Managing user roles and data access between systems can be a daunting task for organizations with hundreds or thousands of users, especially when users need distinct levels of access based on their role, location, or other dynamic factors.
In TARGIT’s end-to-end business intelligence (BI) solution, user rights and roles are essential for defining license scope and data access. However, managing these roles can become complicated and time-consuming for organizations with complex data access requirements and a diverse group of BI users.
So how can these organizations simplify rights and access while also lessening their internal IT workload?
Enter parametric roles — a powerful TARGIT feature that simplifies access control in dynamic environments by defining each user’s level of access the moment they log into the system.
Organizations with a large volume of BI users, like retail operations or municipalities, often face tricky role management scenarios.
Take, for instance, a retail chain managing roles for employees across different departments — kitchen staff, cashiers, and front-of-house (FOH) personnel. The on-site managers at each location need to see information about their respective departments, while frontline staff may also need separate views to see trends and performance metrics related to their specific roles.
What’s more, someone like a district HR Manager may need specialized access to key data points, like viewing salary information for one subset of employees at Location A, all employees at Location B, and none of the employees at Location C. Such nuanced control is difficult to maintain manually, especially with an advanced security model or licensing structure.
When internal IT teams are tasked with managing access controls across hundreds or even thousands of users, manually creating and updating roles can be both labor-intensive and error-prone. This is where TARGIT’s parametric roles come into play by eliminating manual role creation and management in favor of adaptable roles that always stay up to date.
Parametric roles in TARGIT allow organizations to dynamically generate user roles on the fly rather than predefining them within the TARGIT Management environment.
For example, one of TARGIT’s OEM customers has already implemented this system by integrating their identity provider (IDP) with TARGIT's parametric role functionality. When a user logs into the OEM’s platform, TARGIT makes a call back to the IDP to dynamically determine the user’s data access and grant it accordingly.
That way, administrators don’t have to update role configurations manually when a user’s role or access changes. Instead, the dynamic role is configured instantly based on the user’s credentials, streamlining role management and reducing administrative overhead.
Whether TARGIT is running independently or embedded within another software system, parametric roles automatically determine and apply data access permissions based on predefined parameters. By using this type of on-the-fly role creation, organizations can enhance security, reduce administrative burdens, and provide more targeted data access to everyone.
While parametric roles can benefit any organization, they are particularly helpful for large workforces with several unique, ever-changing roles. Typically, organizations managing 20 or more distinct roles will find significant value in this approach.
To implement parametric roles effectively, organizations will need to align their data structures within TARGIT and the source system, like an ERP, CRM, or DMS.
For instance, if a certain storefront is represented by ID 120 in TARGIT’s data warehouse, it must have the same identifier in the IDP to ensure correct data mapping. This alignment is essential but requires coordination, making it crucial to have a comprehensive data governance plan and organized data library in each source system.
If you're considering parametric roles, check that your IT infrastructure aligns with TARGIT’s data warehouse for a smooth integration.
TARGIT’s parametric roles offer a dynamic, scalable approach to managing data access in complex environments.
To learn more about this and other features designed to help connect your users with relevant, up-to-date insights, visit the TARGIT Community forum.