Manage Merchandising Studio roles

This article explains how to set up roles in the Fredhopper Merchandising Studio.

Background

The Fredhopper Merchandising Studio uses role-based authentication. Roles can be created, maintained, and deleted by authorized users only. In a role is defined which page in the Fredhopper Merchandising Studio a role can "view" or "edit". In "edit" mode a role can execute any task including adding, deleting and editing the configuration of that page. In "view" mode a role can only see the page but cannot make any changes to the configuration. The "view" and "edit" modes can be set on a page-by-page basis.
Before defining your roles it is recommended to define the workflow within your organization, e.g. define which users can publish configuration to the live site.

Considerations when defining & creating roles

1. Remember to allow users to change their own passwords.
2. Define carefully which roles can publish configuration to the live site.
3. Try and hide the System Manager pages from uses who do not need direct access to them.

Requirements

In order to create and delete new roles please ensure:

1. You have access to the Fredhopper Merchandising Studio
2. You are allowed to edit roles

Task: Create a new role

To create new roles follow the steps as described below.

1. In the Merchandising Studio (MS) navigate to System > Management > Role Manager
2. Click "Add role" in the top right below the blue bar
3. Give the role a:
   1. Name
   2. Description
4. Assign per page the "modes" in which a role can interact with the page
5. Save the role by clicking the Save button in the top pane

Task: Delete a role from the Fredhopper Merchandising Studio

Roles can only be deleted from the Merchandising Studio if no user is assigned to the role to be deleted

To delete a role follow the steps as described below:

1. In the Merchandising Studio navigate to System > Management > Role Manager
2. On the role, overview page click the delete button and confirm that you want to delete the role

Keep in mind that users of which the role is deleted cannot log in to the Merchandising Studio anymore.

NOTE: Deleted Merchandising Studio users will show up as 'Unknown' in the Editor history but this will not actually affect the business rules those users have implemented. If you wish to keep the 'Editor' history intact then Merchandising Studio users can be Deactivated rather than Deleted, as this will preserve the 'Editor' history whilst still ensuring that the user can no longer access the Merchandising Studio.