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Avanti Security Overview: User Groups & Avanti Users

Avanti security at a global level is maintained through User Groups. The User Groups allow permission for groups of user accounts to be setup across multiple company databases. A User Group can be thought of as a security pass that is given to users to access different parts of Avanti across databases.

System Administration

Most options and setup related to security can be found in System Administration. From here, User Groups and Avanti Users can be created, modified, or deleted.

System Administration

System Administration should be restricted to only those users who require access.

Users with access to System Administration may be able to change the access level of other users or change the access rules of menu items.

User Groups are assigned to users

Users are assigned user accounts which they use to login to Avanti. User accounts are setup and maintained using Avanti Users. These accounts are required for logging in to Avanti on Windows and on the web, and their access is managed through the User Groups assigned to the user account.

When a new payroll administrator is hired, they could be setup with a user account (Avanti User) which they are required to login with. Depending on which User Groups that user account is assigned (administrative, payroll, human-resources, etc.), their user access will change accordingly. This has the benefit of being able to add or remove access at will.

Company database access is controlled by User Group assignment.

Company database access is controlled by User Group assignment. Company databases can be added or removed from a User Group. Only User Groups with the matching company database permission can access a database. When a user logs in to Avanti they can select from a list of available companies to access: this list is generated using the User Group company database access.

Access for User Groups is split into two broad types of access: Windows and Web. Any User Group can be assigned access to one or both if these:

  • Windows access allows users to login to the desktop Avanti application. This type of access will generally be required for your payroll administrators for example.

  • Web access allows users to access the Avanti Self-Service Portal (ASSP). This type of access will be required for most employee, manager, and some payroll administrator users who need to access to ASSP.

User Groups are also used throughout Avanti to grant access to company databases, menu items, and sub-functions. Many of these items can be individually restricted to specific User Group and responsibility levels.

User Group responsibilities

A responsibility level is assigned for each company database that a User Group accesses. User Groups can be granted different access roles — view, modify, delete — based on the responsibility level of the group within a given database. Responsibility levels can be different between multiple databases: this can be used to give full access (view, modify, and delete) for some users in a testing database, while restricting access (view-only) to a production database for those same users.

One or more User Groups can be assigned to each Avanti User, and the permission of that user is determined by the highest (most permissive) User Group access. In practice this means that the access granted by multiple User Groups are combined for the Avanti user.

Creating a User Group

User Groups can be created at any time from within Avanti from System Administration. We’ll create a new User Group that will be used to give access to new payroll administrator to a training database where they can practice running payroll without effecting the real company database.

  1. Open System Administration > System Access Controls > User Groups and create a new User Group. (Press Insert at the bottom of the User Groups window.)

  2. Enter the name of the User Group. (Below I’ve used TRAINING for the name.)

  3. Select the Access Type.

    Access Type

    Access for User Groups is split into two broad types of access: Windows and Web. Any User Group can be assigned access to one or both if these:

    Windows

    Windows access allows users to login to the desktop Avanti application. This type of access will generally be required for your payroll administrators for example.

    Web Only

    Web access allows users to access the Avanti Self-Service Portal (ASSP). This type of access will be required for most employee, manager, and some payroll administrator users who need to access to ASSP.

    Windows and Web

    This combines both of the previous options, allowing access to both the desktop and the web.

  4. Save the group by pressing Apply.

  5. Add a new company database to the User Group Details by pressing Insert. (This will allow the users in the group to access the database.)

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  6. Select the company database from the Company drop-down.

  7. Enter a Computer Name and choose a Responsibility level for this User Group in the selected database.

    Notes:
    Computer Name

    The Computer Name can be used to restrict logging-in from other computers. Only computers with a matching name can be used to access the database. A wildcard (*) can be used to grant access to any computer.

    Responsibility

    The responsibility level of the User Group for the given database. This can affect the access roles (view, modify, delete) of the User Group. Levels range from A (most permissive), to Z (most restrictive).

  8. Save and close the database access settings.

  9. Save and close the User Group settings.

We’ve created a User Group and given it access to our training database. The next step is the add user accounts to the group so that they can access to training database using the group’s permissions.

Assigning Users to User Groups

Assigning user accounts to user groups is done from the Avanti User settings. User groups are added to user accounts, not the other way around.

  • Every user account must have at least one User Group assigned to it. - - Users will only be able to access databases that their user groups have access to.

  • User permission in a database will come from the user groups they are assigned.

Follow these steps to add a User Group to an Avanti User:

  1. Open System Administration > System Access Controls > User Groups and open a user account (Avanti User) to add the User Group to.

  2. Open the Group Memberships tab at the bottom of the user account settings. A list of all available User Groups will be display on the left, with a list of the User Groups currently selected for this user on the right.

  3. Add the User Group to the user account by moving the corresponding User Group from the left (Available) to the right (Selected).

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    Note:
    User Groups can be moved between lists by double-clicking on them, or using the buttons located between the lists: 12 6 2018 10 13 01 AM, 12 6 2018 10 12 53 AM, 12 6 2018 10 13 07 AM, 12 6 2018 10 13 11 AM.

Save and close the Avanti User settings.

We’ve assigned the User Group to the user account, and the next step will be to test that the user is able to login to the test database from the Avanti login screen.

Accessing Company Databases

When Avanti runs the Avanti login window will be displayed. Users must enter their credentials and login through this window before accessing company database.

Company databases that a user has access to will be listed in the Company drop-down. Only one database can be accessed at a time.

To access a company database with a user account, do the following:

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Figure 1. Avanti Startup & Login Screen
  1. Enter the username and password of the user account.

  2. Select the company database to access from the Company drop-down and enter the database password if required.

  3. Select the language to use.

  4. Press OK to log in to the company database.

Note:

Company databases can only be accessed if the user account has permissions for the corresponding database. These permissions are controlled by the User Groups assigned to the user account.

In order to access the database and open Avanti all the following conditions need to be met:

  • The username and password entered must match that of an Avanti User.

  • The Avanti User must have access to the selected database.

  • The database password much be correct (if one is used).

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