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Author: Joel Kristenson
Last Updated: 2015-08-25
Overview
This article walks through the steps to filter a user’s access to your database. It’s an extra layer of security that you can implement on top of generic user security levels. The intent of this tool is to limit the amount of records a user can view by things like a saved search favorite, address data, and by a specific attribute item.
IMPORTANT! This process requires you have full administrative access to your database.
Tip: Use the Ctrl+F hot key to jump to different sections of this article (example: “#1”, “#2” or “Related Resources”.
Outline
#1 Different Ways to Query for Current Database Users
#2 Filter Database Access by a Saved Favorite
#3 Filter Database Access by Address (State, City, County, District…)
#4 Filter Database Access by a Specific Attribute Item – (Nonprofit Example)
#5 Related Resources
#1 Different Ways to Query for Current Database Users
To begin, it’s important to know how to query for existing database users. If you haven’t yet learned how to create new users you’ll need to read this article.
To pull up a list of all users who currently have access to your database navigate to your Contacts (Voters/Donors) list, click on the Admin > Logon tab, check Allow Windows Based Access, and click [Search]. In my example it produced 3 contact records for users who have Windows Based access to my database.
You can filter further by searching under the Attributes sub-tab for users who have a specific security level. The example below is a common one where you can quickly see who the database administrators are by using the Security Management attribute.
Under the Control tab you can query by the date a user was created/updated as well as by their Voter (donor) ID, and User ID.
Now that you know how to find your database users, the next steps show how to apply specific filters to their login sessions. This can be very beneficial for large non-profit associations with different chapters in different states, as well as for large political campaigns that have hundreds of volunteers that don’t need full access to the entire database of voters/donors.
Tip: If you’re concerned about a user’s security access, one trick is to log in with that user’s credentials to make sure that they don’t have access to more than they should.
#2 Filter Database Access by a Saved Search Query
Search for and open the user’s contact record you wish to apply a filter for. In this example I used my own user record (Joel Kristenson).
Navigate to the Admin > Filter tab, check the box for Apply Database Filter, and click [Save].
Select the saved search query favorite from the drop-down list to filter the user’s access by. In my example I previously saved a favorite called “Golden Valley likely Democratic Voters – DB Filter for JAK”.
Once that step is complete you can click [Save and Close].
If the user you’re filtering access for has previously had access to your database they’ll need to close out of Trail Blazer and relaunch the program before these changes will take effect.
In my example when I log back in after filtering my access by my saved search favorite it limits the amount of voters I can view from about 70k to 1,522 records that meet the saved search criteria.
Important! If the user goes to a different list in the system i.e. Event Participants, Contributions, etc., they’ll be able to see a list of contacts that may not be part of your saved search favorite, but if they try to open one of the contact records in the list they’ll get an error message like the one below.
That completes the steps to filter by a saved favorite.
The next section shows how to filter by address data.
#3 Filter Database Access by Address (State, City, County, District…)
Search for and open the user’s contact record. I used myself as an example.
Navigate to the Admin > Filter tab, check the box for Apply Database Filter, then click [Save].
As of the time this article was written there are currently 9 different address fields you can filter a user’s security by, they include:
Screenshot:
You have the option to filter by a single field, a combination of fields, and you can also comma separate values e.g. State = MN, WI. In my example below I filtered user access by MN as the state, and Golden Valley, and Plymouth as the cities.
Click [Save and Close] once you’re finished. If the user was logged in previously they’ll need to relaunch the program for the changes to exist.
In my example it filtered my access from about 70k voter records to 14, 676 voters who live in Minnesota, and either live in Plymouth or Golden Valley, they voted in the last two generals, and their party type is democrat. This could be used as an assigned list for voters that I should be reaching out to for an upcoming election.
You’re now finished with this section, the next section (#4) talks about filtering by a specific attribute which goes hand-in-hand with filtering by saved favorite but can sometimes be easier to manage.
#4 Filter Database Access by a Specific Attribute – (Nonprofit Example)
This section is very similar to #2 where it requires you to save a favorite query, but it walks through a more real-life scenario where many of our customers want to assign donors to a specific ‘solicitor’ in their database.
For this example I used my nonprofit database to filter a user’s access by a single attribute item. Prior to these steps you’ll need to create an Attribute Folder, and Attribute Item. You’ll also need to save a search query which will pull up anyone who has that specific attribute item checked in their record card. I used an attribute item in my Board Member – Assigned Solicitor folder called “Joel Kristenson”.
Screenshot of my Attribute Folder/Item:
Screenshot of my Saved Search Favorite:
Once you’ve taken care of those steps you’ll search for, and open the user’s contact record you’re filtering access for. Once again I used my own record (Joel Kristenson) for this example.
Navigate to the Admin > Filter tab, check the box for ‘Apply Database Filter’, and click [Save].
Select your saved favorite query from the drop-down, and click [Save and Close] once finished.
The user you’re filtering access for will need to close and relaunch the program. In my example my access to the database of contacts has gone from about 5k to the 10 donors that are tagged with the attribute item I filtered by.
If other contact records in the database get ‘tagged’ with the attribute that powers your saved search query, or vice versa (have the attribute removed), then the list of records will grow or shrink accordingly. It requires that the user logs out and back into the database for the changes to take effect.
#5 Related Resources
Article: Adding a Database User and Setting Security Settings
Article: Save and Load a Search Query as a Favorite
Article: Creating an Attribute Folder and Attribute Items
Article: Mobile Base Camp – Mobile Canvassing
Article: Polling – How to Setup and Run a Poll
Video: Canvass Your Neighborhood With Our Mobile Canvassing App
Video: Mobile Canvassing
3rd Party Resource (Tool): Map Point
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