Historically, the Manager role in Bridge has lacked flexibility, offering the following two options:
| Visibility Into the Reporting Line | The Ability to Manage Enrollments in Learning Items | The Ability to Author Learning Items | The Ability to Pull Reports for the Reporting Line | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full Permissions | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Limited Permissions | Yes | No | No | Yes |
The first option is the default Bridge role, and requires assigning a unique ID (UID) to each user as their manager UID.
The second option was introduced to give you the ability to limit manager permissions. This option can be accessed in admin settings by toggling the Limit Manager Permissions option.
Limiting these permissions means users assigned the Manager role no longer have access to the Author navigation. Historically, the only way for these users to author content or enroll learners with independent permissions was by creating an additional Custom role. The issue with this approach was:
- Custom roles for specific managers needed to be managed manually, relying entirely on human intervention.
- The custom role gave the manager visibility and oversight over all learners, not just those in their reporting line.
We heard that this was cumbersome and restrictive. It could also be confusing for new admins who didn’t understand why managers couldn’t perform certain tasks in Bridge.
Configuring the Manager Role in Bridge
We’ve simplified the process, and you can configure the Manager role in your Bridge instance to either:
- Fit your exact needs through customization
- Fit one of three specific needs through recommended setting configurations
To move away from your current setup, follow the steps and recommendations below:
1. Check Your Current Manager Permissions
Navigate to Admin > General > Account Settings to check that the Limit Manager Permissions option is toggled off. If it’s on, disable it and don’t forget to save!
2. Download Your Roles and Permissions Tracker
Download your copy of our Excel template outlining all available roles and their respective permissions in Bridge.
The roles and permissions tracker provides you with the exact specifications for enhanced configurability of the Manager role and recommendations for setup based on the following outcomes. You’ll see the following three options:
The Reporter Manager
The Enroller Manager has all the capabilities of the Reporter Manager. These users can also manage enrollments for their reporting line.
The Enroller Manager
The Enroller Manager has all the capabilities of the Reporter Manager. These users can also manage enrollments for their reporting line.
The Author Manager
The Author Manager has all the capabilities of the Reporter and Enroller Manager. Users can also author content, create programs, journeys, live trainings, and checkpoints.
Note: These roles aren’t new. They’re the types of roles we recommend creating by customizing the now-configurable Manager role in Bridge.
3. Customize Manager Permissions
To move away from your current Manager setup, navigate to Admin > Users & Permissions > Roles & Permissions.
Click the pencil icon to make changes to your current configuration and set up the Manager role according to your desired conditions.
Not every permission is enabled for the Manager role. Specifically, the permissions that extend beyond the manager hierarchy are limited.
It's important to note that you can’t create multiple Manager variations in your production account. If you need to assign some managers specific permissions beyond what’s currently offered, you’ll still need to use Custom roles.
Tip: Want to know more? Read ‘How to Customize the Manager Role in Bridge’
4. Test Your Manager Permissions
Masquerade as a Manager without any additional Custom roles to test whether the expected behaviors work as expected.
Tip: If you historically had the Limit Manager Permissions option toggled on to remove the ability for the manager to author content and enroll learners, you’ll want to educate managers in advance that they’ll see the Author tab in the side navigation of their Bridge account.
Best Practices for Using Manager and Custom Roles in Bridge
When a permission is provided with a Custom role and a Manager role to address a gap not covered by the Manager permission options, the Custom role will take precedence. This means users assigned the Manager role will have visibility to all learners, not just their direct reports.
This additional visibility could have a system-wide impact. For example, a manager might Re-Enroll All Learners in a course, this would affect all learners in the system, not just their reporting line.
We advise using the Custom role if you’ve provided this education to managers and want them to be able to manage learners outside of their reporting line.
Manager Role vs. Observer Role
The Manager and Observer roles are interconnected by design.
The Observer provides viewing capabilities for certain navigation items, while the Manager role is more configurable and provides permissions to take actions within that visibility.
However, while the Manager role is configurable, the Observer role can’t be modified by an account admin. This means:
- Admins can set up Managers to enroll only their team in a specific learning item (e.g., courses), while the other learning item navigation items (e.g., programs, journeys, etc.) remain visible.
- Without the necessary permissions, Managers can view learning items, but can't edit or assign them.
- By default, Managers can view categories and tags, but can't edit them.
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