In Link it is possible to manage which data a given user is permitted to view. Some users need to be able to see every single piece of data, while others should only have access to specific data due to rules, company regulations, governance and so forth. Link supports these scenarios using the concept of Data Groups.
This documentation is supplementary to the documentation about Managing users, roles and permissions in Link.
If your organization decides on using Data Groups, careful planning must be done in order to enable the right persons to see the right data in Link. Use cases are often centered around examples such as “The Sales department must only be able to see sales related documents”, or “The Purchase department must only be able to see purchase related documents” and so forth.
Before showing how to configure Data Groups in Link, we will briefly outline what is understood by Data Groups and Document Types.
Definition of a Data Group
A Data Group is a group that you create directly in the Link GUI. It must be configured to contain a list of Document Types that the group is used to give View-access to. A Data Group must subsequently be linked to a User Group in Link. The basic concept of User Groups is explained in the documentation Managing users, roles and permissions in Link.
Definition of a Document Type
A Document Type in Link is best described as a business entity document such as, a Sales Order, a Sales Despatch Advice, a Stock Adjustment, a Sales Order, a Sales Order Response and so forth. Thus, a Document Type defines an overall classification of the types of business documents that are sent through Link, but it does not specify anything about exact document formats or standards.
How to create a Data Group
To manage Data Groups in Link then you must access the Settings menu and choose “Data groups”.
To create a new Data Group, click the “+” sign.
Name your Data Group according to your requirements and the purpose of the Data Group.
In the section “Available document types” you must select the document types in scope for this specific Data Group. You choose among the available document types configured in the Link environment you are logged on to, so differences may occur between your Prod and Test environments. Save the changes you have made.
Connecting a Data Group to a User Group
To use the configuration in a given Data Group, it must be linked to a User Group. Please refer to the documentation Managing users, roles and permissions in Link for information about User Groups.
To manage User Groups in Link then you must access the Settings menu and choose “User groups”.
Select the group that you want to manage by clicking the Edit link.
Click somewhere in the “Data groups” field and you will get a list of available Data Groups that you can link to the User Group. Save the changes.
Now, any user connected to the “Viewer” User Group will be affected by this change. The user will then only be able to see Document Types and document instances in the Tracking part of Link, that are included in the Data Group linked to the User Group.
It is important that you carefully consider if a given existing User Group can be used for your scenario, without breaking the experience for other users in Link. In some cases, it is better to create a new User Group, when you have a case where you need to limit view access on data in Link.