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Setting up privileged access
Answer ID 1838   |   Last Review Date 03/22/2021

How do I set up privileged access?

Environment:

Privileged Access, Access Levels, Service Level Agreements

Resolution:

Privileged access allows you to give certain customers access to information that is not available to all customers. For example, you may want to give customers who have purchased a premium support contract access to a greater level of information. 

The privileged access functionality is integrated with the Customer Portal end-user pages. The end-user's contact record or organization must have a service level agreement applied that allows access to privileged access. Then, when an end-user logs in to the end-user pages, the privileged answers are included in the list of all answers available to the end-user. There is no separate link to view only the privileged answers.

Important Note: When adding access levels to be used with privileged access, the order of the access levels in the Access Levels table determines which answer is viewable to a customer. When different privileged answers are contained within the same meta-answer, only one answer is displayed to the end-user. The answer that is displayed is the one associated with the highest access level that the customer has been granted access to view.

When using privileged access, the list of products and categories in the menus is the same for all users -- on both the Answers page and the Ask a Question page. It is not possible to display certain products or categories so that they are accessed only by the privileged users. If you need to restrict access for some users to additional products or categories, you should consider implementing a separate interface for your privileged users.

 

Step 1: Enable the Privileged Access Feature

To enable privileged access:

1. In the Configuration settings editor, locate ANS_PRV_ENABLED  under RightNow User Interface > End-User Interface > Answers.

2. Click the drop-down menu in the Value field and select Yes.

3. Click the Save button on the ribbon.

For more information on accessing the Configuration Settings editor, refer to Answer ID 1960: Editing Configuration Settings.

 

Step 2: Add Privileged Answer Access Levels

There are two default answer access levels, Help and Everyone. These two default Answer Access Levels are not visible for Server Level Agreements since they have been created for specific purposes. In order to use privileged access, you must first add custom access levels that let your customers view only certain groups of answers.

If you assign an answer access level that has visibility on an interface, all customers on that interface can view the answer. If you assign an answer to an access level that does not have visibility on an interface, you can still offer access to certain customers by assigning them an SLA that allows privileged access.

You can also tag parts of an answer with different access levels by creating conditional sections within an answer. Customers who are assigned an SLA with a privileged access level can view the conditional sections assigned to that level.

Leave the Everyone access level to be visible to end-users so that you can publish answers for your entire user base. Even if you choose to not publish answers for your general audience, at least one access level must have the End-User visibility checkbox enabled.

To add a customer answer access level:

  1. Click the Configuration button on the navigation pane.
  2. Double-click Customizable Menus under Application Appearance.
  3. Expand the System Menus folder by clicking the arrow to the left of the folder.
  4. Click Answer Access Levels to display the editor.
  5. Click the New button on the ribbon.
  6. Type the name of the answer access level in the Label field.
  7. Leave the end-user visibility check box option disabled for all of the interface(s) listed.
    See Answer ID 208: Specifying answer access levels to display on the end-user pages for more information. 
  8. Use the drag-and-drop feature to order of the access levels so that the most restrictive or "highest" level of priority is at the top of the list. The Everyone access level and any other access levels set to end-user visibility should be listed beneath the access levels used for privileged access.
  9. Click the Save and Close button on the ribbon to save the answer access level and close the editor.
 

Step 3: Assign Answers to the Access Level

You can add answers and assign them to the custom access levels or add conditional sections to answers and assign them to the access levels you created.  You must also set the answer status to Public or a status that is a public status type.

 

Step 4: Create a Service Level Agreement that Grants Access to the Privileged Access Level

You must create a service level agreement (SLA) in order to grant privileged access to your contacts and organizations. The SLA is applied to appropriate contact or organization records to grant privileged access:

  1. Click the Configuration button on the navigation pane. From Service, select Service Level Agreements > Service Level Agreements. 
     
  2. Click the New button on the ribbon to add a Service Level Agreement or to edit, click an existing Service Level Agreement.
     
  3. Enter the field information and check the Active box. 
     
  4. In the Access field, check the appropriate access level to be granted with this SLA. Use. 
     
  5. Click the Save and Close button on the ribbon. 
     
  6. Add more SLAs for each access level as appropriate.
 

Step 5: Apply the SLA to the Organization or Contact

The last step is assigning SLAs to your customers. With the SLA created, you can apply an SLA instance to an organization or to an individual contact that is not associated with an organization. SLAs applied to an organization allow privileged access to all contacts associated with that organization.

Note: You can only apply SLA instances if your staff profile has the Edit SLA Instances option enabled on the Service options. 

  1. Search for the organization or contact and open the record for editing. 
     
  2. Click Edit link on the SLA field. 
     
  3. Click Add SLA Instance and select the SLA and active date in the pop-up window.
     
  4. Click OK again to close the SLA Viewer. 
     
  5. Click Save and Close.
 

To verify that the privileged access you set for your end-user works properly, log in as that contact and verify that the additional answers are included on the Answers page.

For additional information, refer to the 'Answer and Question Details Page' section in the Online Help User Guide documentation. To access Oracle B2C Service manuals and documentation online, refer to the Documentation for Oracle B2C Service Products.

Other related answers:

Answer ID: 5894 Answers visible with no access levels set for enduser visibility