Initial Group Permissions

Initial Group Permissions


The ability to set initial group permissions allows system administrators to configure group permission settings before a syllabus is ever created in Concourse. Setting Initial group permissions will determine whether a particular group (e.g. Instructors) can view and/or edit individual syllabus elements, access or upload files, whether their CV will be visible, and if the group should be able to self-manage their course. 

What's the difference between Group Permissions and Initial Group Permissions?

Whereas setting group permissions for current syllabi or updating group permissions en masse requires the existence of items on syllabi, initial group permissions will only apply to syllabi and syllabus items that do not already exist in your system. 

 

 

Plan Your Permission Scheme

Before setting or updating group permissions in Concourse, it is helpful to determine your desired permission scheme. To understand Concourse group permissions, we recommend reviewing the Group Permissions in Concourse article for an explanation of the following groups:

  • Managers
  • Developers
  • Assistants
  • Instructors
  • Students

At the conclusion of this article, we have attached an optional exercise to make it a little easier to determine your permissions scheme. You can download it, fill it out, and use it as your guide when you go to set the permissions in Concourse.

 

How to Use Initial Group Permissions

First, access Initial Permissions in Admin > System > Initial Group Permissions. When you have accessed the Initial Group Permissions tool, you can select the group you wish you manipulate by clicking the drop-down menu in the top-left corner of the tool. 

Once you have selected the desired group, you should:

  1. Determine whether or not that group needs to manage Users and Settings Access. For most users other than course Managers at your institution, the most likely selection will be No.
  2. Set the Syllabus permissions. Because of the architecture behind the scenes, all of the subsequent syllabus items are nested within the main Syllabus item. You have the options None, View, or Edit. If a group is expected to edit any item on the Concourse syllabus, you will want to select Edit, as you can restrict the subsequent permissions.
  3. Set individual Item permissions. Here you have a couple of options:
    • If you want a group to View or Edit all fields in the syllabus, you can leave the default option Inherit for all Items. That means they will Inherit the overall Syllabus permissions which should already be set to Edit. You also have the option to select None. That would prevent the group from even viewing the syllabus content.
    • You can "mix and match" whether a group can View or Edit certain Items by selecting the appropriate setting for each item. You can also select None if you do not wish for that group to see the Item at all.
  4. Select whether the group can View or Edit Components (Files).
  5. Click Save. 

Follow the same steps for any groups you wish to set.

Keep in mind that Initial Permissions settings only apply to syllabus items that have not yet been added to an existing syllabus in your system. This means that syllabus items on a cloned syllabus will not necessarily inherit the initial permissions settings, but any item added to that cloned syllabus will inherit the initial permissions settings. 

As always, if you have any questions, please reach out to us at support@campusconcourse.com or you can submit a help ticket.


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