The names and specific features of CMS user roles differ from system to system, but the goal’s obvious: to give CMS users permissions that are in line with their abilities and administrative roles. The basic LiveWhale unit of measure is a group; all users within a group work with the same set of news items, images, etc. Control of permissions is granular, with by-user control of access to content modules (page editing, news, events, etc.) Page editing access can be set by group (all users in the Biology group can change all pages within /biology/) or by user (a faculty member user can edit her own page only).
Generally LiveWhale groups are associated with a section of the site (Biology, Academics, Student Activities). Within that area, regular users have full control over what goes live and what doesn’t. They can suggest stories to other groups within LiveWhale, who of course must approve any suggestions before adoption.
In addition to basic users (who have full permissions for the sections they manage), there is a class of users called reporters; reporters can create and share content, but can’t make decisions about what goes live. Although this user is specifically designed for student employees, there may be other individuals within an organization for whom a more limited, moderated role is appropriate.
Top-level users called admins, in addition to having access to set permissions and edit groups, can switch from group to group and manage groups’ content for them. This is helpful for troubleshooting, as well as for helping groups initially populate their sites with content. Admins (who can be created in any number) also have access to additional tools for activity monitoring and content analysis.
Finally: Because LiveWhale works with regular, familiar Web sites on LAMP Web environments— and not complicated, proprietary back end file configurations— your IT staff is free to access the site without LiveWhale. We think the geeks at your institution will like using LiveWhale as much as the departmental administrators do; but if you’d rather log in via FTP to make a change, go for it.