User permissions, in MLS, not always what you expect to happen

Discussions around using and interfacing with the Church MLS program.
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Biggles
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User permissions, in MLS, not always what you expect to happen

#1

Post by Biggles »

This problem was identified whilst doing a pre-Membership Audit run through.

The scenario is:-

Users, in System Options, set to:-

View Membership
Organisation
View Recommends


then saved.

In the Member Audit under Users the following permissions are shown:-

Edit Membership
View Membership
Organisation
View Recommends


When checking this to see what the actual real world implications are. The Edit Membership permission is live!

I totally deleted this particular permission, closed MLS and then set up the User again from scratch, with the same result!

Has anyone else come across this scenario?

In Europe we do not have permission to install MLS on our own computers/laptops, so I'm unable to see if it is a one off problem. A generic problem, or in fact a corrupted installation.

Thanks in Advance
russellhltn
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#2

Post by russellhltn »

Biggles wrote:View Membership
Organisation
View Recommends

What happens if you remove "View Recommends"? The "View Recommends" doesn't appear in my test installation of MLS, so I'm not able to test it in a test install.
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Biggles
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#3

Post by Biggles »

There are other Users, already set up, who have just the View Membership & Organisation and their permissions are as you would expect. It is only this permutation that seems unusual.

It could be that the View Recommends is the culprit, or indeed that that might be the correct operation. Although it seems strange that there is a selection available!

I just put this out, in the forum, to see if any one else has seen/had this, or that the developers might be able to confirm that this is the correct behaviour.
russellhltn
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#4

Post by russellhltn »

I know sometimes granting permission in one area will automatically grant another right. For example, I believe that granting "Edit Membership" will grant "Organization" as well. But I if there's a rational to "View Recommend" automatically granting "Edit Membership", I fail to find it.

The Wiki on user rights suggests that while "View Recommend" be granted to all bishopric members, the "Edit Membership" should only be granted to the clerk responsible for membership.
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Biggles
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#5

Post by Biggles »

Anyone had the chance to check if this is correct behaviour for MLS? As in my OP. If not, the best way to contact one of the developers, for an answer?
jdlessley
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#6

Post by jdlessley »

Biggles wrote: Has anyone else come across this scenario?
I can confirm that when view recommends is checked that the membership audit shows in the MLS Rights tab the addition of Edit Membership rights. However testing of those rights results in no edit membership rights have actually been granted.

Here are the different combinations of rights that were tested for an MLS user. The first column shows the rights granted in MLS. The bolded rights are the rights given for the test. The second column shows the rights displayed in the MLS membership audit. The bolded rights are the ones the membership audit shows as given the user. The third column shows the rights actually available by testing in MLS. The bolded rights are the ones that were actually available.

Rights ______________ Audit _______________ Actual
Edit Membership ------- Edit Membership ------ Edit Membership
View Membership ------ View Membership ----- View Membership
Organization --------- Organization -------- Organization
Edit Recommends ------ Edit Recommends ----- Edit Recommends
View Recommends ----- View Recommends ---- View Recommends

Edit Membership ------- Edit Membership ------ Edit Membership
View Membership ---- View Membership --- View Membership
Organization --------- Organization -------- Organization
Edit Recommends ------ Edit Recommends ----- Edit Recommends
View Recommends ----- View Recommends ---- View Recommends

Edit Membership ----- Edit Membership ---- Edit Membership
View Membership ---- View Membership --- View Membership
Organization --------- Organization -------- Organization
Edit Recommends ------ Edit Recommends ----- Edit Recommends
View Recommends ----- View Recommends ---- View Recommends

Edit Membership ------- Edit Membership ---- Edit Membership
View Membership ------ View Membership ----- View Membership
Organization --------- Organization -------- Organization
Edit Recommends ------ Edit Recommends ----- Edit Recommends
View Recommends --- View Recommends -- View Recommends

Edit Membership ------- Edit Membership ---- Edit Membership
View Membership ---- View Membership --- View Membership
Organization --------- Organization -------- Organization
Edit Recommends ------ Edit Recommends ----- Edit Recommends
View Recommends --- View Recommends -- View Recommends

Edit Membership ----- Edit Membership ---- Edit Membership
View Membership ---- View Membership --- View Membership
Organization --------- Organization -------- Organization
Edit Recommends ------ Edit Recommends ----- Edit Recommends
View Recommends --- View Recommends -- View Recommends

From these tests it is apparent that the membership audit does not always properly reflect the permissions granted in the System Options | Users tab nor the actual rights available when using MLS. It is also apparent that to actually be able to view recommends requires edit membership rights even though "View Recommends" can be selected as a separate right regardless of other rights selected for a user.
JD Lessley
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Biggles
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#7

Post by Biggles »

jdlessley wrote:From these tests it is apparent that the membership audit does not always properly reflect the permissions granted in the System Options | Users tab nor the actual rights available when using MLS. It is also apparent that to actually be able to view recommends requires edit membership rights even though "View Recommends" can be selected as a separate right regardless of other rights selected for a user.
Thanks for your time you have devoted to test my OP scenario. Your conclusion, with which I concur, is stating that this is an anomaly presenting itself in the Membership Audit results that appears to give Edit Membership rights, but isn't actually so.

So it would seem that the Membership Audit operation might need slight tweaking, to remove this error.
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