Usergroups allow control over which users can access which elections.
Each user can be assigned to one or several usergroups, and when a user creates an election they may assign the election to a usergroup to which they belong, so that only users of that assigned usergroup will be able to access that election.
Deleting a usergroup makes all elections previously assigned to that usergroup accessible to all users. You may want to consider assigning such elections to a new usergroup before deleting an old one, if you do not want all users to have this new access.
Are usergroups necessary?
Organizations have varying needs when it comes to usergroups.
For instance, you may have the need to run a few elections with varying categories or contingents of your entire electorate, but you may also have the need for unique users to set up and manage each of those elections. To address this need, normal users could be assigned to specific usergroups which are setup to address each group’s election, without interferring with each other's work. Super users are automatically added to a "super user" usergroup.
Usergroups may also simply be a handy way to categorize groups of elections at-a-glance, even if all users have access to all elections.
Alternatively, usergroups may also simply be handy way to categorize groups of users at-a-glance, such as creating a usergroup of internal elections staff with permanent access and a separate usergroup for external auditors or scrutineers with perhaps temporary access.
How your organization uses usergroups is entirely your own choice.
Creating Usergroups
To create new usergroup, click on the Manage Usergroups button within the Users page to navigate to the Usergroups section. Then specify a name (e.g. "Student Senate") in the available field. Click Create to create the usergroup.
Once successful, you will receive a green Success Message in the bottom right corner.
You can re-name or edit a usergroup’s name by clicking on the Edit button in the Action column.
After creation, your usergroup is empty since users and elections still have to be assigned.
Managing Usergroups Assigned to Users
Once a usergroup and one or more normal users have been created, you may now begin assigning these users to their appropriate usergroups.
On the Users page click on the Edit button for the user you would like to manage and assign to a usergroup. On the Edit User page, you can now assign this user to any desired usergroups.
Click the Save button once user editing is finished.
You will receive a green Success Message indicating the user has been updated. In the user listing below you will also see the the newly assigned usergroups.
In this above sample, our "twilliams" auditor has been assigned to two usergroups: "Clubs" and "Student Senate." Thus, this auditor, would be able to access any elections assigned to these usergroups, assuming their access permissions have been configured as described in earlier in this guide.
Again, keep in mind that any elections not assigned to a usergroup are accessible to all users. To restrict access to one or more elections, you must assign elections to a particular usergroup.
Managing Usergroup Assignments for Elections
To assign new elections to a usergroup at election creation, simply select the usergroup of choice from the available previously created usergroups.
Super users, like in the example below, can assign an election to any usergroup, or if desired select No Usergroup assignment.
Normal users, like in the example below, can only assign an election to usergroup(s) to which they themselves belong.
From time to time, super users and normal users may need to change an existing election’s usergroup assignment. All users may assign existing elections with Draft status to any usergroup to which they themselves belong. Super users also have the ability to select usergroup assignments for elections with Waiting, Active, and Finished statuses.
To adjust usergroup assignment, View the desired election and navigate to the Election Details section.
Then you can change the usergroup assignment of the election. Below is an example of an election with Draft status.
