Overview

Beginning with version 4.2, SAS Web Report Studio has three predefined roles (Report Viewing, Report Creation, and Advanced) that control access to product functionality. However, these roles might enable capabilities that you do not want your users to have. Rather than modify the predefined roles (which cannot be reset back to the defaults), you can create your own custom roles.

This sample explains how to create the following two custom roles:

• a simple custom role that enables members to view and print reports (and, depending on the report, possibly follow links to other reports and enter prompt values).
• a custom role that enables access to functionality that is similar to SAS^® Web Report Viewer, which is used to display reports in SAS^® Information Delivery Portal 2.1, but is no longer used as of version 4.2.

Before you begin

By default, the PUBLIC and SASUSERS groups are members of the Report Viewing and Report Creation roles, which means that all users in your BI environment have all of the capabilities assigned to those two roles. So, before you create custom roles that will provide more limited access to SAS Web Report Studio functionality, remove PUBLIC and SASUSERS from the Members tab of those predefined roles. You perform this task in SAS Management Console.

Create a role that enables printing and implicit viewing

1. Log into SAS Management Console with an administrative account.
2. On the Plug-ins tab, right-click on the User Manager plug-in and select New ► Role.



3. In the New Role Properties dialog box, complete these steps:
1. On the General tab, enter a name for the role. You could also list the role's capabilities in the Description box.



2. On the Capabilities tab, expand SAS Web Report Studio 4.x (in this sample, the version is 4.3). Expand Basic and then select Print. Here is what your role might look like at this point.



3. On the Members tab, add users who should have the capabilities specified in this role.

Tip: Add SAS Demo User as a member so that you can test the role.

4. Click OK to save the new role.
5. Log into SAS Web Report Studio as a member of the new role, and open a report. In this sample, SAS Demo User is a member and that is the account that is used to log in.

Figure 1 shows a report that has a bar chart that is already filtered. SAS Demo User cannot right-click on the chart to display a context menu that would enable him to perform tasks such as modifying the filter or changing the data items. There is no Edit tab available because SAS Demo does not have the ability to edit the report. SAS Demo User is able to navigate to different section in the report.

Figure 1. Role members can only view and print this report

Figure 2 shows the options available from the File menu. This custom role enables SAS Demo User to print the report or open a different report. SAS Demo User can display the File Management page but he is still limited to opening reports and printing. SAS Demo User also can temporarily change the style and color properties of the objects in the report; however, he cannot save those changes.

Figure 2. The File menu contains limited options

Create a role that is similar to SAS Web Report Viewer

By default, SAS Information Delivery Portal 2.1 uses an application named SAS Web Report Viewer in order to display reports. SAS Web Report Viewer enables users to view reports and make temporary modifications such as filtering, sorting, and conditional highlighting. Users also can print, export, and refresh data.

SAS Information Delivery Portal 4.2 and 4.3 use SAS Web Report Studio to display reports. To create a role that provides Portal users with report functionality that is similar to the SAS Web Report Viewer application, create a new role with the following capabilities.

Category	Capabilities
Basic	Print, Refresh Data
OLAP	Drill, Drill to Detail, Expand and Collapse
Output	Export 1
Report Creation	Basic Edit
1 In version 4.2, Basic Edit is a prerequisite for enabling the Export capability.

One way to display a report from the Portal is to click a report link in a collections portlet, as shown in the following display.

SAS Demo User has access to this portlet, so he has been added as a member of the new SAS Web Report Viewer role.

Note: For more information about accessing reports from the Portal, see Adding SAS Reports.

Figure 1 shows that SAS Demo User has access to a context menu that enables him to perform tasks such as changing data item assignments, adding totals and percent of totals, filtering and ranking, and adding conditional highlighting. Any changes that he makes are temporary because he does not have the capability to save. There is no Edit tab available in the report because SAS Demo User does not have the ability to edit the report. SAS Demo User is able to navigate to different sections in the report.

Figure 1. Role members have access to some functionality but cannot save changes

Figure 2 shows the context menu available when SAS Demo User right-clicks on a column subheader. This menu enables him to sort, move, and change column alignment.

Figure 2. The context menu available when the user right-clicks a column subheader

Figure 3 shows that SAS Demo User can drill, expand, and drill to detail data from an OLAP-based crosstabulation table.

Figure 3. OLAP functionality, such as drilling and expanding, is available to members of this custom role

Figure 4 shows the options available from the File menu. This custom role enables SAS Demo User to export and print the report but not save it. SAS Demo User also can temporarily change the style and color properties used for the objects in the report; however, he cannot save those changes.

Figure 4. The File menu contains limited options

Additional Resources

For more information about the built-in SAS Web Report Studio roles, see Predefined Roles in the SAS 9.2 Intelligence Platform: Web Application Administration Guide. (This reference is for version 4.3, which provides a few more capabilities than version 4.2.)

For some best practices in using roles, see the SAS Global Forum paper Be All That You Can Be: Best Practices in Using Roles to Control Functionality in SAS 9.2.

For information about how to limit users to only implicit view-only capabilities, see SAS Note 30789: Implementing the most basic view-only access to reports in SAS® Web Report Studio

For a list of capabilities that have prerequisites, see SAS Web Report Studio 4.2 capabilities that have prerequisites and SAS® Web Report Studio 4.3 capabilities that have prerequisites.

For general information about managing roles, see Roles Overview, Role Definitions, Ensure Availability of Application Features, and How to Assign Capabilities to Roles in the SAS 9.2 Intelligence Platform: Security Administration Guide.

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These sample files and code examples are provided by SAS Institute Inc. "as is" without warranty of any kind, either express or implied, including but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. Recipients acknowledge and agree that SAS Institute shall not be liable for any damages whatsoever arising out of their use of this material. In addition, SAS Institute will provide no support for the materials contained herein.

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These sample files and code examples are provided by SAS Institute Inc. "as is" without warranty of any kind, either express or implied, including but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. Recipients acknowledge and agree that SAS Institute shall not be liable for any damages whatsoever arising out of their use of this material. In addition, SAS Institute will provide no support for the materials contained herein.

This sample explains how to create a simple custom role that enables members to view and print reports, and a custom role that enables access to functionality that is similar to SAS Web Report Viewer.

Type:

Sample

Date Modified:	2011-04-11 11:01:14
Date Created:	2011-04-07 16:19:50

Operating System and Release Information

Product Family	Product	Host	Product Release		SAS Release
			Starting	Ending	Starting	Ending
SAS System	SAS Web Report Studio	Microsoft® Windows® for x64	4.2		9.2 TS2M0
		Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Datacenter Edition	4.2		9.2 TS2M0
		Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition	4.2		9.2 TS2M0
		Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition	4.2		9.2 TS2M0
		Microsoft Windows Server 2003 for x64	4.2		9.2 TS2M0
		Microsoft Windows Server 2008 for x64	4.2		9.2 TS2M0
		Microsoft Windows XP Professional	4.2		9.2 TS2M0
		Windows Vista	4.2		9.2 TS2M0
		Windows Vista for x64	4.2		9.2 TS2M0
		64-bit Enabled AIX	4.2		9.2 TS2M0
		64-bit Enabled Solaris	4.2		9.2 TS2M0
		HP-UX IPF	4.2		9.2 TS2M0
		Linux for x64	4.2		9.2 TS2M0
		Solaris for x64	4.2		9.2 TS2M0