Administering Basic Info

The Sierra Administration Web application's Authorizations and Authentication function manages user logins. You can set a user's name, password, login group, and other login-specific parameters.

Editing User Basic Info

To edit a user's Basic Info, you must be assigned permission 722 (Edit logins). See Permissions Used by Sierra for more information.

To edit a user's Basic Info, follow these steps:

Choose Authorizations and Authentication Admin from the Administration Applications menu.
Choose Users.
Click the + to the left of a listed user to expose the EDIT button.
Click the EDIT button.
Select Basic Info.
Edit the User Parameters.
Click SAVE.

Importing User Parameters

You can copy the parameters of an existing user with the Import Settings function.

Select Import Settings.
Select the user whose parameters you want to import.
Select the parameters you want to import.
Click IMPORT SETTINGS.

User Parameters

User Login Name: User's login name. You cannot change the login name of an existing user. Enter the login name when you create a new user.

Acceptable User Names

The user's name can contain a combination of letters, numbers, underscore, and period. No other characters are accepted in a user's name.
User names are case-sensitive and can be mixed-case.

Due to restrictions of the PostgreSQL database, user login names authorized for Sierra Direct SQL Access (assigned the Sierra SQL Access application) must not contain capital letters. Login names that include capital letters are unable to authenticate against the database.

Do not begin a login name with "iii." Login names starting with these three characters are reserved for Innovative staff.

Full Name: The full name of the user of the login. Enter the user's full name in the text box.

Password: User password.

Password Composition

For passwords, the system accepts up to 12 characters (Sierra 3.4 and earlier) or up to 64 characters (Sierra version 4.0 and later). Passwords can contain the letters a-z and A-Z, the digits 0-9, and the following special characters:

. ! @ # $ % ^ ( ) _ - + = { } [ ] " ' ? < >

You cannot use diacritic characters such as á or ñ. Other password composition requirements might apply, depending on your system's Password Policies.

SSO ID: (Sierra 6.0 and later) The match point used during SAML-Based Authentication for Staff. Sierra compares the attribute returned from the Identity Provider against this value to allow access.; This parameter only appears after you have added an identify provider for SAML-Based Authentication for Staff.

SDA Context Only

If your site is set up for SDA Context Users, a checkbox labelled SDA Context Only appears on the Basic Info menu. When this checkbox is checked and the Basic Info page is saved, the Admin App grays out the Permissions link, making it unavailable. Also, the following options are removed from the menu:

New Account
Exempt
Suspended
Password date
Preferred locations
Preferred Funds

Take care not to designate yourself as an SDA Context User since you will lose permission to edit all User accounts, your own included.

Language: The language used when this user connects to the system. Choose the language from the drop-down menu. To use more than one language requires setup by Innovative. Contact Innovative for more information.

Locations Served: Associates the user with an entry in the Locations Served table. Choose the locations served from the drop-down menu. If your institution does not use the Locations Served table, choose NONE.

User Group: Specifies the login group for the user. Choose the user's login group from the drop-down menu.

You must choose a user group otherwise the user will be blocked from logging in.

Accounting Unit: The accounting unit to which this user is assigned. Choose the user's accounting unit from the drop-down menu.

Statistic Group: The statistics group to which the user is assigned. A statistics group is a collection of one or more user logins that are treated as a single entity within login statistics reports. Login statistics reports show the types of activity and the workstations on which activity occurred. Choose the user's statistic group from the drop-down menu. If your institution does not collect statistics about users, choose None.

Scope: The user's scope. Choose the scope from the drop-down menu. If your institution does not use scoping, choose None.

Options Group: The options group to which the user is assigned. Choose the options group from the drop-down menu. If your institution does not use options groups, choose NONE.; Options Groups control how Sierra functions operate and the information that they display to the user. For example, at a site where different libraries share the same system, you can define an options group so that the law library prints notices in one format and the main library in another (for example, on a different size form). When your system was installed, your library defined its options groups and the characteristics of each. Usually, only a few specific users belong to a specific options group; most libraries do not use options groups at all.

Additional Considerations for Options Groups

Libraries that use options groups usually do so to manage circulation and acquisitions system options for specific users. The Library must decide which system options to include in an options group, such as notice printing and fines calculations, and how the system options are set.
Not all system options can be controlled within an options group. Also, once an options group controls a system option, the library gives up the ability to modify that option.
Contact Innovative to add options groups, change grouped options, and to discuss the characteristics of existing options groups.

1st Timeout: The number of seconds the keyboard can be idle before the system indicates an impending timeout with a beep sound.; Enter the number of seconds for the first timeout in the text box. The first timeout value must be smaller than the second timeout value.; To disable keyboard timeout, leave this entry blank or enter 0 for both timeout parameters.
2nd Timeout: The number of seconds the keyboard can be idle before the system "times out." When the system times out, it performs the action selected in the Users | Options | Login menu, that is, it clears the user's permissions or exits the application.; Enter the number of seconds for the second timeout in the text box. The second timeout value must be a larger number than the first timeout value.; To disable keyboard timeout, leave the 1st Timeout entry blank or enter 0 for both timeout parameters.

New Account: Specifies whether this is a new user account created with the Authorizations and Authentication function, as opposed to a legacy login created with the Millennium system.

Exempt: Specifies whether this user is exempt from restrictions set by Password Policies.

Suspended: At sites that use Password Policies, this option specifies whether the user can access the system.

Password Date: Displays the date on which the user's password was last changed.

Preferred Locations

You must have the Initialize scope to locations Acquisitions Option enabled to use the Preferred Locations parameter. If this option is disabled, Sierra still displays the Preferred Locations option in the Admin application, but Sierra ignores any values you choose and displays the full list of locations.

The Preferred Locations parameter limits the list of permissible locations available to a login during the selection list process (in both the Selection List function of Sierra and in Web Works Selection Lists). For more information, see How Preferred Funds and Locations Affect the Selection List Process.

The Preferred Locations setting is also used in Web Works Quick Edit to do the following:

Limit the bibliographic summary display to item, order, or checkin records matching the Preferred Locations.
Limit the drop-down list of assignable locations for new and edited item, order, or checkin records.
Limit the drop-down list of assignable locations for new bib records.

To make a location available to a login, find the location in the drop-down list and choose Add. The location appears above the drop-down list. To delete a location, click the 'x' to the right of the location.

No Locations Chosen

If you have the Initialize scope to locations option enabled, but do not choose any Preferred Locations, that login will have access to all locations. Sierra limits locations only once you have chosen one or more values using the Preferred Locations parameter.

Preferred Funds: The Preferred Funds parameter limits the list of permissible funds available to a login during the selection list process (in both the Selection List function of Sierra and in Web Works Selection Lists). For more information, see How Preferred Funds and Locations Affect the Selection List Process.; To make a fund available to a login, find the location in the drop-down list and choose Add. The location appears above the drop-down list. To delete a location, click the 'x' to the right of the location.

Printers: The printers available when this user connects to the system. If you make more than one printer available, the user is offered a dialog box from which to choose a printer. To make a printer available to the user, check the box to its left.

User Parameters for WebPAC

Many settings for WebPAC user parameters are specialized. Some of these settings are not used for WebPAC or are instead controlled by Web options. The following list summarizes these differences:

Language: The language used by WebPAC is controlled by the LANG Web option and the optional *lang suffix used with command links.
Locations Served: Used only to display records attached to the bibliographic record sorted by location (see SORT_ITEMS) or the denyiflocalavail or localavailelseany Hold Levels are used in the REQUEST Web option.
User Group: Innovative recommends using a dedicated group for WebPAC (e.g., webpac or web).
Accounting Unit: This setting is not used by WebPAC.
Statistic Group: The STATGROUP Web option can be set to either record the login's Statistic Group in login reports or record a single Group number for all WebPAC logins. If STATGROUP is set to login, then the Statistic Group number which you assign to the login is recorded. If STATGROUP is set to a number, then that number is recorded for all WebPAC logins.
Scope: For WebPAC users, this setting determines the initial scope for the login. The LOCKSCOPE Web option controls whether the patron can override the initial scope.
Options Group: Options groups are not used for WebPAC users. Set this to None.
1st timeout 2nd timeout: WebPAC timeouts are controlled by the TIMEOUT Web option. Leave these parameters blank.
Preferred Locations: This setting is not used by WebPAC.
Funds: This setting is not used by WebPAC.
Printers: These printers are not available to WebPAC users. WebPAC users can print using the Print option in the client browser software. WebPAC ignores printers assigned with this parameter setting.