Improvement – Security

October 14th, 2015 | by ViaDataWebAdmin |

At ViaData, we use a generic template structure for security in our Catalyst Business Systems Engine for all our systems. For large systems, security access for users can be complex to implement, however for smaller systems with fewer users, or where all users play essentially the same role, it can be very basic.

A simple user security data structure consists of users, security groups, users assigned to security groups, and then access to data entities assigned to these security groups. User access can then be controlled to view, modify, delete or add entities, at the security group level. Additional User access control to specific “tasks” in the system is also managed at the security group level.

All the above is integrated into Catalyst and forms a great “out of the box” feature for a Catalyst development project. It provides a familiar structure for security within Catalyst and deviations for specific implementations can then be built within this environment.

The Problem

Some data entities are used by all users in a system, always with the same level of access, but need assigning to security groups specific to an Implementation every time we create a new system, even though the data entity will always be generally accessible to everyone. Also, whenever a new user is added, the administrator needs to remember to assign them to the appropriate Security Groups that allow access to these ‘general’ entities.

Solution

We improved Catalyst by adding a security group called ‘All Users’, so that in our template system, entities that have general access are allocated to the ‘All Users’ security group, giving Users access “right out the box”.

Advantages

The advantages of adding the new ‘All Users’ functionality is that, when rolling out a new system, no security setup or thinking about it is required for these entities, and any entitles specific to the implementation that require the same level of global access, can also be allocated to this security group and forgotten.

The key improvement is that every time an administrator adds a new user, they don’t have to worry about adding the user to the security group these entities belong to, because all users are automatically part of the ‘All Users ‘security group

This improvement to Catalyst, as usual, has been extended to all existing systems, for the benefit of all Catalyst users.