Forum Discussion

HeatherBryant2's avatar
HeatherBryant2
Qrew Assistant Captain
6 years ago

Using Test as Role versus App-wide Filters

The main table of my app is Clients. Clients is the parent to 10 tables. When a Client account is closed, there is a 'Closed' checkbox. I carry this checkbox to all my other tables and typically would filter in each report to not show records where the Related Client has Closed marked as True, except in one report which would filter to only show those Related Clients' records.

It's not hard for me to implement that filter, but sometimes annoying. And, more so, for my users who create personal reports and don't know or remember to always implement that filter, it can be unfriendly.

I was wondering if I should filter at the Role level, to not show records where the Related Client has Closed as true. And then create a separate role called 'View Closed Clients', where users could switch to that role (all my users that need to see closed records have the ability to Test as a Role).

What do you all think about that?

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Heather Bryant
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reports and charts
roles and permissions
  • LauraThacker's avatar
    LauraThacker
    Qrew Captain
    6 years ago
    If there is no value/reason why a user should be viewing Closed-Client child-related data; then perhaps a half-way solution is to lock down child-table record reporting to automatically exclude Closed-Client records at the Role level, so even if they forget to filter they will not see them; but leave the visibility in the Client table.

    Another option in the Client table is to make the Closed Client more identifiable using a formula-field that displays the Client Name instead of the usual [Client Name] field; and when the client is closed to append text to the Client Name ie.  (You can then choose whether to make the usual [Client Name] field reportable or not.
     
    Client Name ** CLOSED **
    Client Name
    Client Name

    This will help visually to remind them they have not filtered the Closed Clients.

    You could give them role-switching permissions; but I do not think this is something most users will understand very well and could cause more frustration; especially if you make it a view-only role and suddenly they cannot edit anything.


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    Laura Thacker (IDS)
    laura@intelligentdbs.com
    (626) 771 0454
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