Accounts and roles

Accounts and roles

Overview

Every user that accesses your platform must have an account. An account can be any combination of the 'learner', 'instructor',  'monitor', 'manager' and/or 'administrator' roles.

This article covers administrator account functions, including managing roles, creating accounts, configuring account fields, and adding account rules.

Info
Please note the business platform uses the term 'learners' and the academia platform uses the term 'students'. The terms 'learners' and 'students' are interchangeable in this article.
Info
Please note the business platform uses the term 'instructors' and the academia platform uses the term 'teachers'. The terms 'instructors' and 'teachers' are interchangeable in this article.

Managing roles

The platform has many built-in roles that are available by default. The platform also allows to you to create custom roles.

To view and manage roles:
  1. Click Admin from the primary navigation menu.
  2. Click Accounts from the fly-out menu.
  3. Click the Roles tab. 
Here you will see all available role/account types for your site. Account types such as Learner, Instructor, and Administrator are enabled by default.

Super administrators can also enable the Teaching assistants, Parents, Mentor and Monitor roles.
Info
For more information about each role, visit the Account types article.
Admin, Accounts, Roles tab

Adding custom business roles

Super administrators can add new roles that can be applied to any user account in the business. To add a new custom business role, super administrators:
  1. Click Admin from the primary navigation menu.
  2. Click Accounts from the fly-out menu.
  3. Click the Roles tab.
  4. Click + Add.

The Add role pop-up displays.

  1. Enter a Name for the role.
  2. Enter a Description. 
The Add role pop-up with the Name and Description fields highlighted

  1. Then, click the Parent drop-down menu to select the parent role for the new role.
    1. The new role will be initially created with the same permissions as the parent role.
  2. Click Save.
The Add role pop-up with the Parent menu active

The new role is listed under the parent role in the roles hierarchy. In the example below, the new custom role of Visiting Instructor is listed below the parent Instructor role.

  1. Click the edit  Edit icon icon to change the custom role name and/or description.
  2. Click the delete Delete icon icon to delete the custom role.
InfoNote: You can delete the custom role only if there are no users assigned to the role.
Admin, Accounts, Roles with the default Instructor role and the custom Visiting Instructor role highlighted

Once created, the new custom role will display in the business permissions grid, where you can customize the new role's permissions. To access the Permissions page:

  1. Click Admin from the primary navigation menu.
  2. Click Permissions from the fly-out menu.
  3. Click the Business tab.
Admin, Permissions, Overview tab with the Business tab highlighted

The custom role is listed in the permissions grid and has the same permissions as its parent role.

Admin, Permissions, Business tab, Default organization permissions table with the Instructor and Visiting instructor columns highlighted

To edit role permissions, including the permissions for the custom role:

  1. Click Edit.
Admin, Permissions, Business tab, Default organization permissions table with the Edit button highlighted

The Permissions grid updates to checkboxes for each role and permission.

  1. Select or deselect settings for the custom role.
  2. Once the custom role is configured, click Save.
Admin, Permissions, Business tab, Default organization permissions table with the Visiting instructor column editable and highlighted

The permissions are updated for the custom role and display in the Permissions grid.

Admin, Permissions, Business tab, Default organization permissions table with the Visiting instructor column highlighted

If you would like to learn even more about custom roles and permissions, check out the latest CYPHER Live webinar series.

Editing course roles

If the custom role belongs to an Administrator, Monitor, or Content Administrator role, the custom role will also appear under the Courses permissions grid. Here you can configure specific course related permissions. To access the Courses permissions grid:

  1. Click Admin from the primary navigation menu.
  2. Click Permissions from the fly-out menu.
  3. Click the Courses tab.
    1. The custom role is listed in the Course permissions grid with the same permissions as its parent role.
  4. Click Edit to edit the course permissions of the custom role.
Info
Note - If users have the Instructor role and are added as an Instructor to a course, their permissions will match the business Course Instructor role. 
Admin, Permissions, Courses tab, Default organization permissions table with the Edit button, Admin Assistant and Administrator columns highlighted

The Course level permissions become editable.

  1. Select/deselect settings to configure the custom role.
  2. Click Save.
Admin, Permissions, Courses tab, Default organization permissions table with the Save button highlighted, and the Admin Assistant column editable and highlighted

Enable Administrators to create custom roles

By default, only Super Administrators have the ability to create and manage custom roles. Super administrators can choose to expand the default Administrator role so that other Administrators can also create and manage custom roles. To enable Administrators to create and manage custom roles, Super administrators:

  1. Click Admin from the primary navigation menu.
  2. Click Permissions from the fly-out menu.
  3. Click Edit.
  4. Select the checkbox to allow Administrators (or other custom roles) to Create and manage custom roles.
Admin, Permissions, Miscellaneous permissions section with the Create and manager custom roles row highlighted

Assigning a custom role

After creating custom roles, they become available to assign to users. To assign a custom role to a new user using a Form:

  1. Click Admin from the primary navigation menu.
  2. Click Accounts from the fly-out menu.
  3. Click the Form tab.
  4. Select one of the custom roles you created in the Custom roles section. 
Info
Note - Creating user accounts will be covered in greater detail in the next section of this article. 
Admin, Accounts, Form tab with the Custom roles section highlighted

Once assigned, the custom role will appear on the user’s profile page.

User profile picture with the Visiting instructor role highlighted on the account

When viewing the Users catalog, users with a custom role will appear in the tab of the parent role, with the custom role indicated below the user’s name.

For example, a Visiting instructor would appear in the Instructors tab. 

Users, Instructors tab with a user with the Visiting instructor role highlighted

Additional Notes
  1. API 3.0 supports the creation and management of users with custom roles.
  2. The platform does not currently support reporting on custom roles, email invites for custom roles, and registration codes for custom roles. 

Adding accounts

There are a variety of ways to add accounts to the platform including:

  • Using a form.
  • Email invitations.
  • Allow visitors to sign up from your portal.
  • Allow visitors to create accounts via your course catalog.
  • Import them via a bulk upload.
  • Using LDAP.
  • Using the API.
This article will cover each account creation process in more detail.

Admin, Accounts, Overview tab

Add accounts using a form

You can add accounts directly to the platform by using a default form . To add account(s) using a form:

  1. Click Admin from the primary navigation menu.
  2. Click Accounts from the fly-out menu.
  3. Click the Form tab.
To create the account(s), you must first make the following selections:
  1. Select a default or custom role for the account.
  2. Select the organization for the account.
  3. Select if you will require the user(s) to change their passwords when they first log in.
    1. Please note this option does not apply to users who login with SSO.
  4. Select if you will send log-in instructions to the user(s).
  5. Determine how many accounts you want to create.
  6. Click Continue.

Admin, Accounts, Form tab

The second form page requires a First and Last name for the account(s). Every other field is optional. 
  1. The First name and Last name fields are required, and have a 50 character limit.
  2. If you leave the username and password fields blank, both will be generated by the platform.
    1. Platform generated passwords are shown to the user because it is not a personal password.
  3. If you enter a password for a user when creating the account, it will always be displayed as *******.  By default, all passwords that are explicitly provided are encrypted for security reasons.
  4. To customize the email sent to the new user(s), click the 'To customize the 'New account' login instructions, click here' link.
    1. Then click New account.
    2. You can override the default 'from' email name and address, as well as the default subject and content of the login instructions. The phrases "#{@user.userid}" and "#{@user.password}" are replaced with the user's user id and password, respectively. This feature is useful if you need to include additional login instructions or a custom welcome message.
  5. After completing the form, click Save.
Enter account information page, with the 'To customize the 'New account' login instructions click here' link highlighted

A list of the new account(s) is displayed, and (if enabled) the log-in instructions are sent to the new user(s).

The Summary page for a newly created account

Account Password Security

When creating accounts, it's important to determine your platform's password security settings. To access and edit password security settings:
  1. Click Admin from the primary navigation menu.
  2. Click Policies from the fly-out menu.
Admin fly-out menu with Policies highlighted

The General tab opens with multiple password settings.  To enable the use of strong passwords:

  1. Click the edit icon for the 'Strong passwords' feature in the Log in section.
Admin, Policies, General tab with the Edit icon highlighted for the Strong passwords setting

The Password strength pop-up displays.

  1. Select the desired regex (regular expressions) password requirement.
  2. Select Custom regex if you would like to set your own password requirements.
  3. Click Save.
Password strength pop-up with the Save button highlighted

The Policies, General tab also allows you to set how often users must select new passwords without re-using previous passwords. To limit the number of previous passwords that can not be used:
  1. Click the edit icon for the 'Number of last passwords that cannot be re-used' setting in the Log in section.


The Password history pop-up displays.
  1. Click the Number of last passwords that cannot be re-used drop-down menu .
  2. Select the number of previous passwords that can not be used or select Disable to disable the setting.
  3. Click Save.

Password history pop-up with the 'Number of last passwords that cannot be reused' menu active

The Policies, General tab also allows you to set the number of login attempts a user can make before being locked out of their account. To set the number of attempts:
  1. Click the edit icon for the 'Number of attempts before account lockout' setting in the Log in section.  

The Lockout threshold pop-up displays.

  1. Click the Number of attempts before account lockout drop-down menu .
  2. Select the number of attempts before account lockout or select Disable to disable the setting.
  3. Click Save.

Lockout threshold pop-up with the 'Number of attempts before account lockout' menu active

Once this option is enabled, if a user surpasses the set number of invalid login attempts, the system will suspend the account and display an error message. 

Info
Note that the invalid login counter resets after one day. 
User profile with a 'This user is currently suspended due to too many invalid logins' message

Email invitations

Another way to create accounts is by emailing invitations directly to users. To add account(s) using email invitations:

  1. Click Admin from the primary navigation menu.
  2. Click Accounts from the fly-out menu.
  3. Click the Email tab.
To send the email invitations, you must make the following selections:
  1. Select a default or custom role for the account(s).
  2. Select the organization for the account(s).
  3. Determine how many invitations you would like to send.
  4. Click Continue.

Admin, Accounts, Email tab

The number of invitations displayed are based on the number you selected on the previous screen.
  1. Enter an Email address, First name, and Last name for each account.
    1. Note their is a 50 character limit for First name and Last name.
  2. Then click Send.
Admin, Accounts, Email tab, Email invitation information page with one user listed

To view the invitations that were sent:

  1. Click Users from the primary navigation menu.
  2. Click Invited from the fly-out menu.
Users, Invited tab with one user listed

An email is sent to each user. The email includes the invitation message and a clickable link.

Email invitation to create an account

When the user clicks the link, they are sent to the platform to sign up.

  1. The user is able to set their own login credentials.
  2. After filling in the required fields, the user clicks Submit.
  3. The user will be logged into their new account.
Visitor portal, Sign up page

Allow visitors to sign up from your portal

Another way to create accounts is by allowing visitors to sign up from your visitor portal. It is a useful method if you want to avoid creating accounts manually and want to allow people to create their own accounts. To allow visitors to create their own accounts:

  1. Click Admin from the primary navigation menu.
  2. Click Accounts from the fly-out menu.
  3. Click the Sign up tab.
  4. Select No access code required.
    1. If you select this option, learners and instructors can sign up for an account just by clicking the Sign-up button on your visitor portal and then entering their account details.
  5. Or select Access code required.
    1. This option allows you to create access codes which can be used by new users to create accounts on your site. 
Admin, Accounts, Sign up tab with Access code required selected

If you allow visitors to sign up from your visitor portal, they can select their organization by default when creating the account. You can configure this setting by selecting or deselecting any of the following options:

  1. Use text input field instead of dropdown for organization field to prevent learners from seeing list of organizations: Select this option if you do not want to display the full list of organizations to users during sign-up.
    1. Please note this option can cause issues if users are unfamiliar with available organizations, make spelling mistakes, etc.
  2. Start with default organization in dropdown instead of "select organizations": This option will show learners the default organization in the dropdown.
  3. Allow user to select "Other" in dropdown and enter new organization name: This option allows users to enter a new organization name.

If you selected "Access code required" in the Sign-up section, two new sections display.

  1. Click Edit in the Sign up instructions section to edit the sign up box text.
  2. Click Edit in the Access codes section to set the required access codes for each account type/role. 
Admin, Accounts, Sign up tab, Sign up instruction and Access codes sections with Access code examples for various roles

After clicking Edit, you can enable and set access codes for each account type.

  1. Click Always or Duration to require an access code for an account type.
  2. Enter the Access code for the account type.
    1. Note that you don't have to specify an access code for courses because course access codes are automatically generated.
  3. Click Save.
Admin, Accounts, Sign up tab, Edit access codes page

If you provide the account type access code to learners, instructors, and/or administrators, they can join your site by:

  1. Accessing your visitor portal.
  2. Clicking Log in.
  3. Entering the provided access code for their account type/role.
  4. Clicking Sign up. 
  5. Entering their account details.
Visitor portal, Log in pop-up with a text field to enter an access code to sign up

Allow visitors to create accounts via your course catalog

Another way to create accounts is by allowing visitors to sign up directly from the course catalog. It is another useful method if you want to avoid creating accounts manually and want to allow people to create their own accounts. To allow visitors to create their own accounts through the course catalog:

  1. Click Admin from the primary navigation menu.
  2. Click Accounts from the fly-out menu.
  3. Click the More tab.
  4. Select the Allow catalog visitors to create account checkbox.
Admin, Accounts, More tab with both options selected

After enabling this option, visitors that browse the course catalog and choose to enroll in a course will see a new option in the Enroll pop-up.

  1. Visitors without an account can click Create an account.
  2. Visitors will then enter their account details in a form to create an account and gain access to the platform.
Course catalog, Enroll pop-up to Create an account or Sign into existing account

Importing accounts 

This option allows you to quickly create or update accounts by importing the information from a comma-separated value (CSV) file.

To learn more about how to import accounts, visit the Import article.

Using LDAP to add accounts

LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) is a standard network protocol for accessing and managing directory services.

To learn how to add accounts using LDAP, visit the LDAP article.

Using the API to add accounts

To learn how to add accounts using an API, visit the API 3.0 article.

Configuring account fields

The platform allows you to configure account fields, including:
  1. Which fields can be entered during account sign-up.
  2. Which fields are optional.
  3. Which fields learners can change once their account has been created.
  4. Creating custom fields.
    1. You can add up to 20 custom fields such as 'emergency contact information', 'or "allergies". 
To access account fields:
  1. Click Admin from the primary navigation menu.
  2. Click Accounts from the fly-out menu.
  3. Click the Fields tab.
Existing fields display, along with their configured settings. To add a new custom field:
  1. Click Add custom field.
Admin, Accounts, Fields tab

The Add custom field pop-up displays.

  1. Select the type of field you want to add.
    1. In this example, Dropdown will be selected.
Add custom field pop

The Add custom field: Dropdown page displays.

  1. First, select the general category for the field.
    1. You can choose between Name, Log in, Basics, Contact, Location, or Miscellaneous.

Continue to configure your new field:

  1. Enter the name of the field.
    1. In this example, the new field is 'Preferred contract method'.
  2. Enter the choices that will display in the dropdown, with choices separated by a comma.
  3. Choose settings for the field:
    1. Enter on sign up: Determine if the field will be included when users sign up for new accounts.
    2. Optional on sign up: Determine if the field will be required or optional for new accounts upon sign-up.
    3. Editable: Determine if users can edit this field after their account has been created.
  4. Select which account types the new field will be added to.
  5. Enable or disable the new field.
    1. By default, when you create a new field, it's enabled. 
    2. A disabled account field does not display in account forms or profile pages.
  6. Click Save.

The new custom field and its configuration settings display along with the other platform fields.  

Admin, Accounts, Field tab with the new custom field highlighted

Default user settings

The platform allows you to specify a "default user" whose settings are copied whenever a new user is created. The following settings are copied:

  1. The notifications configuration that specifies which notifications are copied to email/mobile app.
  2. The newsfeed configuration that specifies which feeds are shown on the user's Newsfeed.
  3. Whether friends are allowed.
  4. Whether the user can see other online learners.
  5. Whether they appear as online to fellow learners.
  6. Whether chat requests are allowed.
  7. Display settings such as whether the small calendar is displayed on the dashboard area.
To set a default user:
  1. Click Admin from the primary navigation menu.
  2. Click Accounts from the fly-out menu
  3. Click the Settings tab.
  4. Click + Add.

Admin, Accounts, Settings tab

The Select a user pop-up displays.
  1. Use the search filters to locate a user account that will be used as the default account.
  2. Select the user.
  3. Click Submit. 
Select a user pop-up

The default user will now be displayed in the Settings tab.

  1. Click Edit to edit the default user.
  2. Click Clear to delete the default user.
  3. Click Apply to existing users to apply the default user settings to existing users.

Admin, Accounts, Settings tab with a user selected as the default user profile

User profile tabs

The platform allows administrators to enable, disable, and re-order the tabs that display on users' profiles. They can also add custom tabs that will be available on users' profile pages.

To configure the Profile tabs:
  1. Click Admin from the primary navigation menu.
  2. Click Accounts from the fly-out menu.
  3. Click the Profiles tab.
Existing profile tabs display, where administrators can enable/disable and reorder tabs.

To add a custom profile tab:

  1. Click + Add.

The new custom tab page displays.

  1. Enter a Title for the tab.
  2. Enter the tab's content using the built-in HTML editor. To make the tab personalized for each user, you can use a special syntax {{variable}}.
    1. The initial set of variables are similar to those in rule actions - user_first_name, user_last_name, user_full_name, user_full_name_with_link, user_email, and user_id.
  3. Click Save.

Admin, Accounts, new profile tab page with an example of a new tab title and content

The custom tab displays along with the existing Profile tabs.
  1. Click the edit  Edit icon icon to edit the tab.
  2. Deselect the Enable? checkbox to disable the tab.
  3. Click the delete Delete icon icon to delete the tab.


If the tab is enabled, it displays on each user's profile page.

User profile page with a new, custom profile tab highlighted

Rules for accounts

The platform has a robust rules engine that allows you to customize the user experience and automate a variety of actions, including actions that occur when users are added, when users log in, and when users are inactive.

To access the Rules area for accounts:
  1. Click Admin from the primary navigation menu.
  2. Click Accounts from the fly-out menu.
  3. Click the Rules tab.

Added actions

Actions that are triggered when users accounts are added to the platform are listed in the Added actions section. To add a new action:
  1. Click + Add in the Added actions section.
Admin, Accounts, Rules tab with the Add button highlighted in the Added actions section

The Add action pop-up displays. Select an action that will occur when users are added to the platform. Depending on the set-up of your platform, the following actions are available across multiple tabs:

  1. Awards: Award badge, Award certificate, Award coupon, Award points.
  2. Integrations: Webhook, xAPI
    1. Additional integration options vary based on the set-up of your platform.
  3. Membership: Add to group, Enroll in course, Remove from group.
  4. Other: Add tag, Add to-do item, Archive, Remove tag, Send custom notification, and Send canned message.
For more details on actions, visit the Rules article.

Add action pop-up, Awards tab

Login actions

The Rules tab also allows you to add integration actions that are triggered when users log in. To add a login action:
  1. Click + Add in the Login actions section.
Admin, Accounts, Rules tab with the Add button highlighted in the Login actions section

The Add action pop-up displays with the Integration tab options.

  1. Click Webhook or xAPI to add an integration action that will occur when users login.
For more details on actions, visit the Rules article.

Add action pop-up, Integrations tab

Inactivity actions

The platform also allows you to add actions that are triggered if users don't access their accounts for a specified period of time. To create an inactivity rule:
  1. Click Admin from the primary navigation menu.
  2. Click Accounts from the fly-out menu.
  3. Click the Inactivity tab.
Then, specify what qualifies a learner as inactive. To do this, set the number of days a learner can go without visiting the site before being considered inactive:
  1. Click the Edit  icon for the 'Number of days of not visiting the course before learners is considered inactive' setting in the Inactivity section. 
  2. Select a number of days to consider a learner inactive.
  3. Click Save.
Admin, Accounts, Inactivity tab with the Inactivity pop-up and 50 selected from the drop-down menu

You can then add inactivity actions that are triggered once the number of inactive days specified has passed. To add an inactivity action:

  1. Click + Add in the Inactivity actions section.

Admin, Accounts, Inactivity tab with the Add button highlighted in the Inactivity actions section

The Add action pop-up displays. Depending on the set-up of your platform, the following actions are available across multiple tabs:
  1. Awards: Award badge, Award certificate, Award coupon, Award points.
  2. Integrations: Webhook, xAPI
    1. Additional integration options vary based on the set-up of your platform.
  3. Membership: Add to group, Enroll in course, Remove from group.
  4. Other: Add tag, Add to-do item, Archive, Remove tag, and Send custom notification.
These actions provide you with a variety of options. For example, you can select the Archive action from the Other tab and have users automatically archived if they have not visited the site in a set number of days.
Add actions pop-up, Membership tab

You can add one or more optional filters to any rule action so that the action is only taken for users that satisfy the filters. In the example below, users will be enrolled in the 'Team Leadership and Collaboration' course if they are in the CYPHER Learning organization and also in the First Line Manager group.

To learn more, visit the Filters article.

Enroll in course action pop-up, with a course selected and two filters added

Configuring avatars

Administrators can also configure user avatar settings. To configure avatar settings:

  1. Click Admin from the primary navigation menu.
  2. Click Accounts from the fly-out menu.
  3. Click the Avatars tab.
There are multiple settings including:
  1. Avatar library: If enabled, users can choose avatars for their profiles from the Avatar library.
  2. Use child avatars for learners: If enabled, child avatars become available for learners and students to select.
    1. Please note if this option is selected, only child avatars display for learners and students.
  3. Show all avatars regardless of gender: If enabled, all avatars are available to learners to select, regardless of the learner's gender.
  4. Allow learners to upload profile pictures: If enabled, learners can upload their own profile pictures.

You can also add a default avatar for your portal, which will be used when new accounts are created. To add a default avatar:

  1. Click + Add in the Configure default avatar section.
  2. Upload an image.
  3. Click Save.
Info
Note that if a default avatar isn't uploaded, users are assigned a generic avatar from the gallery. 
Admin, Accounts, Avatars tab

Custom HTML account form

The platform allows you to upload a custom HTML form that overrides the default form that is displayed when a user creates an account. To upload a custom HTML account form:

  1. Click Admin from the primary navigation menu.
  2. Click Accounts from the fly-out menu.
  3. Click the Custom tab.
  4. Click + Add to add your custom HTML file.
Admin, Accounts, Custom tab

More tab

There are several options available in the Administrator Accounts More tab. To access these settings:

  1. Click Admin from the primary navigation menu.
  2. Click Accounts from the fly-out menu.
  3. Click the More tab.
On the More tab, you can enable the following settings:
  1. Allow catalog visitors to create account: If enabled, this setting allows visitors to enroll in a course and create an account directly from the visitor course catalog.
  2. Set account address to the business/school address by default: If enabled, this setting sets the account address as the business or school address.
Admin, Accounts, More tab with both options selected

Exporting accounts

To learn how to export accounts to a CSV file, visit the Export section. 

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