Manging user groups and permissions

This article is intended to guide the user on how to manage user groups and permissions.

Impero Backdrop has a flexible permissions system that allows you to manage what information and functions users can access. This guide sets out recommendations on best practices.

User Groups

Each staff member belongs to a user group. Under the Administration > Staff Members screen, you can set which user group a staff member belongs to. The system is normally set up with the following default user groups, but these may have been changed for your school:

• Child Protection Team or DSLs
• Pastoral Team or SLT
• Teachers
• TAs
• Administration Team

To set or change a staff member's permissions, you can select a group from the drop-down menu under the "User Groups" column next to their name. You don't need to refresh the page. The changes you make are immediately applied to that staff member. 

Permissions

Each user group has a number of permissions which can be set in Staff Members > User Groups. To change the permissions, tick and untick to select the permissions you'd like to give staff members in that user group, then click on the 'Save' button at the bottom of the screen.

DSL & SBM

Your DSL and School Business Manager (SBM) should have full access rights except 'Manage allegations against staff' - this should be reserved for the head teacher or principal. This is because details of allegations against staff are legally protected.

Viewing Child Protection Issues

We recommend that only the DSL can 'view Child Protection' access unless your SENCo or Pastoral team regularly work with child protection issues. This permission can also be extended to a social worker if they have system access. This permission includes 'Receive alerts about child protection' 'Receive immediate emails about child protection' and "Receive digest emails about child protection'. You should tick 'Require 2FA' to view child protection' to ensure that anyone who learns your password cannot access secure areas of the system.

Digest & Immediate Emails

Digest emails are summarised - they are timed emails that collect all the concerns into one notification. Immediate emails arrive as soon as a concern is logged. Most schools choose a digest email for Behaviour, Pastoral, and First Aid notifications and an immediate email for Child Protection, but you can choose to alter this to suit you. This setting can also be changed whenever you need to, so if, for example, you are closely monitoring behaviour, you may wish to receive immediate emails for behaviour concerns.

We recommend that your school office receives immediate notification of First Aid logs to ensure parents are kept informed.

Manage Blocked Children

Blocked children is a setting made for staff who are parents or relatives of children at the school. The setting allows you to hide a child from the view of a specific staff member, to avoid a conflict of interest and to protect the child. You can also use this setting when there are questions about the relationship between a staff member and a child, for example, if an allegation about unfair punishment is made.

Administration

Access to the Administration panel should be restricted to the SBM and DSL, you may also want to provide access to members of the SLT or the headteacher. Changes to functionality cannot always be withdrawn, so we don't recommend allowing all staff access.