On 4/25/06, Martijn Faassen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Tom Hoffman wrote:
> > We've had a difficult time figuring out how to even diagram all the
> > permissions in SchoolTool.  I finally feel like I've got a reasonable
> > start on it.  See the attached .pdf.  Before I spend hours on each
> > individual action, I'd like some feedback on if this seems like a
> > reasonable approach.
> >
> > A few notes:
> >
> > * green means the action is allowed
> > * red means it is not
> > * yellow means it should be site configurable
> > * grey means the action is impossible in this context
>
> I'm not sure I understand the table; I think I have some trouble reading it.
>
> Evidently students and parents are allowed to do 'edit person info', but
> teachers and staff members are only configurably allowed to do this.
> What does that mean? How are they allowed to edit person info while not
> being allowed to view it?
>
> (is the 'edit personal info' column just wrong or something?)

Indeed.  It was just wrong.

> Could you give a few examples of rules that follow from this table?
>
> The somewhat implicit notion of relationship and self worries me somewhat.
>
> For some permissions it makes sense; presumably self-adults can change
> their own passwords (I'd be wary of using the word 'adult' by the way -
> adult students exist. self-staff and self-parent might work better, and
> allows for some differentiation which may be necessary). Site managers
> can however manipulate anyone's password.
>
> But for 'view students names', I can't figure out the meaning of
> 'self-student'. Why is self-student allowed to 'view students' name'?
> Shouldn't that be greyed out?

I originally had these blank, then I changed my mind, but I think
you're right, that these columns should only be colored when they are
specifically meaningful.

> Some permissions are about individuals (personal data, like a password),
> and some permissions are global (ability to see the list of students,
> ability to add a student).

Yes, this is one reason that it has taken me two years to even try to
do this.  Is it useful anyhow?  Should there be two tables?

> According to the table, someone with the pupil relationship (could that
> be named perhaps something like "classmate", or even "sectionmate"?)
> cannot see personal information, but someone with the instructor
> relationship can. But then pupils are allowed to edit each other's
> personal information?

You're right that that's a bug in the table.

> And self-adults are allowed to add/delete people? Does it make sense for
> the self-relationship to do anything of the sort?

No, it doesn't.  It probably should be blank anyhow.

> Perhaps we're being a bit early with this table, as I encapsulated rules
> in prose before and now I have a lot of trouble understanding the table.

Actually, I think you've mostly just found some specific bugs in the table.

--Tom
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