A school may have as many Users accessing EdSmart as they like. Note we have single sign-on for both Office 365 and Google, making it really easy to enable large school staff access. We can also synchronise a list of your staff each night as part of our overall data import schedule for your school.

Platform User Roles

There are two User Roles:

1. Administrator - complete access to all of EdSmart's features and configuration. Administrators can see all Forms and Slips created within EdSmart. We recommend you limit this 'Access All Areas' permission to the smallest number of people possible. Suitable Administrators include Principals, Deputy/Assistant Principals and Heads of HR.
2. User - a standard User cannot alter EdSmart's configuration (including managing Users), nor can they edit the Form Templates and Workflows. User Permissions can be applied to 'Users'. 

By default, a User has access to all information, and you can use various permissions settings to control and define their access. In addition, they can be granted elevated permissions that allow them to create and manage Form Templates without being an Administrator.

Individual User Permissions

A User can have their access restricted in multiple ways:

1. They can be configured to only have View access so they'll be able to log into EdSmart and see all the information, but will not be able to add new data or edit existing data - for example, they cannot create a new Slip, nor edit a Student or Contact.
2. They can have their access restricted to only the Slips they created, or where they appear in the workflow. In a busy school, with many Slips being sent, this is a great option to reduce the 'noise' for a particular user so they only see the information relevant to them.
3. They can have their access restricted to specific Student Lists, by default this also means their access is restricted to only the Slips they create or appear on the workflow for, as per option 2 above. This is perfect for parent class reps and others who should only have access to very specific groups of students and parents
4. User permissions can be configured such that they have only View permissions to Broadcasts, similar to Slips they cannot edit, delete or create a Broadcast if this is set. Also, only certain Users can be given the ability to send SMS in a Broadcast.
5. Users can be assigned to User Groups, and the above permissions will be controlled via the Group.

User Groups

User Groups can be used to control permissions for groups of Users. You can set the same permissions as for individual Users, and these will apply to Users assigned to the Group instead of the individual permissions.

The User Groups list page summarises the Permissions assigned to each Group and the number of allocated Users.

Editing a User Group allows you to define the Permissions for all Users in that group.

However, User Groups do not restrict the Permissions of any Administrator members.

Users Groups and Form Template Categories

User Groups can be used to control access to sets of Form Templates via the Template Categories.

Again, this restriction does not affect Administrator members of the group.

A Form Template can be assigned to one or more Form Template Categories. A Category may be assigned to one or more User Groups. 

If a Category is assigned to a User Group, only Users assigned to the Group can:

• Create a new Slip/Form from the Templates in that Category
• Access an existing Slip/Form that was created from the Templates in that Category

By using a combination of User permissions, User Groups and Form Template Categories you can restrict access to information in EdSmart to selected Users and/or groups of Users. For example, key staff within school departments can be given view-only access to Slips/Forms relevant to their department, whilst the heads of department can edit and manage Forms across one or more departments with elevated User Group Permissions. Similarly you might only allow school leaders access to Forms relating to human resources or staffing issues.

Precedence and Hierarchy of Permissions

In EdSmart, User Group permissions always take precedence over individual permissions. Suppose a User is part of a User Group that restricts them from creating a Slip/Broadcast then they will not be able to do that irrespective of what is set at their User account level, this is the same for all other permissions that can be set for a User.

Similarly, if a User belongs to multiple User Groups, the one with the highest permissions will take precedence. Such a User will always be able to do all the activities allowed by that User Group.