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Glossary for New Admins
Table of Contents 1. Roles in your Account 2. People at Quickbase You Interact With 3. Database Terms Used in Quickbase *You can also download these basic database terms here. User Roles in your Quickbase Account Account Admins These are the people at your organization who will have the ability to manage your account’s users, designate other admins and roles, manage security settings and account level permissions, and work with Quickbase on billing changes. There are two types of Account Admins, Full Management and Support level: Full Management – This type of admin has ALL administrative permissions. This includes the ability to control your access rights and any other account-level permission settings as well as make changes to your billing. Tip: We recommend every account have at least 2 Full Management Account Admins at all times. Support Level – This type of admin can manage most aspects of your account, but does not have the ability to make changes to your billing plan or to control administrative access permissions (like the ability to create and control the powers of other admins) Learn more about your account admins and managing users on your account here Realm Admins This role allows someone to manage security settings for a realm, such as password requirements, single sign-on settings, advanced encryption, as well as some other user management settings depending on their plan. They also possess the ability to view all pipelines on your account. This role can be added to an Account Admin or it can be given to users who do not have other admin permissions. Tip: We recommend each account have at least 2 users with the Realm Admin role to provide coverage for vacations, sick times, and transitions. App Admin This person can change the structure of an app, such as updating tables, fields, forms, etc. Each app can have one or more app admins and we often recommend there be at least two app admins so that they can cover for each other. A user can be assigned as admin to one or more apps directly in the app or can be an App Admin by granting them the permission to create new apps on your account directly. End Users This is a term we use to talk about the users at your account who do not have any of the above admin roles. They are the people from your organization you will invite to your apps to use them in their day-to-day work. You can share one or more apps with these users and app admins can create custom roles and permissions for what they can access in each app to match the data and access they need for their work or take advantage of the built-in roles that come in an app by default. Learn more about our built-in roles and working with custom roles here Quickbase Humans You will Interact With Account Executive (AE) Your Account Executive at Quickbase (often referred to as your "AE") serves as your point of contact when you want to talk about your Quickbase account, plan, and billing. They will help you with your renewals and exploring when it is time to expand your usage. You have likely already met them during the sales process but you can also find their contact information in your Admin Console. Customer Success Manager (CSM) Customer Success Managers, or CSMs for short, work with customers to explore how Quickbase can be more effective in their specific circumstances, help with planning and optimizing usage, and understanding the value they are getting from Quickbase. You likely met someone from our customer experience team during your sales process. Note that, post sale, if your account has an assigned CSM, you can find that person's contact information at the bottom of your Admin Console. If your account does not have an assigned CSM, you can always request to speak with one via your AE. Tech Support Engineers Tech Support Engineer are here to help with technical questions on the platform when you find yourself stuck or are running into issues. You can connect with a rep by creating a support case here. Database Terms Used in Quickbase Table A table is a container of similar items or objects and information about each of the items. For example, a table might hold information related to your customers, projects, or equipment. It is like a tab in a spreadsheet. Record A record is a single entry in a table containing information about one item or object. A table in your app is made up of records. It is like a row in a spreadsheet. Field A field holds an individual data value. Using our example above a field might list the Name of your customer, the status of a project, or the serial number of a piece of equipment. Together, a set of fields containing information about one item forms its record. A field is like a column in a spreadsheet. Form A form is a layout of fields used to add, view, or edit one record at a time. Think of it as a digital version of a form you might fill out in your office. A table can have multiple forms that can be customized for specific users and uses with only the fields that are needed for that use. Learn more about creating forms here Report A report allows you to filter the records and fields you would like to view from a table allowing you to focus on specific information. For example, you could show only customers who are currently active, you could show all projects that are in progress, or show all equipment bought in the last year in a report so long as that data is in your record. You can also choose which fields you would like to see for the records being displayed in your report. Learn more about creating reports here Dashboard Dashboards can be created in Quickbase to display data and reports drawn from your apps, helping you to consolidate important data for your users. You can create multiple dashboard tabs and configure each to display just the data and reports you want to show. You can also set up dashboards that are unique to different roles in your app to tailor their experience. Learn more about dashboards here Relationship Relationships are connections between tables that allow the tables to borrow data from each other and support creating connections between your data. For example, a customer table could be related to a contact table so that each customer record could have multiple contacts from that company while a Project table could be related to a Tasks table so that each Project can have a number of tasks related to it with their own fields and data. Relationships allow Quickbase to go beyond what a spreadsheet can do when it comes to having related information and finding data insights on those relationships. Learn more about creating table-to-table relationships here Key Field A key field holds a unique identifier for each record in a table. Quickbase automatically creates the Record ID# key field and populates it with unique values. For some uses of Quickbase you may want to explore implementing your own custom key field0likes0CommentsQrewTip: Setting up SSO using Microsoft Entra
Welcome to Quickbase QrewTips! Today's installment is brought to us by a seasoned Technical Support Engineer: Elvis Agyemang!ElvisAgyemang_J has been with Quickbase for almost 5 years and has accumulated a solid knowledge of the platform in that time. In this QrewTip he walks us through the configuration and enablement of SSO to Quickbase using Microsoft's Entra (formerly Azure Active Directory) start to finish in less than 8 minutes!3likes0CommentsConfiguring Your New Account
Table of Contents 1. Accessing your Account Summary Page 2. Setting up your Account Properties 3. Your Account Permissions 4. Change your realm’s URL 5. Reviewing and updating your Billing Account Admin 6. Setting Default Permissions for your Users 7. Further Resources These settings will decide who can create new apps, build automated workflows, and administer your account as well as technical settings like how each new app handles things like currency symbols and time zones by default. During your trial or initial account creation some of the defaults were set up for you, but now that you are a customer you will want to make sure they align with your business. Accessing your Account Summary Page To access these settings, the first thing you will want to do is open your Account Summary page. This page is your command central as an admin and you will be able to find settings and reports that will be vital for keeping track of your account. Tip: We recommend bookmarking this page if you are going to be a primary admin for your account so you can find it easily. You can use one of the following options to access your Account Summary page: From the global navigation menu (aka waffle icon), select Admin Console. In the Account Admin section on the My Apps page, click Manage my account. From the My Apps page, click Quickbase Admin, then Manage my account If you are a realm admin as well as an account admin, the drop down under Quickbase Admin reads Manage the realm. It takes you to the admin console, but you need to then click Account Summary to navigate to the Account Summary page. Now that you are on your account summary page, you can see your account’s current set up for Account Name, time zone, and formatting in the center of the page. If any of these options need to be adjusted you can do so in your Account Properties page by selecting the More drop-down menu at the top right of the page and selecting Edit Account Properties. You can learn more about your Account Summary page here. Setting up your Account Properties On this page, you will be able to choose several important options for your account including your Account Name, Billing Contact email address, time zone, and formatting. You can also find our terms of service if you ever need to review them. Account Name – This field lets you set the name your account should be under. Typically, this is either your organization’s name or the name of the group in your organization using Quickbase. Billing Contact Email Address - This could be the billing department of your org or a team member who is taking care of monitoring your bill and storing your invoices. This field is only used to set up who receives your invoice, it does not provide this email address with any admin permissions for your account. (The Account Permissions section below will cover how to add this user as a Billing Admin if they need admin abilities) Time Zone - Choose the time zone that will be used to display dates and times for all apps owned by the account unless an app is set with a custom time zone. Formatting Defaults - Choose the currency symbol, position, number format, and date format to be used across all apps owned by the account by default. Renaming your Realm You many notice that the URL for your account may not be what you'd like it to be. The default is often the name of the individual who opened the trial, a hyphen, and 4 trailing numbers. If it is important to you that your URL be on brand for your organization this can be accomplished by opening a simple support ticket to change you account URL. They will ask you to review a list of possible concerns to address before making the change. If your account is still young it's unlikely that you'll run into any, but they will want to make sure all the same. Here's the help topic on changing your realm's URL. Your Account Permissions From your Account Summary page, you can find a section labeled Permissions in the menu bar to the left. This page is where you can set up users who should have admin permissions in your Quickbase account and decide on several important default permissions. Reviewing and updating your Billing Account Admin One of the most important roles in your account is going to be your Account Admins. These admins can manage your account’s users, security settings, account level permissions settings, and billing changes. To set up your admins, head to the section labeled Permitted users and groups. You will be given a list of all of your current users or groups with specific permissions. From this list you can edit their admin or special permissions here. If you don't see the person, you are looking for you can click the Add user, group, or email domain group button and, in the User Picker that appears select the users or groups that need to be added to the list. Once you find the user(s) you would like to edit, you can do so by: Setting Manage Account permissions to Full Management or Support for the user you're granting administrative rights or No to remove access their account admin rights. Select Support-level if you want to let this person manage most aspects of your account, but do NOT want them to be able to change your billing plan or control administrative access permissions (like the ability to create and control the powers of other administrators as discussed in this topic). Select Full Management if you want to grant the person ALL administrative rights. Doing so gives the user all the abilities and power you have as the Billing Account Administrator. This includes the ability to control your access rights and any other account-level permission settings. Select No if this user should not be an account admin but should be granted other account-level permissions like access to app creation or pipelines. When you make changes, they are saved immediately. Tip: We recommend having at least 2 Full Management Admins on your account to help cover for vacations, leave, or changes to your team without interruption as only full management account admins can access number of important account settings and make billing changes. Setting Default Permissions for your Users On your Permissions page you can also set up default permissions for all of your users that impact who can build apps, create automated workflows known as pipelines, and use features such as plugins and user tokens. Allowing all users to create apps and pipelines allows you to source ideas and new apps from more of your team, while restricting access to specific users will give you more control over who can create apps and workflows in your account. Tip: When thinking about these permissions we recommend you look at your organization’s policies for tools and have a chat with your IT team on how they like to set up permissions. If you decide to set any of these permissions to specific users, you will want to use the same steps you used to add in a new account admin above but instead configure that account to only have access to the capabilities you want them to have. For example, below you can see Evan has the permissions needed to Create apps but not to create pipelines while Kyle cannot create new apps but can create pipelines. You can access the settings listed above at any time using these steps but setting them up to align to your team’s needs early will make moving on to building apps and managing your account much easier. Further Resources Account Summary Help Page Admin Console E-Learning On Demand Understanding Quickbase Admins Adding a Billing Account Administrator Download the Admin Account Checklist1like0Comments- 0likes0Comments
Quickbase Resources
Table of Contents 1. Quickbase Help 2. Qrew Community 3. Quickbase University 4. Quickbase Events Page 5. Technical Support Cases 6. Quickbase Service Notices 7. Product Feedback Starting up with any new platform can feel a bit overwhelming but we have a number of resources available as you get settled in Quickbase. These resources are great for new admins and app builders but will also be here to help you throughout your journey with Quickbase. If you plan to be active in your Quickbase account, we recommend you bookmark them, so they are always on hand. Quickbase Help Articles If you’re wondering what a feature is for or how to use it, this is the place for you. Think of this as the user manual for Quickbase with articles on specific features and topics. Qrew Community Your problem may have been solved by a member of our community, The Qrew. Explore Qrew Discussions, where experienced Quickbase developers share tips and tricks. You can search for a solution or post your question for discussion. Quickbase University Quickbase University helps you build better apps with on-demand and live training resources. When you are ready, we also offer a certification program that can help you solidify your skills or make sure your team members are ready to take on the important job of helping you build better workflows. If you are looking for a place to get yourself or your new app builders started with training, we recommend our Quickbase Quickstart course. Quickbase Events Page This page is a great place to find webinars and Qrew Meet-Ups that interest you. Whether you are looking to learn more about the product and best practices or find other Quickbase users to network with we have an event for you. We hope to see you there! Technical Support and Support Cases Whether you're troubleshooting an error or need guidance configuring your account, our dedicated technical support team is here to assist you. Think of this as your direct line to expert help and quick fixes to keep your Quickbase environment running smoothly. When you are facing a technical challenge our support team is here to provide you with professional support. Quickbase Service Notices When we schedule downtime for an upgrade or experience an outage, you can get live updates here. Product Feedback We take your feedback to heart and believe that our builders can help shape the future of the platform. We’d like to know what’s important to you so we can create the best product. Don’t worry if you don’t have feedback yet, just know we are here when you're ready to share it.0likes0CommentsManaging your User Access and Apps
Table of Contents 1. Managing Users 2. View and edit user info 3. User settings, app access & groups 4. Denying a User Access 5. Managing Apps 6. Managing Admins 7. Further Resources Managing Users From your Account Summary page, you can manage users from your Users tab in the menu bar to the left. On this page you can manage the users that have access to your account. This includes being able to search and filter through these users, assign specific permissions to a user, view their user information, and deny a user access to your account. View and edit user information To view more information on a user you can click anywhere on the user’s entry and open their User Info panel. This panel lets you view and edit information for an individual user. The User Info panel organizes user information by three tabs: Settings, Apps, and Groups Settings: Use this tab to view and edit the following information: A user's first name, last name, email, and Quickbase username Access Status Permissions for Account admin, including whether the admin is support level or full management, and whether the user will receive security Q&A reset requests Creating apps (if you have chosen to restrict who can create apps in your account) If the user is Realm Approved Apps: Use this tab to view or search a list of apps for the user. The apps listed in the table are linked so that clicking an app name opens the Application Info page for that app. Groups: Use this tab to view or search a list of groups that include the user. Click the group name to open the Manage Group page for that group. Denying a User To remove a user’s access to your account you can mark a user as Denied. This blocks them from signing into your account and any apps they had previously been invited to. It also means they cannot be invited to any other apps in your account while denied. To deny a user: Locate the user in your User tab whose access you want to deny. Tip: You can search for users by first name, last name, username, and email address. You can filter the list based on user status and can sort the list by any column by clicking the column header. Select the check box next to the user(s) you want to deny access. Click Deny above the user table. You will see a confirmation window asking if you want to deny the user If you would like to deny a user and remove their name from user groups, click Deny & remove from user group. If you would like to deny users but keep their names in groups they have been added to, simply click the Deny option. Tip: You can also follow these steps to restore a user’s access by selecting UNDENY above the user table. This will allow the user to access any apps they still have permission to access again and to be invited to apps in your account once more. Managing Apps From your Account Summary page you can find a list of all the apps on your account by selecting the Accounts tab. This list contains all the apps on your account and statistics on their size, when they were created and last accessed, and who their current App Manager is. From the Apps page, realm and account admins can: View and sort app information View more detail about the app manager Enable an app for data change logs View more detail and usage statistics for an app Export a list of your apps and their stats Search for a specific app in the list Delete an app from the account Managing Admins On your Account Summary page, you can find a section labeled Permissions in the menu bar to the left. This page is where you can manage users who should have admin permissions in your Quickbase account. There are also several other important permissions you can apply from this page to help you manage who on your account can build applications and integrations on your account. Manage your Admins Head to the section labeled Permitted users and groups on the Permissions page. You will be given a list of all of your current users or groups with who have specific permissions. From this list you are able to edit these permissions for each user. If you don't see the user you are looking for you can click the Add user, group, or email domain group button. This will open a User Picker window to select the users or groups that need to be added to the list of the users on your account. Tip: For a user to appear in your User Picker they must have been added to your account as a User. Learn more about adding users to your account here Once you find the user(s) you would like to edit, you can do so by: Set Manage Account permissions to Full Management or Support for the user you're granting administrative rights or No to remove access their account admin rights. Select Support-level if you want to let this person manage most aspects of your account, but do NOT want them to be able to change your billing plan or control administrative access permissions (like the ability to create and control the powers of other administrators as discussed in this topic). Select Full Management if you want to grant the person ALL administrative rights. Doing so gives the user all the abilities and power you have as the Billing Account Administrator. This includes the ability to control your access rights and any other account-level permission settings. Select No if this user should not be an account admin but should be granted other account-level permissions like access to app creation or pipelines. Note: when you make changes, they are saved immediately. Tip: We recommend having at least TWO Full Management Admins on your account to help cover for vacations, leaves, or changes to your team without interruption as only full management account admins can access a number of important account settings and make billing changes. Further Resources Access your Account Summary Page Admin Console Overview Managing Users Control who can build Apps Permissions to build Pipelines Deny access to your account Quickbase Quickstart0likes0CommentsAre You an Accidental Quickbase Admin?
Have you recently inherited a Quickbase app or perhaps an entire Quickbase account? You might be feeling a little overwhelmed and wondering what to do next. If that's the case, we're here to help! Whether you are brand new to being an account admin or just new to managing a specific app, we have a 90-day framework designed to help you feel confident taking on the job. It will help you get to know your organization’s goals with Quickbase, get to know your account and apps, document your priority apps that need your attention, and build a plan for your team to make the changes. Table of Contents App Inheritance Resources 90-days to Admin Ownership Getting Control (Days 1-30) Getting Clear (Days 30-60) Getting Creative (Days 60-90) Staying On Top of Change (Days 90+) Inheriting Apps VS Inheriting Accounts Quickbase Resources We have many resources available to help you build your skills, connect with our Qrew community, get help with your technical questions from support, and more. Learn more about them here. (Link to resources article) From App Inheritance to App Ownership Webinar On-Demand In this webinar we cover our framework for inheriting an app and account, including advice on how to get familiar with your organization’s goals for Quickbase, prioritizing your apps that need attention, and how to gain insight into your app from your users. Click here to learn more From Inheritance to Ownership Workbook This workbook can be used alongside our webinar to empower admins on the journey of taking ownership over Quickbase apps and/or account. It includes helpful worksheets to break down all the information you will collect more easily. 90-days to Admin Ownership To help out new admins, our framework approaches this transition in three 30-day increments. Each increment has key questions you should be asking and exercises in our workbook We highly recommend attending our On-Demand webinar and making use of the workbook linked above, but you can find a high-level outline of what we will cover below. Getting Control (Day 1-30) Whether you have inherited just a single app or an entire account, it is important to make sure you understand how your organization wants to use Quickbase. Then you can identify and document the priority apps your team is relying on. Understand your organization Start by touching base with your team to make sure you understand how your account and apps contribute to your success. This should include understanding: What are your organization's goals for using Quickbase? What are your key metrics? What challenges are your org/team facing that need to be solved in the short-term? e.g. Is there a process that isn’t currently working? Do you need to finish an app on a specific timeline? Do you need to onboard new team members to your account?, etc. Are there any specific apps that aren’t working or any groups that have a problem with your current apps? What are the key processes your organization relies on that run in Quickbase? Get to know your Quickbase account and priority apps Now that you understand what is important for your organization and team,you can focus on getting to know: Who else at your organization is using Quickbase? Do you have another account admin or app admin you can work with? Who are the teams and users accessing your apps? Your Quickbase Account Team Do you know your Quickbase account team? They can help you with any billing or account questions you might have. Your Quickbase Plan Do you know what plan you're on? Your plan will dictate what features you have access to. You can find your plan listed on your Account Summary page and learn more about our plans here. Which apps in your account are a priority for your attention? Use our App Prioritization worksheet with your team to identify your priority apps. When in doubt these might be the apps with a high number of users or that support an important workflow in your business. Tip: As an account admin you can find information on your account team and plan in our Account Summary page. You can also find out more about the features you have access to in each plan here. If you are an app admin you would want to connect with your organization's account admin to get help finding out this information. Getting Clear (Day 30-60) Now that you have gotten to know your account and have a better idea where you need to focus it is time to start digging deeper into the apps you identified as being a top priority and keep building your Quickbase skills. For each of your priority apps you should use the Quickbase Application Analysis Worksheet in the workbook (or your preferred method of documentation) to make sure you know: What it was built to do originally What was added to it over time Who the key people to talk to about this app are What business process this app solves How the app is set up Does it makes use of any integrations Does it make use of automations (Pipelines or otherwise?) How are people actually using the app Once you know more about your app you can start the process of mapping out its structure. You can identify the tables and fields you use to collect data and the relationships that connected them together. You can use a tool like LucidChart, Miro, or a Word doc to help you map out the structure of your app or even do it by hand. You don't have to answer all these questions and map out your apps alone. You can gain valuable information from your app’s users. Use our App Inheritance workbook and webinar for advice on interviewing these users. Once you know your app better, we recommend reviewing the training available at Quickbase University for any topics you want to add to your own learning plan. Getting Creative (Day 60-90) Now that you have documented your most important apps and know how they are being used you can figure out your ideal state and what changes you need to make to get there. Connect with your team on important questions like: What changes would delight your users? What can you automate to do away with manual work? What would help make their jobs easier? Tip: You can find a feedback app in our Exchange to help you capture feedback on your apps. Many successful admins use a feedback app to manage suggestions and requests in their accounts, and it makes a great resource for staying aware of your user’s needs. Compare your ideal state to your current state Using our Application Changes Worksheet, or your own preferred method, you can now start to identify the changes that need to be made in each app to support your ideal state. This could be small changes that need to happen soon to fix a process or bigger changes you want to make to your app. This worksheet will help you identify the changes you need to make, who will be responsible for it, and the priority of this change. This exercise will help you scope out the changes you want to make and how much time you need to devote to them. If you find yourself with too much on your plate, this is also a great way of identifying if you need more app or account admins to help support your plans. Once you have your plan you are ready to get your team to work. Staying On Top of Change (Being an Admin After Day 90) At this stage you have completed your first 90 days as a new admin and have identified your companies' goals, found your most important apps, and created a plan for the work you need to do to support your team. The long-term path to success should include making sure you: Keep up to date on product changes Stay up to date on our monthly release notes Join a webinar to help expand your skills Join our Qrew discussions and discover a Qrew network to join Maintain your processes Determine a regular cadence to assess your apps Create an end user feedback loop Document what you’ve learned Continue building value Keep optimizing your apps Build new apps to support new teams or new workflows in your business Train someone to help you build and maintain apps Tip: We recommend every admin stays up to date on product changes in Quickbase including new features and encourage their team to give continuous feedback on how they can make their account and apps better. Inheriting Applications VS Inheriting an Account If you are taking over an account one of your best resources is going to be the app admins who manage the apps on your account. They will likely be a wealth of information on the apps they manage and what support they need to keep them running successfully. This is also a great time to identify any of your apps that don’t currently have an active admin. If you are taking over one or more apps as a new app admin instead you should also make sure you know the other app admins at your org as they might information and skills that will help you get up to speed. You should also make sure you know your organization’s account admin as they will know more about what plan you are on and features you have access to as a result, your account overall, and are a great resource when you need help. Your organization’s goals for using Quickbase and any key metrics your leadership cares about to track success Challenges you face either in your organization or team that need to be addressed in the short term (e.g. Is there a process that isn’t currently working? Do you need to finish an app on a specific timeline? Do you need to onboard new team members to your account?, etc.) Are there any specific apps that aren’t working or any groups that have a problem with your current apps? What are the key processes your organization relies on that run in Quickbase? This is to help you manage these new apps while transitioning your work, but if you find you can move ahead faster than that you do not have to wait that long. Each section will have advice for new account admins as well as those who are just taking over a new app and could use some help getting familiar with it. Now that you know what your team requires, you should take the documentation you’ve produced so far and identify what needs to change within Quickbase and start doing the work. This could include making sure you are familiar with recent features your account isn’t using and take training to gain the skills you need. Then you can use the Application Changes Worksheet from our workbook on your apps to help you document out what needs to change, who is responsible for it, and what the priority is of each change. Once you have a plan you and your team are ready to start making these changes and going beyond just getting to know your app and into truly taking ownership of them.0likes0CommentsHow to Start Building
Now that you have gotten settled into your new account, you may have big plans for what you want to build next. This might be a new app to help your team tackle their most important work, or an integration to pull data from the systems you rely on. This guide will introduce you to some of the most common methods to create a new app or integration you and your team can take advantage of. Table of Contents Options for Building Your Next App A. Smart Builder Chat-to-App B. Smart Builder AI Spreadsheet Import (Coming soon) C. Drag-and-Drop Visual Builder D. Lucidchart Import E. App Exchange Templates Options for Creating Integrations A. Pipelines B. Connected Tables C. Quickbase API (Advanced) Building Your Next App You may have already downloaded a demo app or two - or got help building your first app during your trial. There are a few different ways to create apps you may not have seen yet. Tip: We recommend new app builders make sure to take our Quickstart Course, a build-along course that teaches you the fundamentals of app building in Quickbase in less than an hour. A. Smart Builder Chat-to-App We know that a blank page can be daunting, so Smart Builder is here to give you a head start on creating a custom app designed for your business. Our Smart Builder takes the guesswork out of getting started on a new app with the help of AI. All you have to do is answer a few questions and in minutes Smart Builder will create an app that includes tables, fields, forms, reports, dashboards, and sample data for you. Learn more here B. Smart Builder AI Spreadsheet Import (Coming soon) Build a custom app – complete with your own data – by uploading your spreadsheet into Quickbase AI. AI Spreadsheet Import uses AI to transform and normalize even the most advanced spreadsheet into a Quickbase app. In less than two minutes, you will have a custom app that incorporates dynamic dashboards, automated workflows, relationships, and most importantly your own data. C. Drag-and-Drop Visual Builder If you already have a picture in your mind for your app and are ready to build it from scratch, our Drag-and-Drop Visual Builder can help. It is intuitive way to create or update your app by adding tables, fields, and relationships, all by dropping items onto a canvas. After you map out the basics of your app you can always come back to the Visual Builder to expand your app with new tables, relationships, and fields. Learn more here D. Import from Lucidchart Lucidchart is a popular tool for teams looking to document their workflows and we have partnered with them to support creating an app based on a Lucidchart entity relationship diagram (ERD) diagram. This enables you to visualize, design, and plan the schema of your app with your colleagues in Lucidchart, then quickly import it into Quickbase to create the new app. Learn more here E. Start with a Template App from our Exchange Choose a template that matches your needs from our library of ready-to-use business apps. Once you install it you can customize the app to your own workflow and team. Explore our Exchange here Creating Integrations While creating new apps to manage important workflows you may be wondering how to integrate with the systems your company already runs on. We have several options outlined below to help you integrate with key systems and automate your workflow to help you do away with manual work. A. Pipelines Use a drag-and-drop workflow builder with over 40 pre-built integrations to connect to the systems your business relies on, and automate your manual workflows, and streamline processes. B. Connected Tables Connected tables are for setting up quick, one-way integrations. The data is read-only and can be updated from an external source on a schedule. It can be used to pull data from: a connected service, like Salesforce.com, QuickBooks Online, Gmail, Exchange, and others. a connected folder containing CSV files stored in Box, Dropbox, Google Drive, or your SFTP server. another Quickbase app The Quickbase Admin Console Learn more about creating connected tables here C. Quickbase API (Advanced) Like many other software platforms Quickbase has an API that allows us to communicate and interface with other software applications. Think of it as a middleman that helps other systems to communicate with Quickbase and make requests. APIs are very common across systems and a developer familiar with them can use them to build custom integrations and workflows across different platforms. Learn about Quickbase's HTTP API Learn about our JSON RESTful APIs0likes0CommentsKeeping an eye on your account’s activity
Table of Contents 1. Tracking activity in your account What is a Realm Admin? 2. Audit Logs (All Plans) How do I turn on Audit Logs for an App? Manage data changes in Audit Logs Platform Analytics 3. Governance Core Apps and Admin Console Sync Tracking activity in your app In App Audit Logs Connection Central For some admins keeping an eye on your account’s usage might be as simple as knowing when their next renewal date is and how many users they have active in their account. For other admins, they may need even more insight into app and data changes to stay aligned with their organization’s IT policies on compliance and data management. We have several tools available to help you understand the activity happening in your account for all levels of oversight. Tracking activity in your account Your Admin Console will provide insights into activity taking place across your account. Since these features are in your Admin Console access to them is restricted to Account or Realm Admins. Learn about your Admin Console here What is a Realm Admin? If you are new to Quickbase you may not have heard about Realm Admins yet. Realm Admin is another role that exists to help manage access to specific settings and provide oversight in your account. The default Account Admin is given Realm Admin status when their account signs up. Audit Logs (All Plans) If you are a Realm Admin you will see the Audit Log tab in the left-hand menu in your Admin Console. Audit Logs provide visibility into users accessing the apps in your account, changes being made to your app’s structure, and changes being made to the data in your apps by users or automated workflows. All our plans offer Audit Logs, but each plan does offer different data retention timeframes you can Learn more about each plan’s audit log retention here. An active account can have many entries in their Audit Logs for a Realm Admin to sort through, so we offer filters including: start and end date App and Table user email address action type and more to help you find the changes you are most interested in If you aren’t able to see the Audit Logs tab you may not have Realm Admin permissions on your account. To add additional Realm Admins an existing Realm Admin must create and submit a support ticket with Quickbase Technical Support. Learn more about Audit Logs and the events they track here How do I turn on Audit Logs for an App? Manage data changes in Audit Logs Beyond just tracking changes in your account, Realm Admins can also use Audit Logs to help revert data changes in designated apps. If an app has data change tracking enabled, a Realm Admin will be able to see what data was changed or deleted during a given event and can revert specific impacted fields back to their previous value. To view data changes in Audit Logs: Access Audit Logs in your Admin Console In the Actions Column in the report find the record_add, record_edit, or record_delete action you are looking for Click on View data changes in the Description column to view the details of that change. If existing data was updated or deleted, they will be able to compare the previous values and the new values from the record. To restore the previous values in a record/field: Select the checkbox next to the field(s) you want to restore Select Restore previous values Learn more about managing data changes in audit logs here Learn how to enable data change logs for an app here Platform Analytics Platform Analytics are available in your Admin Console to help you capture quick insights into key metrics for both contract entitlements and general usage. This includes information such as: your contract period user access metrics the user and integration reads activity on your account This is a great place to quickly do a temperature check on your account when you are looking for some high-level information. Learn more about Platform Analytics here Governance Core Apps and Admin Console Sync (On Business and Enterprise Plans) Admin Console Sync must be set up by a Realm Admin An additional tool available to the Realm Admins, who need to create their own custom workflow for account data or share account activity insights with non-Real Admins, are the Governance Core Apps (GCA). Our GCA is a suite of Quickbase apps that pull data from the Admin Console into a Quickbase App using our Admin Console Sync. Using the GCA suite of apps allows you to share this data with others in your organization like your leadership team or IT team members using the custom permissions of a Quickbase App. It also lets you use Quickbase’s reporting, notification, and automation capabilities to help you do even more with your account usage data and automate notifications on key changes. Most importantly, it gives you a place to customize how you report and manage these changes to fit your own unique needs. Tracking activity in your app Along with the high-level insights into your account activity, we also have app-level features to help you get focused insights. These are available for any App Admin inside the app’s settings. This gives your app admins a way to keep an eye on their app’s activity and changes being made to the app’s structure. Resources Governance Core App E-Learning Get started setting up the Governance Core Apps here Connecting to the Quickbase Admin Console In App Audit Logs Often an App Admin would also like to be able to track changes in their apps just like a Realm Admin can see Audit Logs on their account. In-App Audit Logs allow any App Admin within an app insight into this data without needing to go to their Realm Admins. These audit logs can be found in each app under the app’s setting page. Opening In-App Audit Logs: Select App Settings from the app’s table bar Select App management in the Advanced Features column. Under Manage the App you will select Show audit logs Similar to Audit Logs in your Admin Console the In-App Audit Logs have options to filter and search by date, user email, table, action, and more. If data change logs have been enabled for their app they can also use the steps outline above in the Manage data changes in Audit Logs section of this article to restore data as well. Data change logs for an app need to be enabled by a Realm Admin, if you need them for an app make sure to partner with the Realm Admin at your account to get them enabled. Connection Central Connection Central is a centralized hub where an app admin can find information about the connections associated with a Quickbase app including pipelines and connected tables. This helps an admin understand how these features are being used in the app and the impact they may have on the data flow in the app. App admins can use Connection Central to find information like: Pipelines that use the app This include which tables and fields in the app are used by a pipeline Connected tables that use tables in the app as their source Opening Connection Central To find Connection Central while you are in an app, go to an app’s menu bar then App Settings, and then select Connection Central from Advanced Features. Learn more about Connection Central here.0likes0CommentsSingle Sign-On (SSO) & Security Settings
As a new admin getting started with Quickbase, you may be working with your IT team to make sure authentication and security settings in Quickbase align with your organization’s policies. In this article we will go over a few of the common security features available on our Business and Enterprise plans to help customers configure their account’s user authentication and security. Table of Contents 1. Quickbase Single Sign-On (SSO) and SAML 2. Password, Sign-in, and Security Policies 3. Who can create apps and integrations 4. Manage Pipelines channels 1. Quickbase Single Sign-On (SSO) and SAML Business and Enterprise Plans Single Sign-On allows users to access multiple systems and websites with a single set of user credentials (like a username and password), making it easier for them to log in. For organizations and IT teams, SSO can give them the ability to centralize how they manage users by connecting to a central Identify Provider (IdP) like Okta, OneLogin, Microsoft, Duo, and many others. This allows them to control users’ access to multiple systems, including Quickbase, in one place and streamline user management. Many Quickbase customers use our SAML authentication feature. Security Assertion Markup Language, or SAML, is a standardized way to tell external applications and services, such as Quickbase, that a user is who they say they are. SAML makes single sign-on (SSO) technology possible by providing a way to authenticate a user once and then communicate that authentication to multiple applications. Your realm administrator can enable user authentication to a Quickbase realm using SAML. Additionally, you can use SAML authentication to give approval status to any user in your realm, making it easier to manage access. When a user authenticates through SAML, signing in to Quickbase is typically handled through your corporate sign-in process but this set up does require some configuration. SAML authentication process The basic steps to set up SAML authentication to Quickbase are: Configure an Identity Provider (IdP) (Your IT team might already have one) Configure SAML within Quickbase, or if you need help with implementation contact Quickbase Technical Support or the team helping you with your onboarding. SAML, SSO, and realms Only one SAML configuration is possible with a single Quickbase realm. There are three configuration options you can use in a Quickbase realm: No SSO - All users gain access via Quickbase authentication All SSO - All users go through a single SSO configuration Some SSO - Some users authenticate through the SSO configuration, while some specific users are allowed to use Quickbase authentication instead SAML Resources SAML Authentication Overview Help Doc Configuring SAML Authentication 2. Password and Sign-in Policies On Business and Enterprise plans While your account may not decide to make use of SSO and SAML to control user access, you may still want to set up a password policy for your account. This allows you to set a standard for the minimum length of your password, when it needs to be reset, and other sign-in policy settings. You may also decide you want to leave it to the defaults that Quickbase uses and can change these policies at a later time if needed. How to set your realm's password, sign-in and security policies You will need to be a realm admin to access your accounts Policies tab To find these settings you will want to head to your Admin Console. You can use one of the following options to access your Admin Console: Select Admin Console from the global navigation menu In the Account Admin section on the My Apps page, click Manage my account. From the My Apps page, click Quickbase Admin, then Manage my realm If you aren’t a realm admin as well as an account admin, the drop down under Quickbase Admin reads Manage my account. It takes you to the admin console but may not let you access the Policies tab Once you are on your Account Summary page you would then click the Policies tab. *If you do not see this tab, you may not be a realm admin on your account Many of the settings on your policies page help you align Quickbase to your own organization's security policies. Tip: When in doubt on how they should be set up, we recommend connecting with your IT team to help you set up a plan for how Quickbase should be configured. In the Policies tab you will find options to set up: Password Policies – Setting a minimum password length, when your passwords expire, when you allow a password to be repeated, and more. Sign-in Policies - Setting session limits, limit sign-in retries, and requiring 2-step authentication. IP Policies - Whether you would like to apply any IP restrictions to your realm Security Policies – Settings to prevent external redirects, block embedding in iframes, restrict adding new users to your account to only realm admins, and more. Learn more about the full security policy options here 3. Who can create apps and integrations To configure who can create apps and integrations on your account you will want to head to your Admin Console, specifically your Permissions tab. You can use one of the following options to access your Account Console: Select Admin Console from the global navigation menu. In the Account Admin section on the My Apps page, click Manage my account. From the My Apps page, click Quickbase Admin, then Manage my account If you are a realm admin as well as an account admin, the drop down under Quickbase Admin reads Manage the realm. Select the Permissions tab from the menu You may already be familiar with your Permissions tab as the place you can set up who has admin access to your account. This is also where you can set up several default permissions for the users on your account. Specifically, we are going to talk about how you can control who is able to create a new app or access Pipelines in your account. Many accounts are set to allow all users to create apps and access Pipelines, but you can also set it to only specific users are able to create apps or access Pipelines using the options shown below. If you chose to only allow specific users to have these permissions, you would want to add them to the Permitted Users and Groups table at the bottom of the Permissions page. If you don't see the person you are looking for, you can click the Add user, group, or email domain group button and, in the User Picker that appears select the users or groups that need to be added to the list. Once you find the user(s) you would like to edit, you can set whether they can Create Apps using the Create app column on the report and if they can access Pipelines with the Build pipelines column. When you make changes to their permissions, they are saved immediately. Tip: We do recommend that accounts have at least 3 users with create permissions to help share the work of creating new apps for your account and cover for vacations or future transitions and that you have at least two users who can access Pipelines for the same reasons. 4. Pipelines channels available On Enterprise plans Quickbase Pipelines allows app builders to build integrations to other popular cloud-based software tools and automate important tasks in Quickbase. Sometimes, admins choose to restrict which channels, a specific pre-built integration, their account can use to help ensure proper compliance with your data governance policies and prevent data leakage. Role needed: account admin or realm admin To view a list of all available channels: In our waffle menu in the upper left-hand corner of the screen when you are signed into Quickbase, select Pipelines. Select Channels - this opens a list of all available channels. To manage which channels are available in Pipelines from the Admin Console: On the My Apps page, select Quickbase Admin in the upper right, and then select Manage the realm or Manage the Account, as your case may be. This opens the Admin Console. In the Admin Console, select the Pipelines tab from the menu. From the Pipelines section of the Admin Console, the realm or account admin can turn access to channels on or off. Note: If a channel is turned off, any pipeline using that channel has a limited time to complete before being canceled and blocked in the future.0likes0Comments
