Discussion Forum: Permissions

The Permissions accordion of the Add/Edit Discussion Forums workscreen enables you to grant and deny specific users or users assigned to groups, learning plans, or teams access to view and contribute to a discussion forum.

Unlike course (object) discussions which are accessible to any users who have access to the course, you must specify who has access to an adhoc discussion forum.

Granting Access to a Discussion Forum

Granting access to a forum enables users to see the discussion forum in the Message Center. Users who are granted access to the forum will be able to view and add comments, delete their own comments, and subscribe to the discussion.

To grant a group, users who are assigned a learning plan, users who belong to a team, or specific users access to a forum:

1. Add or edit the discussion forum to display the Add/Edit Discussion Forum workscreen.
2. From the Add/Edit Discussion Forum workscreen, expand the Permissions accordion.
3. Specify the object and specific groups, learning plans, teams, or users you want to grant access.
4. Select the Allow option from Action.

5. Click .
6. Click Save.

A new row is added to the grid in the Permissions section with the Allow checkbox checked. In the example below, the Administration group and the Leadership team have been granted access to the discussion forum.  

Denying Access to the Discussion Forum

Denying access to a forum prevents users from seeing a discussion forum. Users who are denied access to the forum will not be able to view or add comments, or subscribe to the discussion.

If a user is denied access to the discussion forum at any level (i.e., group, learning plan, team, or user), they will not have access to the forum. For example, suppose User A is in the HR group and the Safety team. If the HR group is granted access to the forum, but the Safety team is denied access, User A will not have access to the forum. 

To deny a group, users who are assigned a learning plan, users who belong to a team, or specific users access to a forum:

1. Add or edit the discussion forum to display the Add/Edit Discussion Forum workscreen.
2. From the Add/Edit Discussion Forum workscreen, expand the Permissions accordion.
3. Specify the object and specific groups, learning plans, teams, or users you want to deny access.
4. Select the Deny option from Action.

5. Click .

A new row is added to the grid in the Permissions section with the Allow checkbox unchecked. In the example below, the External Distributors group has been denied access to the discussion forum.  

Removing a Permission Entry

To remove an entry from the permissions grid:

1. Click the  beside the row you would like to delete.
2. Click Save.

Settings

Object

Select the entity you would like to grant or deny access.

Group, Learning Plan, Team or User

The label and contents of the list changes based on the Object that you have selected. For example, if you select Team from the Object list, the list displays active teams.

You may grant or deny specific groups, learning plans, teams, or users access to the discussion group by clicking  the beside the name from the list. To deselect all the names that you have selected, click .

To include all existing and newly created active groups, learning plans, teams, or users access to the discussion group, select Active <object> from the list. In the example below, all existing active groups and all newly created active groups will have access to the forum.

Action

Indicates whether you are granting or denying access to the selected group, learning plan, team, or user:

• Allow - Grants the selected group, learning plan, team, or user access to the discussion forum. Granting permission to a forum enables the user(s) to see the discussion forum in the Message Center, view comments, add comments, delete their own comments, and subscribe to the forum.
• Deny - Prevents the selected group, learning plan, team or user from accessing the discussion forum. Denying permission to a forum prevents the user(s) from seeing the discussion forum in the Message Center. 

Examples

You can combine permission objects and actions to control who does, and who doesn't, have access to a discussion form. 

For example, you could allow or deny access to a combination of different groups, learning plans, teams, or users. In the following example, we've granted the Administration group and the Leadership team access to the forum.

You could grant access to all existing and newly created groups, but also deny access to specific groups. In the example below, all active groups are given access, but the External Publications group is denied access.