This chapter describes how PORTALPRODIGY security works. PORTALPRODIGY uses a role based security model to control access to the various feature components and resources contained within your Website.  Instead of calling them roles, PORTALPRODIGY uses the term Security Groups.  Thus Contacts are assigned to Security Groups which grant permissions to the various feature components and resources.  Contacts (Users) are assigned to Security Groups using Contact Management.  Security Groups are created and maintained using Security Group Management.

 

Contacts can be assigned to more than one Security Group.  When a Contact is assigned to more than one Security Group, PORTALPRODIGY grants the Contact the highest level access permissions amongst the assigned Security Groups.  In other words, PORTALPRODIGY looks into each Security Group that the Contact belongs to and determines the highest level access permissions for the particular resource the Contact (User) is attempting to access.

 

Security Group Management provides a list of Feature Components Resources.  Each of the listed Feature Components Resources has three levels of access permissions:

 

No Access:  used to deny access.  The user will get a message that they do not have access permissions to the requested Resource.

§         Read Only:  used to grant access for viewing only.  The user will not be allowed to add, edit or delete data.

§         Edit:  used to grant full rights.  The user will be allowed to add, edit and delete data.

PORTALPRODIGY comes with some pre-installed Security Groups, which are shown in the image below:

 

Some of the pre-installed Security Groups cannot be deleted.  This is because they are used for special purposes that are described in the Security Feature Components section of this Chapter.  When a Security Group is special and cannot be deleted, the  button will be not be visible on the Security Management page.

 

All visitors to your PORTALPRODIGY based Website are automatically assigned to the Visitor Security Groups.  Consequently you can control visitor access by editing the Visitor Security Group.

 

If a visitor is not logged into your Website and attempts to access something that requires permission to access, PORTALPRODIGY will prompt the visitor to login.  If after logging in the visitor does not belong to a Security Group that has been granted access permission to the feature component or resource they are attempting to access, PORTALPRODIGY will notify the visitor of this.

 

When a visitor signs-up on your Website, a process that involves filling out a registration form, PORTALPRODIGY automatically assigns them to the User Security Groups.  Consequently you can control the access permissions of registered users by editing the User Security Group.

 

Memberships can be configured to automatically assign users to a specified Security Group.  They can even be assigned to different Security Groups based on their membership standing such as whether they are an applicant pending membership approval, an approved and active member, or a lapsed member.

 

PORTALPRODIGY also provides the ability to make an individual resource such as a specific discussion, document, event, or survey private.  When a resource is made private, the visitor must belong to a Security Group that has been assigned to the resource.  Security Groups are assigned to resources in the management component for the resource.  For example, to make an Event private, a permitted administrator selects by retrieved the Event in Event Management and changing the Private field from No to Yes.  The administrator then selects each Security Group that is granted access to the event.

 

PORTALPRODIGY offers another type of user group called Special Interest Groups.  Special Interest Groups are used to categorize contacts and are highly useful for sending targeted email, postal mailings, product promotion coupons and or printing contact lists.  Permitted administrators create Special Interest Groups using the Groups Management feature.   Selected Special Interest Groups can be offered as choices on the user signup (registration) page.  Special Interest Groups can also be assigned using the Contact Management feature. 

 

User Groups and Security benefits include:

 

• Role based security model.
• Ability to individually assign for each feature based and role either: No Access, Read Only, or Edit Rights.
• Ability to designate content (data such as events, documents, etc.) as Private and limit access to permitted Security Groups (Roles).
• Secure pages and content protected by SSL 128 bit encryption.
• Encryption supported with certificate from certified authentication authority.
• Allows creation of unlimited number of roles (Security Groups).
• Visitors automatically assigned to a controllable Security Group.
• Ability to automatically assign roles and access rights upon user signup and membership registration.  
• Each membership type may be configured to assign different roles and access rights.
• Set minimum required password length.
• Ability to disable signup (registration) option. 
• Authorized Administrator can individually assign roles (Security Groups) to users, members and other contacts via the Contact Management feature.
• Ability to define Special Interest Groups for categorizing users, members and other contacts.
• Send targeted email and/or print campaigns to selected Special Interest Groups or Security Groups (Roles).  Can be used for product promotions, membership drives, calls to action, etc.
• Users can be given access to assign themselves to selected Special Interest Groups when registering and when updating their user profile.

 

Some of the components of the User Groups and security feature, discussed in detail in this chapter, are:

 

Login page:

Login Name Field

Password Field

Login option

New User Signup option

Not permitted access message

 

Groups page:

Include Deactivated Records option

Manage Security Groups option

Manage Special Interest Groups option

Listing of Security Groups

Add New Security Group option

Print page option

 

Pre-defined Security Groups:

Admin

Customer

Member

Registrant

Resource

Users

Visitors

 

Security Group Management page:

Group Name

Created By User and Date

Last Modified By User and Date

Active flag

Chapter ID

For each Resource:

§         Resource Name

§         No Access option

§         Read Only option

§         Edit option

 

Resources:

Administration Of Advertisements

Administration of Appearance

Administration of Broadcasting

Administration of Categories

Administration of Companies

Administration of Discussions

Administration of Documents

Administration of Events

Administration of Exchanges

Administration of LRCA

Administration of Member Directories

Administration of Members

Administration of News

Administration of Newsletters

Administration of Notes Created by All

Administration of Notes Created by User

Administration of Orders

Administration of Payments

Administration of Press Releases

Administration of Products

Administration of Reporting

Administration of Reports Maintenance

Administration of Site Main Menu

Administration of Surveys

Administration of Users and Security

Administrator Entry for Member

Advertisment (Client Part)

Ask The Expert (on Public portion of the site)

Biographies (on Public Portion of Site)

CAdministration of CreditApps

CCAdmin (Client & Company)

Discussions Add Topics (on Public portion of site)

Discussions Browse (on Public portion of site)

Discussions Reply (on Public portion of site)

Events (on Public portion of site)

Exchanges(on Public portion of site)

Import Queries

LRCA (LRCA (on Public Portion))

Member Directories(on Public portion of site)

Membership Types (Client Part)

Membership Types (Client Part)

News (on Public portion of site)

Page Main

Press Release( on Public portion of site)

Product Download

Products and Orders (on Public portion of site)

ResourceDocLibrary-Add&Update (Public)

Resources (on Public portion of site)

Run Query

Surveys (on Public portion of site)

View Registrants (on Public portion of site)