User Groups enable fine-grained control over schedule access

By default, everyone in an account can see and access all schedules. This works in simple situations but doesn’t help when you need specific people to access only certain schedules. In these cases User groups provide a suitable solution. With user groups, users are placed into groups and those groups can be assigned to schedules. Making sure only the right people can view or edit them.

With user groups you can:

Limit schedule access by creating and assigning users to groups
Use user groups to filter your schedule list
Let superusers have access to only specific schedules
Filter products in your shop

Limit schedule access by assigning users to a User Group

Creating groups

Most of the configuration options related to user groups will be hidden until you have at least one user and created at least one group. The link to the User Groups can be found at the top of the User Management screen. Create a new group by filling in a description and clicking Add.

Assign users to groups

After you’ve created at least one group, the dialog boxes on the User Management screen will display an additional option to assign a user to a group. To assign many users to groups, you may want to consider exporting all users to a CSV file. Then, update the “Group” column in a spreadsheet and re-import the file.

If you change the role or group of a superuser this will automatically log out that superuser. The user will need to log back in to get the updated status.

Assign schedules to groups

The Configure > Access tab of the schedule offers an option to restrict schedule viewing or editing to specific groups. Depending on the other setting on that page, users outside the group will either be unable to make changes, or be blocked completely. If access is completely blocked, then users from non-authorized groups will see a message explaining they are blocked upon accessing the schedule. That message can be edited on the Configure > Layout page.

It can be useful to allow users who are not logged in to view the schedule, but not make any changes. This can also be configured on the Configure > Access tab as explained in the section What can users do…. If a user from another group now views the schedule, they will be able to see it but cannot make changes or create appointments.

Delete groups

Be careful with deleting groups. The users in the group will not be deleted, but instead receive the same status as users without a group. Schedules still belonging to the deleted group will remain inaccessible until you change their group back to an existing one, or turn off group limitations.

Differentiating price based on User Group

It’s possible to create a pricing rule which reduces the price for people in the group. A pricing rule can also be configured to control other behavior. For example, you can disallow people from a certain group to book too long in advance or only on certain days of the week.

Use User Groups to filter the schedule list

As a standard, you can view a list of all schedules in your account by using this URL:www.supersaas.com/schedule/account_name. If you’ve set up a custom domain name, visiting a URL with just the domain name will show a list of schedules including all forms.

On the Access Control page, you can change the default setting and switch between showing a list or redirecting the user to the first schedule listed on your dashboard. To rearrange the order of the schedules, click and drag them to the desired place on the Dashboard.

On the same page there is an option to Require the user to log in first. By enabling this option the user needs to log in first, or create an account if they don’t have one yet. The login screen on the Layout Settings page can be customized with a welcome message for your users.

Importantly, after the user logs in, the list of schedules is filtered to only show the ones they have access to. If a user only has access to a single schedule, they will be forwarded to that schedule automatically instead of to the list. This allows you to communicate a single link to your users, for example on your website, and will allow differently-grouped users to end up on the schedule you want them to.

For example, users in the Teacher_A group, who only have access to the Teacher_A schedule, will immediately be redirected to that specific schedule when they visit www.supersaas.com/schedule/account_name.

Requiring approval before being allowed access to a schedule

If a user is asked to log in and there are no schedules they have access to, then they will be shown the “Blocked” screen of the first schedule in your account. Since new users are not placed in any group by default, you can use this to display a message informing them that they must wait for administrator approval. On the Access Control page you can find the setting Send a notification mail to the administrator to email yourself a notice whenever someone new signs up.

Limiting superusers by assigning them to a User Group

Limiting superusers to specific schedules

By default, superusers have superuser status for all schedules on an account, regardless of the group they have been assigned to. When a schedule is assigned to a group, an additional option is displayed that allows you to also require superusers to be part of that group. Superusers outside the schedule’s group will be treated as regular users for that schedule.

This can be useful, for example, if you want to manage multiple therapists, each with their own customers, from a single SuperSaaS account. If you need multiple superusers for a schedule, but do not want them to have account-wide access, then this would be the way to configure that. If you only need a single person to be a superuser for a schedule (a common scenario), then there is no need to create a separate group: In that case you can simply enter their name on the Configure > Access tab in the provided box and they will be promoted for that schedule only.

Changing superusers’ access rights to the User Management screen

By default, superusers can only view and edit users from their own group, or users who have not yet been put into a group. They are also barred from changing the group, or promoting a user to superuser. Additionally, the group limit extends to their Dashboard overview page and to Importing and Exporting users.

On the Access Control page, at the bottom, you can find the setting Allow superusers to add other users and change their access level…. If you select this option, then superusers will be able to update and change all users regardless of the group they have been assigned to.

Limiting superuser access to forms

Superusers from all groups can see all forms and edit them. Superusers can however be excluded from viewing forms not intended for them by adjusting the settings on the Configure > Overview tab of a form. This demotes the superuser to a regular user for that specific form. So if the form allows access to regular users, the superuser would still be able to fill out new forms.

Using User Groups to filter products in the shop

After you define user groups and enable the credit system, the Shop Management page will show an option to assign products to groups. Typically a product can be purchased by every user, but if it has been assigned to one or more groups then only users in those groups can buy the product. SuperSaaS only offers one type of credit, so there is no option to have a specific type of credit that can only be used on a specific schedule or class. But you can limit which products users can buy, and which schedules they can spend it.

By creating a user group with no users in it, you can effectively hide products. This can be useful to temporarily disable products, or to create a product that’s only available to the administrator to enter as a manual purchase for a user.