Lesson 1.7 Access Rights and Data Sharing

The system separates between resources sharing and functionality access. Resources being access to different type of the resources in the platform meanwhile funationality access is determined by the role of a user

To complete this lesson, you will need a colleague to exchange data with and test the effects of different sharing permissions. We will cover direct sharing with individual users as well as sharing with user groups.

Resource Data sharing

Users in the platform can share resources in three ways:

1. Through the Organization Manager – Set up a hierarchy and apply sharing policies accordingly. This is Lesson 2.4 Organizations.
2. Direct user-to-user sharing – Share specific resources with individual users.
3. User group sharing – Share resources with a group of users at once.

User groups are especially useful for managing permissions across multiple users efficiently. You can easily change access rights for a user or user group—for example, directly through the Device menu.

Access rights

Name	Description
Admin	The admin right gives full control over the iotnode and includes all other rights.
Write	Gives the ability to change the iotnode's contents such as name and description. Enables downlink where supported.
Read	Enables the user or user group to see the entire iotnode. Additionally the right means you can create a channel to listen to updates for the iotnode.
Peek	Shares access to a resource without seeing it in the device list. Can be useful when you want to share the possbility to add devices through a specific connector.

Shareable Resources

All of the resources below are shareable and will inherit access rights within the Organization Manager according to the defined hierarchy. Currently, only IoT nodes and dashboards support direct sharing through the user interface. However, all resource types can be shared via the API using the Swagger interface.

• IoT nodes
• Connectors
• Dashboards
• Reports
• Basic Credential Sets
• Geofences
• Images

Note: Views in the Device List and Map are not considered shareable resources. They follow a simpler sharing model, as they are seen as personal adaptations.
Views are either personal or shared with the entire organization. If shared, only an organization admin can modify or remove them.

Direct sharing of IoT Nodes to an individual user

1. Go to your device list.

2. Create some generic nodes that you can use to share with your colleague.

3. Share the node with different access rights and observe the effects:

   • Which permission allows your colleague to view the node?
   • Which permission allows your colleague to edit the name of the node?
   • Which permission allows your colleague to further share the node?
   • Which permission allows your colleague to delete the node?

4. Revoke all access rights from your colleague and observe what happens.

5. Use "Select Many"

   • Choose multiple devices and repeat the steps above to test batch sharing.

6. Transfer Ownership via "Select Many"

   • Use Change Owner to transfer the IoT node ownership to your colleague.
   • What do you expect to happen? Can you still see the device after the transfer?

7. Go to Dashboards

   • If you don’t have a dashboard, create one and add a Text Widget and a Device Value Widget to display live data.
   • Go to Manage Dashboard and share the dashboard with your colleague with different permissions.
   • If your colleague has at least read access to the device used in the Device Value Widget, they will see the live value.
     If not, a grey warning icon will appear with the message "No value available."
   • Try sharing and then revoking read permission for the IoT node in the Device Value Widget. Observe how the visibility changes for your colleague.

User Groups and Access Rights

User Groups make it easy to manage access rights for multiple users simultaneously.
Instead of assigning permissions one by one, you can edit them for an entire group at once.

For detailed instructions, see: User Groups in the User Guide.

Direct Sharing of IoT Nodes with a User Group

1. Click User Groups in the navigation bar.
2. Use the menu to create a new user group.
3. Add members by typing their usernames — include your colleague in the group.
4. Go to the Device List.
5. Click Select Many.
6. Select the devices you want to update access rights for.
7. Click Select Action → Access Rights.
8. Press the User Group button and enter the group name whose permissions you want to modify.
9. Adjust the access rights for the selected devices and observe the changes.