Security and organization are two big concerns when deploying any enterprise solution as the number of objects to manage can quickly grow. Fortunately, Dundas BI has several mechanisms to make this task easier, and this tip of the week discusses the sometimes-overlooked concept of Folders.
First of all, when using Projects it is possible to separate unrelated work efforts at a high level. Some examples include department (Sales, HR, Engineering, etc.), location (Geographical, Buildings, Units), and role (Executives, Management, Analysts). For more information on Projects, please CLICK HERE
However, what if it is desirable to have, for example, some Metric Sets in the Engineering project that should only be visible to managers and executives - but not the engineers? One solution is to create a new project, but that may complicate navigation. Alternatively, the security settings of individual Metric Sets can be modified; this will work for a few Metric Sets but can quickly become tedious if more and more objects are created.
The best option, in this case, is to create a Folder within the Project. By right-clicking on a category in the Explore panel, you can select "New Folder". In the screenshot below, Global, Marketing, Regional Revenue, and Test are all folders:
Right-click on your newly created Folder and select "Properties". The Properties panel will appear with the option to modify the Security settings by adding/removing users and selecting their permissions. For a full list of settings, please CLICK HERE
I've modified the access rights of the Regional Revenue Folder and excluded all users but my Executives Group. When I log on as an Engineer, I do not see that Folder and don't know about its existence.
Even without leveraging the security aspect of Folders, they are a great way to remain organized within a project. Using the Explore panel it is easy to copy/paste objects into Folders, or simply drag them in.