Custom roles [Campus] – Ans

error_outline

This feature is part of the Campus plan. Please contact your Customer Success Manager for more information.

error_outline Only administrators can perform this action. We would recommend first testing this feature on the stage environment and then confirming if we can enable it in the production environment.

For each level within the Ans application, Ans provides different base roles. The authorisations of the base roles cannot be changed. Ans provides the following base roles:

School level
Administrator, Department administrator, Staff and Repro

Course level
Instructor, Invigilator and Reviewer

Question bank level
Publisher and Author

The base roles determine the range of the authorisation within the levels of the application. A user with the administrator role has access to all courses within a school, where a user with the staff role only has access to the courses where this users is added to. One of base roles per level is considered the default role. The default role is the role which is assigned in case the user is creating entities within Ans. For example, if a user with a staff role is creating a course, the default role on course level is set. At this moment, the default role for courses is instructor.

Next to the base roles in Ans, there is the option to add custom roles to the platform. This gives you the benefit of adjusting the access and functionalities for different types of users within the platform. The custom roles are based on the base roles within Ans. This means that the base role determines which hierarchical level in the platform the user is allocated to. For example, if you create a role that is based on the administrator role, the new role will have access to the whole school interface. The exact definition of what can be accessed by the new role is defined by using the toggle options in the custom role menu. The custom role always restricts access compared to the base role. In general, the base role can do everything on the hierarchical level in the platform to which the role is allocated, and the custom role will have less access as toggles will restrict certain functionalities. With custom roles, you can also change the default role to another role.

Tips before you create new roles

Before getting started, please take the following into account.

Determine the hierarchical level
Before you start thinking about what a new role can or cannot do, first think about which part of the platform the role should have access to. For example, should the new role be able to see the whole department? Or should it be a course role, which results in adding the user per relevant course?
Without view rights, no action is possible
Most access options have a 'view' toggle. If a view toggle is turned off, this means that the user cannot see the particular option via the interface. This implies that the user can also not create, edit or delete that option. We explicitly mention the interface here, as it is still possible to create, edit and delete via the API if viewing is disabled, but creating, editing and deleting are enabled.
Combine access options to restrict access to interfaces as a whole
It might be possible that some interfaces are disabled for users which is caused by a combination of access options. For example, in a test, you have the menu option 'Digital test' (or any other assignment type). Within a digital test, you have four submenus: Exercises, Grading Scheme, Objectives and Flow. If you create a custom role which has no viewing rights to all four submenus, Ans will disable access to the tab 'Digital test' as a whole. Despite the fact that 'Digital test' is not a separate access option within the custom role menu. This means you can manage to disable access to certain features by combining access options.
Combine custom roles with employee privileges
Next to custom roles, Ans also has employee privileges. Employee privileges might overlap with custom roles. In the future, employee privileges might be merged into custom roles. For now, as long as these options are both present in the platform, you will need to take into account that these settings can influence each other. It might be possible that you create a custom role with conflicting access compared to the settings in employee privileges. For example, the option 'Create assignments' can be turned off in employee privileges and it can be turned on in the custom role. For security reasons, Ans will deal with these situations by following the 'least access' principle. Ans will always restrict access if one of the two settings will not allow the user to create assignments. If you want to allow users to create assignments, both employee privileges and the custom role must allow this. This principle applies to all settings with can be set in both custom roles and employee privileges.
Determine what is the default role per level is
In the custom roles menu, you can set the default role for each level (school, course and question bank). As explained above, the default role is assigned to a user if the user creates a new attribute under which the default role is set. For example, if you set the role 'reviewer' as default role under courses, users that create a new course will automatically be assigned the role reviewer.
Determine if and which base roles you want to use
Ans provides the possibility to disable and enable base base roles. This allows more freedom in setting custom roles for your school without having to use the base roles Ans provides. Before getting started, you should consider whether all base roles are necessary. Disabling a base role will disallow you to assign that role to a user.

Add a new custom role

play_circle_outline Check out how to create a new custom role on our YouTube channel.

To add a new role to your school, please follow the steps below.

Click your business School name in the top left.
Click Settings in the menu at the top.
Click Roles in the menu on the left.
You will see an overview of all Ans roles.
Click the button New role in the top right corner.
Enter a name and description and choose the role it should be based on.

You will now see the overview of the Ans roles, including the role you have just created. You can now start adjusting access for the custom role. Click on the role you have just created, the name of the role should be blue. The screen will be different per base role. Not every role has the same amount of options that can be restricted. There are four possible actions that can be toggled: view, create, edit and delete. Not all actions are applicable to all parts of the platform. For example, it is not relevant to create and delete 'Accessibility settings' as they can only be viewed and edited.

Further below in this article you can find the list with the roles the custom roles can be based on. They are divided over the different levels including the different access settings that can be adjusted per role. This list is updated regularly, as the custom roles feature is currently still in development. If new restriction possibilities are added to the list during future releases, the impact on your existing custom roles will be minimised. If a new restriction possibility is added, Ans will leave the option turned on for existing custom roles by default.

Consistent with the functionality of regular roles, users can add other users with an equal or lower role to a course or a question bank.

When creating a new role, selecting the base role 'Reviewer' is not an option. Since the 'Reviewer' role is already highly restricted, Ans currently lacks any permissions that could be further removed from this role.

Delete base roles

Ans provides the possibility to delete base roles in case you do not want to use a base role. By disabling the base role, this role will not be visible for selection if you are in a menu where you can assign users a role. For example, if you disable the course role 'instructor', it will no longer be possible to select this role when adding a user to a course. If you delete a base role, a menu in displayed to inform you on how many users currently have that role in the platform. After confirming, the users will be assigned the default role automatically. To delete a base role, follow the steps below.

Click your business School name in the top left.
Click Settings in the menu at the top.
Click Roles in the menu on the left.
You will see an overview of all Ans roles.
Scroll to the base you want to disable.
Click the more_vert-icon next to the base role.
Click Disable from the dropdown menu.
You will see a menu with how many users have the selected role. You can either confirm disabling the role or cancel the action.

Change the default role

Per level in Ans where roles can be defined (school, course and question bank), one default role is set. The default role can be a base role or a custom role. The default role is assigned to a user if a user creates an entity. For example, if a user creates a course and the default role is set to reviewer, the user will automatically be assigned the role reviewer. It is not possible to disable the base role in case it is the base role. Depending on whether you want to use a custom role or a base role as default role, the way to select the default role is different.

To select a base role as default role, follow the steps below.

1. Click your business School name in the top left.
2. Click Settings in the menu at the top.
3. Click Roles in the menu on the left.
4. You will see an overview of all Ans roles.
5. Scroll to the base role you want to select as new default role.
6. Click the more_vert-icon next to the base role.
7. In the dropdown menu that appears, click Set as default role.
8. After clicking Set as default role, the role is immediately set as new default role.

To select a custom role as a default role, follow the steps below.

1. Click your business School name in the top left.
2. Click settings Settings in the menu at the top.
3. Click Roles in the menu on the left.
4. You will see an overview of all Ans roles.
5. Click on the custom role you want to select as new default role.
6. Click on Set as default role in the danger zone.
7. In the confirmation menu that appears, click Confirm to set the custom role as the new default role.

Possibilities to create custom school roles

These roles are based on the roles within a school.

Administrator
The settings determine whether they have access to the entire school. For instance, turning on access to courses will grant administrators access to all courses within the school.
Department administrator
The settings determine access at a department level. For instance, turning on access to courses will grant the department administrator access to all courses within their department.
Staff
The level of access for staff can be adjusted on a course level. The course roles can be found in the next section.
Repro
The repro role is created for handling of print- and/or scan tasks for written assignments. As the repro role has limited access in Ans and because you can determine the access to either print and/or scan tasks in the employee privileges, the repro role cannot be used as a base role to create a custom role.

The table below shows all the different access options that can be adjusted per role. A short description has been added per access option. The possible actions that can be restricted (view, create, edit, delete) can be found in the platform.

	Administrator	Department administrator	Staff
Ask a question Hide the 'ask a question' option in the platform	x	x	x
Assignment accessibilities Manage accessibility options in assignment settings	x	x
Assignment attachments Manage attachments in assignment settings	x	x
Assignment exercises Manage exercises tab in the assignment menu	x	x
Assignment exports Manage export options in assignment settings	x	x
Assignment flow Manage flow tab in the assignment menu	x	x
Assignment grading schemes Manage grading schemes tab in the assignment menu	x	x
Assignment mark calculations Manage mark calculations in assignment settings	x	x
Assignment objectives Manage objectives tab in the assignment menu	x	x
Assignment peer review options Manage review options in peer review assignments	x	x
Assignment proctoring* Manage proctoring options in assignment settings	x	x
Assignment requirements Manage requirements options in assignment settings	x	x
Assignment review options Manage review options in assignment settings	x	x
Assignment taking Manage the taking menu in assignments	x	x
Assignments Manage assignments in courses	x	x
Classes Manage the classes menu	x
Courses Manage the courses menu	x	x	x
Course Objectives Manage objectives in courses	x	x
Groups Manage groups in courses	x	x
Proctorio assignment integration Manage Proctorio in assignment settings	x	x
Publications Manage publication options in assignment settings	x	x
Question bank exercises Manage question bank exercises in question banks	x	x
Question banks Manage the question banks menu	x	x
Results Manage the results menu in assignments	x	x
School billing Manage billing options in school settings	x
Timeslots Manage timeslots in assignment settings	x	x

Assignment proctoring* options are different from the proctoring integration options for Proctorio and ProctorExam. In this case, the proctoring options are the options that can be found within the assignment settings.

Possibilities to create custom course roles

These are based on the roles within a course.

Instructor
Access to assignments and groups within their courses. This includes access to adjust assignment mark calculations, timeslots, accessibility options, flow, proctoring, requirements and publications.
Invigilator
Access to groups within their courses and timeslots.

The table below shows the different access options that can be adjusted.

	Instructor	Invigilator
Assignment accessibilities Manage accessibility options in assignment settings	x
Assignment attachments Manage attachments in assignment settings	x
Assignment exercises Manage exercises tab in the assignment menu	x
Assignment exports Manage export options in assignment settings	x
Assignment flow Manage flow tab in the assignment menu	x
Assignment grading schemes Manage grading schemes tab in the assignment menu	x
Assignment mark calculations Manage mark calculations in assignment settings	x
Assignment objectives Manage objectives tab in the assignment menu	x
Assignment peer review options Manage review options in peer review assignments	x
Assignment proctoring* Manage proctoring options in assignment settings	x
Assignment requirements Manage requirements options in assignment settings	x
Assignment review options Manage review options in assignment settings	x
Assignment taking Manage the taking menu in assignments	x	x
Assignments Manage assignments in courses	x	x
Courses Manage the courses settings	x
Course Objectives Manage objectives in courses	x
Digital test answers View answers during a digital test	x	x
Groups Manage groups in courses	x	x
Proctorio assignment integration Manage Proctorio in assignment settings	x
Publications Manage publication options in assignment settings	x
Reviews Edit result reviews (points, adjustments, annotations, flags and discussions)	x
Results Manage the results menu in assignment results	x	x
Timeslots Manage timeslots in assignment settings	x	x

Possibilities to create custom question bank roles

These are based on the roles within a question bank.

Author
Access to question bank exercises.
Publisher
Access to question bank exercises, assignments and settings. Managing tags, labels and contributors.

The table below shows the access settings that can be adjusted per role.

	Author	Publisher
Blueprints Manage blueprints in objectives menu in question banks	x	x
Question bank assignment attachments Manage attachments in question bank assignments		x
Question bank assignment exercises Manage question bank exercises in question bank assignments		x
Question bank assignment mark calculations Manage mark calculations in question bank assignments		x
Question bank assignment protection rules Manage assignment protection rules in question bank settings		x
Question bank labels Manage labels in question banks settings		x
Question bank objectives Manage the question bank objectives menu in question banks		x
Question banks Manage the question bank general settings		x
Tags Manage tags in the question banks settings	x	x

Tips before you create new roles

Related articles