User Roles and Permissions

Overview

This article explains how to access user accounts, define user roles, and assign leads within Planning & Self-Study.

Access User Accounts

To manage Planning & Self-Study user accounts for an institution, the account needs access to the System Administration module. This module is visible only to users with the System Administrator role.

1. Select System Administration from the Navigator app switcher in the top right corner.

   

2. From the System Administration tool, navigate to the People tab. This tab displays a list of all user accounts at the institution. From this page, new users can be created and existing user information managed.

   

Create and Edit Users

1. To create a new user, click the Add Person button.
2. To edit a user's account, including their role, click on their Person ID, which will appear as a hyperlink. {Insert screenshot}

For a more detailed article about creating new users, please view Creating a New Person.

User Role Definitions and Permissions

System Administrator Role

Users with the System Administrator role manage an institution's Planning & Self-Study technical infrastructure.

Permissions:

• Create and update data for the institutional hierarchy, user accounts, terms, courses, and course sections.
• Troubleshoot failed imports and configuration of API imports.

Important Notes:

• A user's affiliated organization does not impact their System Administrator access level.
• System Administrators can grant themselves the Administrator permission for access to assessment and planning content.
• They can also switch roles to view the perspective of other roles in P&SS.
• Only Watermark employees can assign the System Administrator role. During implementation, the Project Manager will create an account with this role for the institution. If any other users require this permission, please submit a request to support.
• If the person responsible for technical infrastructure changes, contact our Support team to transfer this permission.
• An institution can request multiple System Administrators, but we recommend keeping the number to a minimum (e.g., one to three individuals) to help manage system changes.

Administrator Role

Users with the Administrator role manage assessment and planning content within Planning & Self-Study. Administrators have both system-wide and local privileges within their Affiliated Organization.

System-Wide Permissions:

• Create and manage Assessment Plans.
• Create and manage accreditation Self-Study reports.
• Create and manage Program Reviews (requires top-level admin).
• Create and manage Strategic Plans (only if the Affiliated Organization is the Institution).
• Define the institution’s Academic Years.
• Customize Configuration Settings related to system vocabulary and options.

Local Permissions:

• View and manage the Hierarchy within their Affiliated Organization, including assigning users as Leads to Organizations in their domain.
• View and edit data for Organizations nested within their Affiliated Organization, including:
  • Mission Statement
  • Outcomes
  • Curriculum Maps (Program-type Organizations only)
  • Cyclical Assessment Plans (Measures, Findings, Actions, etc.)
  • Program Reviews (Lead will not have Program Review widget, but can view/edit data for their organization)
  • Alignment to Strategic Plan Goals
• Run reports on Assessment Plan data across all Organizations within their Affiliated Organization.

Accessing Administrator Tools: When an Administrator logs in, an administrative navigation bar appears on the left side of the screen, listing all system-wide permissions.

System Administrators can assign the Administrator role and affiliate users with the appropriate Organization to define their local permissions.

Contributor Role

A user with the Contributor role enters assessment and planning data in one or more Organizations.

Important Note: Giving a user the Contributor role is the first step. They must also be assigned as a Lead to grant data entry access. If not assigned as a Lead, a page indicating no work is assigned will appear when they log in.

A System Administrator can assign the Contributor role and affiliate users with their respective Organization (typically at the Department level).

No Role

System Administrators can remove one or more roles from a user from the People tab.

Recommendation:

• If a user has entered data, deleting their record may be prohibited. Removing all roles prevents them from logging in while maintaining a historical record of their account. This is recommended instead of deleting accounts when an individual no longer needs access.

Assigning Leads

Assigning someone as a Lead designates that individual as responsible for managing assessment and planning data related to a specific Organization.

Lead Definition and Permissions

A Lead can view and edit the following content for an Organization:

• Mission Statement
• Outcomes
• Curriculum Maps (Program-type Organizations only)
• Cyclical Assessment Plans (Measures, Findings, Actions, etc.)
• Program Reviews
• Alignment to Strategic Plan Goals

Important Notes:

• Users with the Contributor role must be assigned as a Lead to at least one Organization to enter data.
• Users with the Administrator role do not need to be assigned as a Lead to access and edit content for an Organization. However, assigning them as a Lead identifies them as responsible for managing that Organization’s data.
• An Organization can have up to 20 Leads. One user can be a Lead for multiple Organizations.

How to Assign Leads

An Administrator can assign users as Leads.

1. Click the Organization Management tab in the administrative navigation bar on the left of the screen.
2. This displays all Organizations the Administrator can access.
3. To assign a user as a Lead, click the Assign Leads link to the right of the Organization name. If Leads are already assigned, click on one of their names instead.

For more detailed steps, please see the article here- Assigning Leads

Lead User Interface: When a Lead logs in, a My Leadership category appears on their homepage. This lists all Organizations to which they are assigned, with links to add and edit assessment and planning data.

*Important Note on Hierarchy: Assigning a Lead to an Organization does not automatically grant full access to all nested Organizations. For example, assigning a user as a Lead to a Department does not automatically give full access to all Programs within that Department; that user would need to be assigned as a Lead to each of those Programs for that level of access.

Dean’s View

The Dean’s View allows users to run reports on Plans for all Organizations nested within an Organization to which they are assigned as a Lead, without having full editing access.

Example: Someone assigned as a Lead to a College can run reports on Assessment Plans completed by all Departments and Programs within that College, without being added as a Lead to each individual Department and Program.

To enable Dean's View:

1. The user needs the Contributor role.
2. Assign the user as a Lead to an Organization that contains other nested Organizations (e.g., Division, College, or Department).

Recommendation: We recommend giving users who need this level of reporting access the Dean’s View instead of the Administrator role. The Dean’s View prevents the extensive editing access of an Administrator, reducing the risk of permanent and irreversible mistakes.

Accessing Reports:

When a user with Dean's View logs in:

1. Their assigned College is listed in their My Leadership area.

2. To run reports on all Organizations within that College, click on an Assessment Plan.

   

3. On the following page, click the Insights tab in the top navigation bar to view Plan data for all Organizations within their assigned Organization.