Kavi Help CenterKavi® Members Help
| Chapter 13. Types | ||
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Part I. Kavi Members Concepts and General Instructions | 
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Table of Contents
Types are assigned to companies or users to allow them to be managed as groups instead of individual entities. This makes it possible to search for companies or users by type, send email to a targeted group, and display Web site content tailored to a specific type of users. Types may also confer roles that grant access privileges.
Types are a flexible and extensible way to classify people and companies. Kavi Members and other Kavi applications install default types which may be edited but not deleted. Custom types can be created to reflect your organization's own system of classifying its members, administrators, staff and other groups of users and companies.
Back to topTypes are defined to classify a certain kind of company or user. Once a type has been defined it is assigned to one or more companies or users in the database to provide a searchable label that can be used to retrieve companies or users of that type for reports, or to apply business logic on a per group basis. For example, the default type 'Primary Contact' is applied to a person who acts as the contact person for their company. Primary Contacts can then be retrieved as a group when you want to send an email blast to member companies.
The most common custom types are types created to classify members according to the organization's membership structure. Super Admins may add other types to group companies or users by region, by market sector or any other classification system that is meaningful to the organization.
Once a type exists, it becomes possible to define rules to be applied specifically to members of that group. Automated email notifications are the most obvious example. Email notification templates used to inform companies about their membership can be set to use the default type 'Primary Contact' as a recipient. Configuring the template this way enforces a simple business rule that says that the person designated as Primary Contact will be informed of any events that are relevant to their company's membership. It also automates the process of looking up the email address of the Primary Contact for a specific company or set of companies.
Types can be used to confer roles that grant Web site access privileges, such as the 'member' role, which confers access to Member areas and tools. Each type may be associated with one or more roles. The roles associated with these types are granted to users when they or their company are assigned a type. All the roles a user has accumulated through types are stored in the user's role cache. Each time a user attempts to access a page on the Web site, the role cache is checked to determine whether the user has any of the roles necessary to view the page and which sub-elements are to be displayed. If you are not familiar with this subject, see the chapter on Roles in the Concepts documents.
Each of these is applied to a particular kind of entity and is implemented somewhat differently from other classes. Here is a quick introduction to each class of type, the kind of entity to which this class of type is assigned, its general uses and what distinguishes it from the other classes. A link to in-depth documentation is provided for each class of type.
Assigned to companies.
Every organization that offers company memberships will have a set of custom Company Types corresponding to the company's membership structure. These are assigned to member companies according to the type of membership they hold, and usually confer the 'member' role that grants access to Member areas of the Web site. Users representing member companies inherit this role through their companies. Other Company Types are frequently defined to model subgroups within the organization or its constituency, such as geographic regions or market sector. These generally do not confer roles or access privileges.
The most significant difference between Company Types and other classes of types is that all users who belong to a company inherit any roles and access privileges that have been granted to their company through a Company Type. For this reason, Company Types rarely confer roles that grant access beyond the basic levels acquired through membership. Roles that grant administrative or editorial access usually need to be conferred more selectively, so they are generally conferred through Company Admin and Contact Types or User Types.
For more information, see Company Types.
Assigned to company representatives.
These types are used to classify users according to the way they represent their company to the organization, such as the default types 'Employee' and 'Primary Contact'. In default form, 'Employee' has no associated roles but 'Primary Contact' confers the 'company_admin' role, so that company representatives who are assigned the 'Primary Contact' type are given access to tools they can use to manage their company's roster and other data.
Like User Types, these types are assigned to users rather than companies, but they apply only to Company Representatives. Company Representatives are managed differently from individual members and other users in Kavi Members, and this is reflected in the way these types are defined and implemented. Most importantly, the scope of roles granted through these types are usually limited to administrating or editing data or Web content specific to their company, as opposed to the organization as a whole. User Types are used to model relationships between a user and the organization regardless of company affiliation, and roles that grant access outside the scope of an individual company are granted through User Types.
For more information, see Company Admin and Contact Types.
Assigned to users.
User types are assigned to people who hold individual memberships, organization administrators and staff, employees of staff companies and any other category of user of interest to the organization. These types are often used to classify users who have administrative, editorial or other duties that require access to tool pages and other restricted areas. These are the only types used to confer highly privileged roles such as 'org_admin', which provides access to all areas of the Web site including Admin and Reports tools. This role is associated with the default User Type 'Organization Admin', which is assigned to the person in charge of the Web site.
Although User Types are not necessarily defined to confer roles, when high level access to the Web site needs to be granted, it will be conferred through a User Type. Like Company Admin and Contact Types, these types are assigned to users rather than companies, but they don't have the company-specific scope of Company Admin and Contact Types. Instead, User Types model relationships between users and the organization as a whole.
For more information, see User Types.
Each type falls into one of four categories. The category determines whether the type is assigned automatically through membership, or what section it appears in on tool pages so it can be assigned manually. Types that are assigned manually are categorized according to whether the type confers special access.
Figure 13.1. How User Types and Company Admin and Contact Types are Displayed
The screenshot shows types being assigned to an individual member. The type corresponding to membership type was assigned automatically when the individual's membership became active. Other types can be assigned by an administrator as needed.
When creating or editing a type, choose a category to determine whether the type is assigned automatically through membership or where it will appear on the tool page.
Categories:
- General
A category of types that generally convey little or no access privileges and may be used primarily to classify and group users and companies by their relationship to the organization, their region or area of interest. General types may be assigned to new users or companies when they're added to the database automatically or by batch upload, and these types are also available in the list of General Types displayed to administrators when adding or editing a user or company. These types are usually displayed as an option that can be used for searches and generating reports.
- General (through membership only)
These are custom types that reflect the organization's membership structure and are designed to be assigned automatically depending on the type of membership a company or user acquires (and revoked when membership lapses). Because these types are bound to memberships, they are assigned or revoked according to membership rules and cannot be assigned independently of membership. These types are not available in the lists of types that can be assigned by administrators when adding or editing a company or user. Like other General types, they are displayed as an option that can be used for searches and generating reports.
- Editor
This category includes any type that conveys roles that grant Kavi® Edit access. This includes the default User Type 'Organization Editor', which conveys the 'Editor' role that grants access to all areas of the Web site, as well as custom-defined Editor Types that convey more restricted Kavi Edit privileges. Editor types cannot be assigned automatically with membership and aren't available to be copied on scheduled email notices. These types include User Types and Company Administration and Contact Types, but it is rare to grant Kavi Edit access through a Company Type, since all users who belong to companies that were assigned this type would inherit this access.
- Admin
This category includes any type that conveys roles that grant administrative access. This includes the default User Type 'Organization Admin', which conveys the 'admin' role that grants administrative access to all areas of the Web site and the default Company Admin and Contact Type 'Primary Contact', that grants the 'company_admin' role and access to tools used to edit the company roster and data. These types include User Types and Company Admin and Contact Types, but it is rare to grant administrative access through a Company Type, since all users who belong to companies that were assigned this type would inherit this access. Admin types are displayed on forms used to to schedule automated email notifications to administrators, for example, a variable corresponding to 'Primary Contact' is an option you can select when setting up company membership notifications. Admin types cannot be assigned automatically with membership.
Types may be assigned automatically or manually:
- Automatically assigned
When users or companies join the organization as members or staff they are automatically assigned one or more types that explain their relationship to the organization. The most common example is a type assigned when a new membership is acquired that corresponds to the type of membership.
- Manually assigned
When an administrator assigns types manually it is usually because they need to assign types to a user who holds a special position in the organization. For example, assigning the 'Editor' type to a user who is responsible for maintaining the Web site.
Conversely, types may be revoked automatically or manually:
- Automatically revoked
When a membership elapses, the membership can be archived and types assigned through membership can be automatically stripped from the former member.
- Manually revoked
Types can also be revoked manually, especially User Types that were assigned manually and confer administrative or editorial roles.
Example 13.1. How a member company might acquire types and roles
When the company's membership becomes current, it is automatically assigned the Company Type that corresponds to the Membership Type. This type confers roles that grant access to Members areas of the site, including 'member'.
Example 13.2. How a staff company might acquire types and roles
An administrator who has the 'org_admin' or 'super_admin' role manually adds this staff company through Kavi Members Admin tools. The administrator assigns a Company Type created specially for this kind of staff company. This Company Type confers roles that provide access that all employees of this type of staffing company require to perform their jobs through the organization's Web site. This "company" may have been added to Kavi Members for the sole purpose of grouping and managing organization staff, or it may be an outside staffing company.
Example 13.3. How member company's 'Primary Contact' might acquire types and roles
If a person is signed up as 'Primary Contact' through the Company Membership Application, they are automatically added to the database when the application is approved and assigned the default 'Primary Contact' Company Admin and Contact Type at this time. The 'Primary Contact' type can also be manually assigned by privileged users who have the 'company_admin', 'org_admin' or 'super_admin' roles in their role cache. The 'Primary Contact' type confers the 'company_admin' role. A Company Representative with this role usually inherits one or more roles through Company Types assigned to their company (e.g., 'member').
The 'Primary Contact' Company Admin and Contact Type may also be associated with roles installed by other applications. For example, if Kavi® Showcase is installed, the 'showcase_company_editor' role is automatically associated with the 'Company Admin' Company Admin and Contact Type.
A user who has been assigned the 'Primary Contact' type may be assigned other default or custom Company Admin and Contact Types by an administrator, depending on this user's responsibilities and the types defined for this site.
Example 13.4. How an Organization Admin might acquire types and roles
An administrator who has the 'org_admin' or 'super_admin' role in their role cache can manually assign the default 'Organization Admin' User Type to a user.
Other installed applications may have automatically associated roles with the 'Organization Admin' User Type, such as the 'showcase_admin' role.
Example 13.5. How types and roles are revoked from a former Primary Contact
When the 'Primary Contact' Company Admin and Contact Type is removed by an administrator or some automatic process that strips types due to a lapse in company membership, all the roles conferred by that type are automatically removed. Any types that were assigned manually will not be automatically revoked, so administrators must manually remove any that are no longer needed.
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| Chapter 12. Roles |  |
Chapter 14. Company Types |