and operator security, they will be able to see all their own records, but all other records in your database will be restricted.

The Browse Find By functionality for clients is tied to a hierarchical client ownership system that also allows you to use the "Owned by Client" in the Client form. Clients who own other clients will be able to see all records in their hierarchical tree, but no others. This is very useful for auditing, for demonstration purposes, and in general, for enabling your clients to work their accounts in Collect!.

WARNING: Account security is ultimately your responsibility. When setting up your Client operators, you must ensure that Browse Find By is working as you expect and that your clients can see only those records you want them to see.

Setting Up Client Operator

Let's set up a sample Client Operator as shown below:

Client Operator with All Settings

1. Sign into Collect! in EXCLUSIVE mode as a User with Level 99.

2. Select System from the top menu bar and then select Rights, Operators.

3. Select the NEW button to create a new operator.

4. Set a unique ID for your operator, a Name and a Password.

5. Select 98 for the User Level.

By default, we use User Level 98, Guest, for client access to the database. This level grants READ ONLY access to all fields, except Notes.

6. In the Type field, select CLIENT. A new field, Client # becomes visible.

7. Enter the Client # for the Client record you want this operator to see. You MUST put a value in this field for this to work right. If you leave this blank, Collect! will not allow the Client operator to sign into Collect!.

8. To enable clients to see only their records, we have to switch ON "Security" in the Operator Detail. So put a check mark in the box next to "Security."

9. Put a check mark in the box next to "Password never expires."

10. Press F8 to save your changes.

By default, all menu options are greyed out for Guest operators. For our purposes, we need to allow clients to also use the Browse Find By menu. So we will change access rights, next.

Accessing Browse Find By

To enable your client operators to use the Browse Find By menu, we need to grant FULL ACCESS to this item in the Access Rights list for User Level 98.

1. Select System from the top menu bar and then select Rights, Access Rights.

2. Use your PageDown key to find the Browse FindBy item in the list of access rights. It is 302001:Browse FindBy

It is quite near the end, so you can use CTRL+End and then use the PageUp key. This is quicker.

3. Select 302001:Browse FindBy to open the Access Rights form for this item.

4. Click into the Form Rights subwindow to activate it and then select the NEW button.

5. Select the down arrow next to the field labeled "Level" and then select 98 Guest.

Browse Find By Full Access for Level 98

6. Press F8 to save your changes. Press F8 again until you are at the list of Access Rights again.

7. Select REBUILD to rebuild the rights.

Now you are ready to sign into Collect! to try out your Client Operator. You should be able to see only the accounts that the Client owns.

Client Operator for #98 Viewing Account

Records belonging to other clients are not accessible through the Browse Find By function.

Using Owned By Client

The Browse Find By feature can also be used when you have a master client who owns other clients. This depends on a value entered in the "Owned By" field on the Client form.

When there is a Client number in that field, a Client Operator with that Client # will be able to see records for all clients that are "under" that master client.

Example:

Client #95 is Owned By Client #98. This is set in the Client form for Client #95.

Client #95 Owned By Client #98

A Client Operator set up for Client #95 will see only accounts for Client #95. A Client Operator set up for Client #98 will see accounts for Client #98 AND Client #95.

Operator for Client #98 Views Client #95 Account

The hierarchy for Owned By clients is limited to 10 levels of ownership.

Troubleshooting

If you are not able to see the details of accounts, or hide the details of accounts, please review your Application Log for any errors that may be displayed. Some common errors are listed below.

Invalid Owners

Invalid owner relationships are written to the Application log in the MISC category.

Client Owned By Itself

You may see this message in the Application Log. You should not set the "Owned By Client" to the same Client # as the Client itself. This might cause details to be hidden erroneously for accounts that should be visible to the Operator. For example, Client #94 should not have "94" entered in its "Owned By Client" field.

Client #

You must have a Client # entered for your Client Operator as shown in the screen shot above for Setting Up Client Operator. If you leave this blank, Collect! will not allow the Client operator to sign into Collect!.

The Client # in Operator Security is ignored when you are a Client Type operator

Browse, Find By Street is currently not supported for Client operators.

Rebuild Lists

When working with Access Rights and Security, you must always make sure that you Rebuild your lists to let all your changes take effect. The best way to do this is to sign in in EXCLUSIVE mode as a user with Level 99 and select File, Maintenance, Rebuild Lists.

Summary

With a few simple changes to access rights and operator security, as outlined above, your clients can use the Browse, Find By menu to search for their records in your database. You can easily enable them to see all their own records while hiding the rest of your accounts from them. Using the "Owned by" field on the Client form. you can enable clients who own other clients to see all records in their hierarchical tree, but no others.

When using this functionality, it is your responsibility to ensure that it is working as you expect before you grant your clients access to your database.

See Also

- Find By