Skip to main content
Skip table of contents

User Rights

Printing environments, when properly configured, involve far more than a set of devices and the connections between them. They require maintenance and physical materials like paper and toner, but also, a set of procedures which dictates what is printed where, how jobs are accounted, and vitally, which users can do what.

When it comes to printing, scanning, etc., who can perform which actions is dictated by User Policies, which we discuss in detail here. However, assigning users the correct degree of control over the environment as a whole is equally important.

You don’t want a brand-new office worker to be creating and deleting queues for your whole organization, nor do you want an experienced admin to be prevented from making changes when needed. That’s why we’re going to discuss User Rights, understanding them, setting them, and maintaining them, plus a few use case examples, to help you create a balanced and functional printing environment.

Understanding User Rights

On the most basic level, the rights assigned to a user dictate what they can see and do in the MyQ Web User Interface. Different rights may allow users to see and interact with new tabs in the main menu of the Web User Interface, or in Settings.

Web Interface Main Menu with Administrator Rights

Web Interface Main Menu with Administrator Rights

Settings Menu with Administrator Rights

Settings Menu with Administrator Rights

You can grant rights to users and user groups which allow them to edit your MyQ settings as necessary, though generally, we recommend granting only the required rights, and no more, to prevent accidental system changes.

Which User Rights are Available?

Now that we understand the basics of what User Rights are and why we might want to utilize them, let’s take a deep dive into which rights are available, and what they do.

Right

Functions

Administrator

Grants full *Admin rights, these users can complete almost any possible action in MyQ. Excludes the Delete Cards right.

Boost Quotas

The user has access to the Quota Boosts tab. Allows creating quota boosts, but not viewing the details of original quotas.

Manage Jobs

The user can view and edit other users' jobs in the Jobs tab.

Manage Licenses

The user can view, manage, and activate licenses via Settings.

Manage Payments

The user has access to the Payments tab in the main menu.

Manage Printers

The user has access to the Printers main tab, to monitor printers and change their settings, as well as the Printers & Terminals settings tab and all its subsections, where they can modify settings.

Manage Projects

The user has access to the Projects tab where they can view projects, create new projects, and edit existing ones.

Manage Queues

The user has access to the Queues tab where they can view and edit all aspects of existing queues and create new ones. They can also turn queues online or offline.

Manage Reports

The user has full access to the Reports tab and is able to access and edit all reports.

Manage Settings

The user has full access to administrator-level Settings, with the exceptions of Server Type, License, and User Rights settings.

Manage Users

The user has access to the Users main tab, the Users settings tab and the Policies settings tab, can add users and change their settings and rights. The user also gets access to the Accounting settings tab but cannot change the settings there. Access to the Credit settings tab is granted, but the user is only allowed to change Users and Groups. Access to the Quota settings tab is granted, but the user is only allowed to change Quota definitions, not Quota global settings.

Manage Vouchers

The user has access to the Voucher Batches tab, where they can view or delete existing batches, and add new ones.

Read Jobs

The user can see all jobs in the Jobs tab, but not edit them.

Recharge Credit

The user has access to the Credit Statement tab where they can recharge credit, including their own.

View Log

The user has access to the Log and Audit Log tabs where they can view and filter log entries and export them.

View Printers

The user has access to the Printers main tab, to monitor printers.

Delete Cards

If granted, the user has the Delete cards button available on their Home page in the MyQ web UI where they can delete ID cards of any user for which they know the relevant ID number. This option is only available on 10.2 Servers.

No Rights Assigned

A user with no rights assigned is still able to access the Web User Interface, though what they can do there is extremely limited.

In their Main Menu they will see only the Home, Jobs, Address Book, Reports, and Settings tabs. In Reports they can create basic reports about their own actions, they can add contacts to their own Address Book, and via Settings they can see and refresh the Task Scheduler, but only view, run, or edit tasks they have specific rights to.

In other words, the user with no rights assigned has only very basic options in MyQ, however they are sufficient for most basic users with no administrative role.

Assigning User Rights

Once you know which users you wish to assign which rights the process for doing so is simple. When assigning the same rights profile to multiple users, user groups simplify and speed up the process.

From Settings, navigate to the Rights tab of Users settings. Any existing assigned rights are displayed and can be edited by double-clicking. A rights profile (the set of rights assigned to a user or user group) can also be deleted by highlighting and clicking the Delete icon.

Clicking Add User will allow you to select a user or user group and either assign them rights or edit their existing rights. Simply tick the boxes of the rights you wish to assign and click OK.

User rights menu

If a user is assigned certain rights individually and has additional rights from membership in a particular user group, the rights are accumulative. This means all rights the user is granted are simultaneously applied.

For example, Tim has been granted the rights to View log and Manage Jobs, and is also in the user group Office Workers, which has been granted the right to Delete cards. As a result, Tim has the rights to View Log, Manage Jobs, and Delete Cards. The same principle would apply if Tim were the member of two user groups which have been granted different rights, Tim has all the rights granted to each group.

Use Cases

Now that we understand the basics of user rights, what they each do, and how to set them up, let’s take a few real-world examples of their usage. Each of these scenarios uses user rights settings to solve common administrative problems.

Office Administrator vs Print Administrator

In many larger organizations, different types of administrators are required to fill (sometimes wildly different) roles. For example, an IT Admin may assume responsibility to keep your printing system running, but other administrators still require access to certain structural elements.

An IT admin almost certainly requires the Administrator right, while your Office Administrator, responsible for user management and accounting, requires some extra permissions. Granting your Office Administrator full Administrator rights is unnecessary, and not recommended. Without the required expertise, mistakes can easily be made.

Instead, the Office Administrator can be granted the Manage Users right, and the rights to Recharge Credit and Manage Projects. This allows them to keep accounting in check as required and alter the policies of existing and new users in the printing environment. Both administrators have the rights required for their roles, without excess permissions creating the possibility of mishaps.

Simplified Reports Management

For many of the rights mentioned in this article, it makes sense for many or all of your users to have them granted. For example, it may be useful to allow all of your users to Read Jobs or View Printers.

However, certain functions in MyQ may benefit from limited access, and for many reasons, the Manage Reports right is one of them. MyQ offers a huge number of reports which can be configured in literally endless iterations, allowing all users to access and create reports can quickly result in chaos.

Instead, allow only one or a small number of delegated individuals to set up and maintain reports for your whole organization. These individuals will be expected to fully understand both how to use reports, and the information you are attempting to gather. They can use this knowledge to create and enforce a folder structure in your reports, meaning the latest numbers are always easy to access.

Your other users will still be able to run basic reports on their own printing and use the Environmental Impact Widget to stay on top of their own consumption, while advanced reporting and organization is left to the professionals.

Allow Administration While Protecting Data

Many large organizations deal with data on a daily basis which is strictly protected, and using rights in MyQ can be a great way to ensure everything confidential is kept on a need-to-see basis.

Granting the Manage Settings right, rather than the Administrator right, can be an effective method to allow a specialist to set-up your MyQ system, without viewing all of the job data passing through it. Manage Settings allows a user to set up the networks, printers, and queues for your printing environment, protecting the content being printed from that same user.

Similarly, rights such as Manage Queues or View Log can be granted to allow IT admin staff to do their jobs; while withholding rights such as Read Jobs keeps all your confidential data secure.

 

 

JavaScript errors detected

Please note, these errors can depend on your browser setup.

If this problem persists, please contact our support.