Spectrum Spatial (SSA/LIM)

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Individual user login for SSA map projects

  • 1.  Individual user login for SSA map projects

    Posted 03-18-2021 05:40
    Hi all

    At my organisation I am coming under pressure to solve an issue that keeps cropping up. When end users of a popular map project enter incorrect login details too many times (three?), the project is locked and I have to go in to the management console to unlock it and give back access.

    The question that management are asking is, why can't users be allocated individual login credentials, so that if they do make a mistake and lock themselves out of a project this doesn't impact on anyone else?

    So - is this possible in SSA and if so what is required to set it up?

    Thanks
    Chris

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    Chris Dickinson
    North Yorkshire County Council
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  • 2.  RE: Individual user login for SSA map projects

    Posted 03-18-2021 23:45
    Hi Chris,

    Apologies if I'm misunderstanding your question, but assuming your staff currently use shared accounts for each project, why not create a user account for each person? or perhaps enable SSON

    https://docs.precisely.com/docs/sftw/analyst/2018.2/admin_guide/en/spectrum_spatial_analyst_administration_guide.pdf

    KR
    Kieran

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    Kieran McGowan
    Corangamite Shire Council
    Camperdown VIC
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  • 3.  RE: Individual user login for SSA map projects

    Posted 03-19-2021 03:29
    Hi Kieran

    Thanks for the reply. So instead of having a generic role like "Analyst_Planning" and dishing out the username and password to multiple users (there are about 100 users of a highways map project for example), create 100 new roles e.g. "Analyst_personsusername" assign all of them to whichever projects they use? More time consuming to set up and administer I guess and we'd have to rely on the service to tell us when staff start and leave.

    If I did that is there a way of seeing who is logging in and out when?

    Thanks
    Chris

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    Chris Dickinson
    North Yorkshire County Council
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  • 4.  RE: Individual user login for SSA map projects

    Posted 03-19-2021 04:12
    Ah, no I see what you mean - just add multiple users to existing roles - I get it!

    Thanks

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    Chris Dickinson
    North Yorkshire County Council
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  • 5.  RE: Individual user login for SSA map projects

    Posted 03-19-2021 04:42
    I have a related question on this. Where are passwords for users stored in SSA? For example - if I go into the Management console and edit a user, the password is not present in the user edit screen, just the option to set a new password. Are existing passwords stored somewhere where they can be viewed?

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    Chris Dickinson
    North Yorkshire County Council
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  • 6.  RE: Individual user login for SSA map projects

    Posted 03-21-2021 17:56
    Hi Chris, yes sorry for not being clear, that's creating multiple user accounts and assigning to a specific role. I just use the guest role for everyone as we don't have a great need to segregate access, and i've seen too many issues with the few users i've given accounts, e.g. adding layers, saving projects, etc.

    Someone else might have a better answer to the passwords query, but I'd hazard a guess at no. Its unlikely they're stored in plain text anywhere.

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    Kieran McGowan
    Corangamite Shire Council
    Camperdown VIC
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  • 7.  RE: Individual user login for SSA map projects

    Posted 03-24-2021 06:55
    Thanks Kieran

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    Chris Dickinson
    North Yorkshire County Council
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  • 8.  RE: Individual user login for SSA map projects

    Posted 03-21-2021 20:21
    Hi Chris,

    Re Kieran's thought on Single Sign-On (SSO); our Exponare system worked on individual Windows Credentials sign-on which SSA unfortunately does not offer as an option. I asked our IT people if I could emulate this function with SSO but they told me that the software on the SSA server would not permit this. Perhaps your server will, I suggest having a talk to your IT team.

    Cheers,
    David

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    David Murphy
    SWAN HILL RURAL CITY COUNCIL
    Swan Hill VIC
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  • 9.  RE: Individual user login for SSA map projects

    Posted 03-24-2021 06:57
    Thanks David

    I prefer the SSO option but I think I will run in to similar issues as you did.

    Chris

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    Chris Dickinson
    North Yorkshire County Council
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  • 10.  RE: Individual user login for SSA map projects

    Posted 03-25-2021 17:48
    Hi Chris,

    We've tried the SSO approach and found our systems weren't able to be configured for full SSO. We are trailing a hybrid approach where users will login through the windows authentication process then Spectrum (aka you as admin) will handle role assignments. The first time an authenticated user logs in a new spectrum user is created. You can then assign them roles. The alternative approach we are using is having IT generate a list of user names first so we can add users prior and assign roles with a batch script for the Spectrum command line interface.

    Or, if you still want just to manage users individually without SSA I'd suggest still using the batch script option to make your life easier as I'd guess you have a large number of users. This approach would give you control and access to user passwords as they are in the batch file.

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    Lee Crosby
    Campaspe Shire Council
    Echuca VIC
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  • 11.  RE: Individual user login for SSA map projects

    Posted 03-26-2021 04:30
    Hi Lee

    Thank you. That's great info

    Cheers
    Chris

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    Chris Dickinson
    North Yorkshire County Council
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