15 articles about Security and administration, in reading order.
Security and administration
Who may open an app, what they may do with a table, and which of its records they see are three separate questions in Parsware, answered by users, roles, teams and policies. This is the map: what each piece is, where it lives, and which question it answers.
Security and administration
A new user is an email, a name and a password you hand over yourself. We added Alex Morgan, had a short password refused, gave Alex the Field Sales role, and watched their first sign-in open on the one app that role is shared with.
Security and administration
One app, two roles. We copied Field Sales into a read-only role, gave it to Jordan, and opened the same Accounts list as Alex and as Jordan: the same records, with and without the commands to change them.
Security and administration
A team is a group of people that records can belong to, and it can hold a role. We put Alex and Jordan in Field Sales North, gave the team the Field Sales role, and watched Jordan's open session gain New on its next refresh, with no sign-out.
Security and administration
A role says what someone may do with a table; the policy beside each permission says which of its records that reaches. We narrowed Jordan's read on accounts from every record to Mine and my teams', handed an account to the team, and Jordan's list went from a hundred accounts to four.
Security and administration
A list that hides rows is only safe if every other way in hides them too. We signed in as Robin, who may read claims only in his own units, and tried the search box, a claim's address and the record API directly. Each gave the same answer as the list.
Security and administration
The unit policies need an organisation to measure against. We built one in the Organisation app (Head Office with a North and a South region), put three people in it, and gave Jordan read access on My unit and below. From Head Office, Jordan sees the accounts both regions create, and nothing owned outside the chart.
Security and administration
Every account that signs in to the Shell or the Admin Control Center needs an authenticator app as well as a password. We followed Alex Morgan's first sign-in: the setup screen, a code refused because it was out of date, ten recovery codes, and the next sign-in asking for a code.
Security and administration
A new phone doesn't need an administrator. Alex Morgan signed in with a recovery code, moved two-step sign-in to the new phone from Sign-in security, and got ten new codes. For the person with no codes left, an administrator resets the authenticator and the next sign-in sets one up again.
Security and administration
There is no forgotten-password email for the people who use the Shell and the Admin Control Center: an administrator sets a new password and hands it over. We reset Alex Morgan's while Alex was signed in, and watched what Alex saw: the open tab signed out, the old password refused, the new one working.
Security and administration
One place to read every recorded change in an environment: who made it, to which record, and what each field was before and after. We read Development's log, narrowed it to one table, then to one account's history, then to what processes changed on their own.
Security and administration
Each customer is a tenant: its own people, environments and data. The people who run a deployment can switch a tenant's sign-in off and on again from Tenants. We deactivated Tailspin Toys while its administrator was signed in, watched the sign-in refused, and switched it back on to find everything where it was.
Security and administration
Apps and integrations keep their files in object storage: exports, uploads, documents too big for a record. Storage in the Admin Control Center shows every bucket, what is in it and how much room it takes, and clears out files nothing points at. We looked inside Northwind's finance bucket, uploaded an invoice into one of its folders, and previewed a sweep.
Security and administration
Every list in the Admin Control Center has the same tools: a search box, a Sort button that orders by several columns, and a Filter that asks AND/OR questions. We used all three on the Solutions list, and fixed a list that sorted Unmanaged before Managed and asked for a number to filter by.
Security and administration
When a trial runs out, nothing is deleted and nobody is locked out. Everyone can still sign in, read and export; only changes stop, and the data is kept for 60 days. We let Tailspin Toys' trial end while its administrator was working, watched a save refused and the units still readable, then subscribed and carried on where it stopped.
