Profiles

Permissions to access certain modules and view and edit specific screens and fields can be assigned to users by profile. For example, you may have different profiles set up for system administrators, school administrators, school counselors, attendance clerks, case managers, school nurses, elementary teachers, secondary teachers, parents, students, and more. You may set up as many profiles as your district needs. Varying levels of permissions are set for each profile. A system administrator profile may have access to all screens, fields, and modules, while a school nurse profile may only have access to the screens, fields, and modules that are pertinent to the nurse’s job duties. When a user is assigned a profile, the user is given all the permissions set for that profile. Permissions can also be customized for specific users, which can be performed via User Permissions.

Adding a New Profile

A new profile can be added to the system by selecting the user role (admin, teacher, parent, student, or applicant/vendor) and giving the new profile a title.

1. From the Users menu, select Profiles.

2. On the Permissions tab of the Profiles screen, click the blue Edit Profiles link.

3. The Edit Profiles pop-up window is displayed. The existing user profiles are listed. The top row of the table is used to add a new user profile.

4. Select the profile Role:

  • Admin: Administrator profiles have more permission options available than teacher, student, or parent profiles. For example, only Administrator profiles have permission options for viewing or editing Setup information. The Administrator role is usually selected for non-instructional staff. All non-teacher, non-parent, and non-student district and school-based profiles should be set up with an administrator role.
  • Teacher: The Teacher profile role only allows teachers to view and edit data for the students in his or her classes.
  • Parent: The Parent profile role only allows the parent access to school information related to his or her children.
  • Student: The Student profile role only allows the student to view and edit his or her own data.
  • Applicant/Vendor: This profile can be set up for districts using the Applicants/Job Postings module and Bid Requests (ERP). It would allow job applicants and potential vendors to sign into Focus and complete job applications or submit bids.

5. Enter a Title for the new profile.

6. Select the Super User check box for system administrator profiles that will have the ability to add other users and create and edit user profiles for other super users.

7. Press Enter to add the new user profile. The profile is added to the list and is auto-saved. Note: You will know the profile has saved when the line turns blue and a red minus sign (delete button) appears next to it.

For information on Copy From…(copying profiles), see the section Copying from an Existing Profile.

8. Click the X at the top-left corner of the Edit Profiles window to return back to the Profiles screen.

9. Profile permissions can now be set up for the profile. Please see the section Viewing and Editing Profile Permissions.

Viewing and Editing Profile Permissions

Permissions for one or multiple profiles can be viewed and edited at one time. This is useful if multiple profiles share similar permissions and you want to modify all of the selected profiles at once.

1. From the Users menu, select Profiles.

2. In the Permissions tab of the Profiles screen, select the type of permissions you want to view and edit in the Permission Type pull-down.

  • Menu: Select this option to set up permissions for each of the screens and functions in Focus.
  • Schedule Fields: When the system preference Use Individual Schedule Field Permissions is enabled in Setup > System Preferences > Scheduling tab, the Schedule Fields option is available in the Permission Type pull-down. Select the Schedule Fields option to set up permissions for each of the schedule fields. This can only be done for admin or teacher profiles.
  • Final Grades Fields: When the system preference Use Individual Final Grades Field Permissions is enabled in Setup > System Preferences > Grading, the Final Grades Fields option is available in the Permission Type pull-down. Select the Final grades Fields option to set up permissions for each of the grades fields.
  • Student Fields: Select this option to set up permissions for each of the student fields located in a student’s record.
  • School Fields: Select this option to set up permissions for each of the school fields located in the school's record.
  • Discipline Incident Fields: Select this option to set up permissions as they pertain to discipline incident fields.
  • Referral Fields: Select this option to set up permissions as they pertain to referral fields.
  • User Fields: Select this option to set up permissions for each of the user fields located in a user’s record.
  • Employee Fields: Select this option when it pertains to the Employee Self Service (ESS) module to control which screens/fields are accessible to specific profiles (many of the Employee fields are the same as the User fields).

3. Select the user Role (Admin, Teacher, Parent, Student, Applicant/Vendor).

4. Select the Profile. One or multiple profiles can be selected.

5. Click Submit.

Viewing and Editing Menu Permissions

1. Select Menu from the Permission Type pull-down. Permissions are organized by menu. The menu titles are highlighted in blue.

a. Within each menu, the permissions are organized by menu sub-header. The menu sub-headers are highlighted in orange. For example, within the Setup section of the screen, permissions are organized into Portal, System Setup, School Setup, Rollover, School Choice, Import, and Edit Rules sub-sections. This makes it easy to locate the permissions on the screen, since they mimic the layout of the Setup menu.

2. Select the View check box next to a screen to give the profile users read-only access to that screen. Select the Edit check box next to a screen to give the profile users edit rights to that screen.

In order for the profile users to have edit rights, the View and Edit permissions must be selected. If the Edit check box is selected, but the View check box is left cleared, the profile users will not have the correct permissions. However, some Preferences only contain the View option; when selected the user will have access to use the screen/module.

3. Select the View or Edit check boxes in the orange sub-header to select all the View or Edit check boxes for permissions within the sub-header. You can then clear the selection of the View and/or Edit check boxes to clear any selections made already made.

4. Some permissions only have one check box in the View or Edit column. Select the check box to give the user permissions to use/view the function/information. In this example, selecting the Edit check box next to Edit Previous Year Enrollment allows users in this profile to edit enrollment from the previous year. Leave this check box blank if you do not want users in this profile to edit enrollment from previous years.

5. Some menu permissions have a Require Approval check box. When this check box is selected, users in this profile are allowed to edit this information, but the change is not made in the system until the specified user (with profile permissions) approves the change request in Students > Change Requests.

6. If you are viewing multiple profiles, a check mark indicates all selected profiles have the permission. If the check box is empty, none of the selected profiles have the permission. If the check box contains a hyphen, at least one of the selected profiles has the permission and at least one of the selected profiles does not have the permission.

7. The Save button at the top-right corner of the screen turns red once any changes are made. Click the Save button to save your changes.

Viewing and Editing Schedule Field Permissions

The system preference Use Individual Schedule Field Permissions must be enabled in Setup > System Preferences > Default School Preferences > Scheduling tab in order to set individual schedule field permissions. This can only be done for admin or teacher profiles. In the Menu Permissions, the View and Edit permissions for Student Schedule should also be set.

1. Select Schedule Fields from the Permission Type pull-down.

2. Select the View check box next to a field to give the user read-only access to that field. Select the Edit check box next to a field to give the user edit rights to that field.

In order for the profile users to have edit rights, the View and Edit permissions must be selected. If the Edit check box is selected, but the View check box is left cleared, the profile users will not have the correct permissions. However, some Preferences only contain the View option; when selected the user will have access to use the screen/module.

3. Select the View or Edit check boxes in the orange header to select all the View or Edit check boxes for the schedule fields. You can then clear the selection of the View and/or Edit check boxes to clear any selections made already made.

4. If you are viewing multiple profiles, a check mark indicates all selected profiles have the permission. If the check box is empty, none of the selected profiles have the permission. If the check box contains a hyphen, at least one of the selected profiles has the permission and at least one of the selected profiles does not have the permission.

5. The Save button at the top-right corner of the screen turns red once any changes are made. Click the Save button to save your changes.

Viewing and Editing Final Grades, Student, User, and Employee Field Permissions

The system preference Use Individual Final Grades Field Permissions must be enabled in Setup > System Preferences > Default School Preferences > Grading tab in order to set individual grading field permissions (Final Grades Fields). In the Menu Permissions, the View and Edit permissions for Final Grades, GPA, & Class Rank should also be set.

1. Select Final Grades Fields, Student Fields, User Fields, or Employee Fields from the Permission Type pull-down.

Final Grades, Student, User, and Employee Fields permissions are organized by category (tab) in the student or user’s record. The categories are highlighted in orange.

2. Select the View check box next to a field to give the profile users read-only access to the field. Select the Edit check box next to a field to give the profile users edit rights to the field. Select the Require Approval check box to require an administrator to approve the change request in Students > Change Requests before the change is made in the system.

In order for the profile users to have edit rights, the View and Edit permissions must be selected. If the Edit check box is selected, but the View check box is left cleared, the profile users will not have the correct permissions.

3. For logging fields, each individual field is listed and has its own View, Edit, and Require Approval permissions. This allows you to give the profile view/edit access to only certain fields within the logging field.

4. Select the Create check box next to a logging field to allow the user to add rows to the logging field and edit all fields within the logging field. Select the Delete check box next to the logging field to allow the user to delete a row in a logging field.

5. Select the View, Edit, or Require Approval check boxes in the orange header to select all the View, Edit, or Require Approval check boxes for fields within the category. You can then clear the selection for any permissions you do not want the profile users to have.

If selections have already been made/saved, selecting the check boxes in the orang header will alter previously made selections.

6. Select the Create or Delete check boxes in the orange header to select all the Create or Delete check boxes for logging fields within the category. You can then clear the selection for any permissions you do not want the profile users to have.

7. If you are viewing multiple profiles, a check mark indicates all selected profiles have the permission. If the check box is empty, none of the selected profiles have the permission. If the check box contains a hyphen, at least one of the selected profiles has the permission and at least one of the selected profiles does not have the permission.

8. The Save button at the top-right corner of the screen turns red once any changes are made. Click the Save button to save your changes.

Viewing and Editing School Field Permissions

1. Select School Fields from the Permission Type pull-down.

School Fields permissions are organized by category (tab) in the school's record. The categories are highlighted in orange.

2. Select the View check box next to a field to give the profile users read-only access to the field. Select the Edit check box next to a field to give the profile users edit rights to the field.

In order for the profile users to have edit rights, the View and Edit permissions must be selected. If the Edit check box is selected, but the View check box is left cleared, the profile users will not have the correct permissions.

3. Select the View and/or Edit check boxes in the orange header to select all the View and/or Edit check boxes for fields within the category. You can then clear the selection for any permissions you do not want the profile users to have by clearing the check boxes listed in the orange header.

4. If you are viewing multiple profiles, a check mark indicates all selected profiles have the permission. If the check box is empty, none of the selected profiles have the permission. If the check box contains a hyphen, at least one of the selected profiles has the permission and at least one of the selected profiles does not have the permission.

5. The Save button at the top-right corner of the screen turns red once any changes are made. Click the Save button to save your changes.

Copying from an Existing Profile

Instead of setting permissions for a new profile from scratch, a new profile can be created by copying permissions from an existing profile. This is helpful if the new profile will have many of the same permissions as an existing profile. Once the permissions are copied, you can make adjustments to the new profile’s permissions as needed.

1. From the Users menu, select Profiles.

2. On the Permissions tab of the Profiles screen, click the blue Edit Profiles link.

3. In the Edit Profiles pop-up window, locate the profile you want to populate with permissions. Next to the profile, click the Copy From… button in the Copy From column.

4. In the Copy Profile pop-up window, select the profile from which you want to copy permissions. Then, click Copy.

5. The permissions are copied from the selected profile. You can now go into the populated profile and make any edits to permissions as needed.

6. Click the X at the top-left corner of the Edit Profiles window to return back to the Profiles screen.

Deleting a Profile

1. From the Users menu, select Profiles.

2. On the Permissions tab of the Profiles screen, click the blue Edit Profiles link.

3. Locate the profile in question via the pop-up screen. When located, click the red minus sign (delete button) to remove the profile.

If you try to delete a profile that already has users attached to it, a pop-up displays warning you that This profile is currently used by (26) user(s). If users are attached to the profile, the profile cannot be deleted. Click OK to return to the previous screen.

4. Clicking the delete button will open a confirmation pop-up window. Click OK to continue deleting the profile. You also have the option to Cancel by clicking the corresponding button.

Permissions Explained
The Module Report

The Module Report lists the profiles that have permissions (View and/or Edit rights) to the selected Modules.

1. For a report on profile permissions sorted by module, from the Users menu, select Profiles. Then, select the Module Report tab.

2. Select the user Role (Admin, Teacher, Parent, Student, Applicant/Vendor).

3. Select the module(s) from the Module pull-down. The module(s) you are selecting here are set up just as they are on the Permissions tab when setting all profile permissions. Modules are ordered alphabetically by menu and screen title.

4. Click the Submit button to generate the report.

5. In the report, you will see the Title of the profile, the Module, and the Access Type (permission type): View/Edit.

Using the Profiles Report

1. For a report of users listed by profiles, from the Users menu, click on Profile. Then, select the Profile Report tab.

2. Select the Role you want to view: Admin, Teacher, Parent, Student, or Applicant/Vendor.

3. Select the profile(s) from which you would like to pull permission data.

4. Click the Submit button to generate the report.

5. The report is broken down by User, then Profile, User ID, and the EIN (Employee Identification Number) if applicable.

Profiles

Click Message to send messages to users in the report via Students > Communication.

Profiles

6. For more details regarding a specific user’s permissions click on Permission Details. You could also run the Permission Report; see the section on Using the Permission Report for more details.

7. Clicking on Permission Details generates the Permissions Report in a pop-up window broken down by Module, Permission, and Access Type (View/Edit).

Profiles

8. Click the X at the top-left corner of the Permission Report window to return back to the Profile Report screen.

Using the Permission Report

1. For a combination of the Module and Profile Report, from the Users menu, select Profiles. Then, click on the Permission Report tab.

2. Select the Role you want to view: Admin, Teacher, Parent, Student, or Applicant/Vendor.

3. Select the profile(s) from which you would like to pull permission data.

4. Click the Submit button to generate the report.

5. Clicking Submit will generate the User Permission Report.

6. This report is broken down by User, Profile, User ID, EIN (Employee Identification Number) if applicable, Permission, and Access Type (View/Edit).

Profiles: Additional Features

1. For a quick search, use the Filter text box. You can begin typing the name of a profile, role, etc. and it will display at the top of the list. This feature is available on all pull-downs.

2. You can utilize the Check all visible and Clear selected links under the Filter text box on select pull-downs. To select all pull-down options, click Check all visible. To clear all selections made, click Clear selected.

3. To export any generated reports to an Excel spreadsheet, click on the Excel icon in the Export section.

4. To print any generated reports, click on the Printer icon in the Export section.

5. Use the Filters feature to further breakdown any report or table when looking for data. Click on the word Filters or OFF to turn them on.

a. Once enabled, you can begin filtering data. To add more than one filter to a column, click on the green plus sign. To delete an added filter, click on the red minus sign. Select the gray arrow for more filtering options. For more information click on the following article: Filters.

6. If a report/table contains several pages of information, Page numbers will displays along with Prev and Next buttons. Utilize these buttons to sift through pages. Click the Page text box to enter a page number. Press Enter to jump to that page.

7. You can also sort data by clicking on any of the headers that contain the black double arrows. Click once for ascending results; click twice for descending results. Data is sorted by Title in the image shown by descending results (clicked twice).

Additional Help Documentation