One Basic User with a Form Create on the Side, Please

October 9, 2020 Stan

Security Groups allow control over a user’s access to the assets, features and interfaces in Eloqua. There are several original Security Groups configured within your Eloqua instance, but once size doesn’t fit all. That is why these original Groups can be edited and new custom ones can be created to align with your organization’s needs.*

How do you know what Security Groups to create?

To start, review the general roles and responsibilities of your users and create your user groups accordingly. Do you have users that only create emails and landing pages while other users only perform list uploads and create segments? Or does your organization require a single user to have permissions to create emails, landing pages, segments and campaigns?

Of course, once you have defined those role and corresponding groups, you will have users that fall outside of your neat little definitions. Let’s say for example, I have two basic users, Bonnie and Clyde. However, they each have one responsibility outside what their organization has defined as the Basic Marketing user group. Bonnie is responsible for list uploads, and Clyde needs to create forms. We can’t assign their individual user’s permissions because it is all set at the group level. Assigning them to the Advanced Marketing group will give them the permissions they need, but it will also grant them access to functionality that they have not been trained in and have no experience in. We don’t want users losing their way or running amuck. How do organizations approach permissions for tens or hundreds of users?

Think of user permissions as a restaurant with a big note on the menu that says: No Substitutions Please. While not everyone gets a meal tailored to their individual desires, the restaurant can efficiently feed hundreds of happy customers. Let’s say the menu has several main entrees including: meatloaf and potatoes, fish and chips, veggie burger and salad. If I order fish and chips but also want a salad, I don’t want to also order the veggie burger meal. That is too much food. Because the restaurant also offers popular items as sides, I can just add the salad to my meal. The addition of sides to the main menu allows many combinations of meals without substitutions.

Remember Bonnie and Clyde? Like the restaurant, in Eloqua I can create user groups with very limited permissions and add those “sides” to their users. Because list uploads and forms are common tasks that many users will require outside the advanced users, I will add it to my menu. I will not create one side for a single user because that looks more like a substitution.

It is common in organizations to create 5-8 main user groups and another 5-8 “add-on” user groups. As a result, you might end up with your main group categories including: Novice Marketing, Basic Marketing, Advanced Marketing, Super Users and Customer Admin. Common add-ons might include: forms, data export, list uploads, transactional emails, picklists, and reporting. Ultimately the number of groups and permissions will be based on your organization’s requirements.

How do you manage users to the security groups?

Now that you have your user groups created, another challenge large organizations face is onboarding these users. This is often accomplished by providing on-demand training followed by a test that aligns to the different roles and responsibilities. When the user passes the test, they are granted the corresponding Eloqua access. If Bonnie wants to move from basic to advanced or add a “side” to her user, she needs to complete the additional trainings and tests.

Don’t forget to cover in your on-demand training modules topics specific to your organization such as naming conventions and folder structure.

The second part of user management is setting up a process for disabling users. Users that leave the organization should be disabled immediately. In addition, you should determine a cadence and process to disable users that are no longer active.

If you have any questions or need any assistance with security in your Eloqua instance, Relationship One is here to help. Contact us anytime.

*Note: This security feature is included in the Standard and Enterprise trims and available as an add on for Basic.

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