Configuring Network Communities

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Screen ID: UNETCTL-01
Screen Title: Network Communities
Panel Number: 3958
Accessed by Tool Number: 5399

 

This screen is the first of several used to configure groups of CU*BASE users according to which clients they serve. We call these groupings of clients and employees Network Communities. A Network Community allows an employee who works at a credit union, or a CUSO, or any other network resource, to access CU*BASE functions on behalf of any credit union who belongs to the community.

An example of a Network Community is Xtend SRS Bookkeeping. In this Community are many credit union clients, all of whom use CU*BASE for their member processing. Also in this Community are many Xtend SRS Bookkeeping employees who are granted authority to access the databases for these credit unions in order to take care of their day-to-day bookkeeping needs.

From this screen you can create new Network Community groups, add users (employees) and credit unions (clients) to communities, or delete users or credit unions from community groups.

Understanding User IDs vs. Employee IDs

It’s important to understand two terms used in relation to Network Communities:

  • User ID. This is the ID a person uses to log in to CU*BASE. It identifies the person to the i5, and the Network Communities configuration uses this ID to identify who is attempting to access the community. But for the most part all it controls is whether that person can log in or not: no specific CU*BASE permissions are granted via the User ID. For that we need the...

  • Employee ID. This is the CU*BASE identifier that controls a person’s access to individual CU*BASE tools. Without this an employee might be able to log in, but they can’t actually perform any functions on behalf of the credit union client.

Remember that Employee IDs are controlled completely by CU*BASE Employee Security. Network Controls don’t care about (or even know about) these IDs. But they are still an important layer in how CU*BASE secures and controls access to member data for members of a Network Community.

A Word About Security

  • The ability to add or modify which users and credit unions are associated with an existing community is available to users who have been set up as Community Administrators on the Network Community Users screen.

  • Users and CUs can also be added to any Network Community by a data center ID that has been configured as a Tools database administrator in their Data Center Employee profile (Tool #5606 DC Employee Security Maintenance). This designation is also necessary in order to add brand-new Network Communities to the configuration.

How Communities are Used When Logging In

Assuming a user has been added to one or more Network Communities, and his or her User ID has been set up properly (see *NOTE below), then the next time that user logs in to CU*BASE, a Network Navigation screen will appear, first showing all of the Communities to which that Employee belongs. (This step is skipped if the employee only works for one Network Community.)

*NOTE: In order for the User to see the list of his or her Network Community clients when logging in, that user profile must be configured so that the “Initial program to call” is set to INCMENUCL (for the Network Communities screen) instead of the more typical MENUCL.

How to Add CU*BASE Users to a Community  

  1. Next to a Network Community in the list, select the lookup under # of Users to move to the Network Community Users screen

  2. Type a User ID.

  3. Select whether this user will be a Community Administrator who can add new users and credit unions.

  4. Press Enter

  5. Use the back up button (F3) to return when done

How to Add Credit Unions to a Community

  1. Next to a Network Community on the list, select the lookup under # of CUs to move to the Network Community Credit Unions screen.

  2. Click to place a check mark in the desired credit union name(s)

  3. Press Enter to save and return when done

Other Functions

  • To add a new Network Community grouping, use Add (F6).

  • To delete an existing Community group and all of its associated credit unions and users, select the item in the list and click Delete Community. A warning/confirmation message will appear. Users will no longer be able to select this community when logging in. (If a user is currently logged in, once they log out they will be unable to log back in to that client via that Community again.)

Related Reference Materials

Network Community Controls