Defining Who Can Contact Whom

The people you and others in your organization are permitted to contact using the mobile messaging system depends on various settings in the platform. The messaging contacts that any given user can see is determined by the technique used to structure your organization; that is, whether you are using the Hierarchy, or whether you are using explicitly defined teams specified on the Fleets & Teams screen.

The Hierarchy and Fleets & Teams screens both allow you to define the structure of your organization. When your subscription includes the Hierarchy, the messaging system uses the structure defined on the Hierarchy screen to manage messaging rights between users; allowing users to contact only users and groups at the same node level or lower within the hierarchy structure you have defined. It ignores any team or fleet structures defined on the Fleets & Teams screen. If your subscription does not include the Hierarchy, this level of control is not possible and all members of your organization are permitted to message anyone else in the organization, regardless of their team or fleet membership.

You can combine the hierarchy with roles and rights, or with explicitly created teams, to restrict or widen the number of contacts for particular users or user groups. A role defines a particular type of user, for example a supervisor or driver. Each role can have different rights, which are permissions that are either allowed or denied.

The following types of rights can affect messaging:
 

Application access rights (Fleet access and Mobile access) specify which services users with this role can access. These rights can also be used to define the user type. For example, a role with Fleet access allowed and Mobile access denied could be a supervisor. A role with Mobile access allowed and Fleet access denied could be a driver.
Messaging rights specify whom users can initiate messages to. For example, if you separate your users into drivers and supervisors, you could allow supervisors to initiate messages to any other users and allow drivers to initiate messages only to supervisors, but not to other drivers.

Any user can reply to messages received from anyone else in the organization. You cannot restrict a user's ability to reply to messages.

Choose one or more of the following scenarios to define who can contact whom within your organization:

 

Messaging with hierarchy only - Suitable if you use the Hierarchy screen and would like your users to be able to contact other users who are at the same level or lower than them in the hierarchy.
Messaging with explicit teams only - Suitable if you use the Fleets & Teams screen and would like your users to be able to contact everyone within your organization.
Messaging with hierarchy only, using rights and roles for restricting access within the hierarchy structure - Suitable if you use the Hierarchy screen and would like to put restrictions on who can contact whom within the existing hierarchy structure.
Messaging with hierarchy only, using rights and roles for allowing access outside of the hierarchy structure - Suitable if you use the Hierarchy screen and would like users to be able to contact other users who are outside their hierarchy node or above them in the existing hierarchy structure.

In the example scenarios below, the following organizational structure is used:

Messaging with Hierarchy Only

Who Can Contact Whom

If you have the structure of your organization defined on the Hierarchy screen, the messaging service uses this structure to determine who can contact whom. If you have not defined any roles or rights that change the messaging permissions, or any explicit teams on the Fleets & Teams screen, each user in your organization is able to contact other users who are at the same level or lower than them in the hierarchy. Users can also contact any groups that are at the same level or lower in the hierarchy.

How to Set Up

To set up the hierarchy of your organization, see the description of the Hierarchy screen.

Example Scenario

If you have created a hierarchy that matches the example structure above, without assigning any roles or rights to the individual users, the users in this hierarchy can initiate messages as follows:
 

John can initiate messages to all individuals within the groups below him and to the groups California and LA.
Kevin, Kyle, and George can initiate messages to all individuals, apart from John, and to the group LA.
Jeremy can initiate messages to Jason only.
Jason can initiate messages to Jeremy only.

Messaging with Explicit Teams Only

Who Can Contact Whom

If you have the structure of your organization defined on the Fleets & Teams screen only, and you are not using the Hierarchy screen, all users within your organization can contact anyone else.

How to Set Up

To set up explicit teams within your organization, see the description of the Fleets & Teams screen for more information.

Example Scenario

If you have created explicit teams according to the example structure above, all users can initiate messages to any other user in the organization. Users can also initiate messages to any group, including to the group US West.

Messaging with Hierarchy Only, Using Rights and Roles for Restricting Access Within the Hierarchy Structure

Who Can Contact Whom

If you have the structure of your organization defined on the Hierarchy screen, the messaging service uses this structure to determine who can contact whom. You can further restrict access for some users, by creating roles with corresponding rights and assigning the roles to users.

How to Set Up

To set up the hierarchy of your organization, see the description of the Hierarchy screen for more information.

Defining roles with appropriate rights

To create a new role with corresponding rights, follow these steps:

1.From the Tasks section of the navigation bar, choose Roles.
2.Click Create.
3.On the Properties tab enter a Name for the new role, for example "Driver".
4.On the Rights tab, under Applications, set Fleet access and Mobile access: For drivers, you could allow Mobile access and deny Fleet access; and for supervisors you could allow Fleet access and deny Mobile access.
5.Set the following rights within the Mobile Messaging section to define who users with this role can initiate messages to.
 
Can contact platform users - Users can initiate messages to other users who have the application right Fleet access set to "Allowed".
Can contact mobile users - Users can initiate messages to other users who have the application right Mobile access set to "Allowed".
Can contact groups - Users can initiate messages to entire groups/hierarchy nodes of users who are at the same or at a lower level in the hierarchy. All contactable members of the group will receive the message. When a message is sent to a group that contains another group, the members of the group that is lower in the hierarchy will receive the message too.
 

The first two rights specify the type of user that can be contacted, depending on the application access setting for their role. At least one of these two rights must be set to "Allowed" if users with this role are to be allowed to initiate messages to other users.

6.Click Save.

All users can reply to messages. Whether users can initiate messages to other users is dependent on the messaging rights Can contact platform users, Can contact mobile users, and Can contact groups.

Assigning roles to users

When you have defined the various roles and their corresponding rights, you can assign one of the roles to each of the users who will use Mobile Messaging.

To assign a role to a user:

1.From the Tasks section of the navigation bar, choose Subusers.
2.Click on the subuser's name to open the Edit user dialog box.
3.Select the Rights tab.
4.Click into the Roles text-box and select the appropriate role from the list.
5.Click Save.

Example Scenario

In this example, it is assumed that you have created a hierarchy that matches the example structure above and configured the following rights and roles for the users in the hierarchy:
 

User

Role

"Fleet access" Right

"Mobile access" Right

"Can contact platform users" Right

"Can contact mobile users" Right

"Can contact groups" Right

John Smith

Supervisor

Allowed

Denied

Allowed

Allowed

Allowed

Kevin Santos

Supervisor

Allowed

Denied

Allowed

Allowed

Allowed

Kyle Webb

Driver

Denied

Allowed

Denied

Allowed

Denied

George McDonald

Driver

Denied

Allowed

Denied

Allowed

Denied

Jeremy Burke

Supervisor, Driver

Allowed

Allowed

Allowed

Allowed

Allowed

Jason Sullivan

Driver

Denied

Allowed

Denied

Allowed

Denied

The users in this example can initiate messages as follows:
 

John can initiate messages to all individuals within the groups below him and to the groups California and LA.
Kevin can initiate messages to all individuals, apart from John, and to the group LA.
Kyle can initiate messages to George, Jeremy, and Jason. He cannot contact any groups.
George can initiate messages to Kyle, Jeremy, and Jason. He cannot contact any groups.
Jeremy can initiate messages to Jason only.
Jason can initiate messages to Jeremy only.

Messaging with Hierarchy Only, Using Rights and Roles for Allowing Access Outside of the Hierarchy Structure

Who Can Contact Whom

If you have the structure of your organization defined on the Hierarchy screen, the messaging service uses this structure to determine who can contact whom. You can widen access for some users, by creating roles with corresponding rights and assigning the roles to users and to particular hierarchy nodes.

How to Set Up

To set up the hierarchy of your organization, see the description of the Hierarchy screen for more information.

Defining roles with appropriate rights

To create a new role with corresponding rights, follow these steps:

1.From the Tasks section of the navigation bar, choose Roles.
2.Click Create.
3.On the Properties tab enter a Name for the new role, for example "Driver".
4.On the Rights tab, under Applications, set Fleet access and Mobile access: For drivers, you could allow Mobile access and deny Fleet access; and for supervisors you could allow Fleet access and deny Mobile access.
5.Set the following rights within the Mobile Messaging section to define who users with this role can initiate messages to.
 
Can contact platform users - Users can initiate messages to other users who have the application right Fleet access set to "Allowed".
Can contact mobile users - Users can initiate messages to other users who have the application right Mobile access set to "Allowed".
Can contact groups - Users can initiate messages to entire groups/hierarchy nodes of users who are at the same or at a lower level in the hierarchy. All contactable members of the group will receive the message. When a message is sent to a group that contains another group, the members of the group that is lower in the hierarchy will receive the message too.
 

The first two rights specify the type of user that can be contacted, depending on the application access setting for their role. At least one of these two rights must be set to "Allowed" if users with this role should be allowed to initiate messages to other users.

6.Click Save.

Users can reply to any messages. Whether users can initiate messages to other users is dependent on the messaging rights Can contact platform users, Can contact mobile users, and Can contact groups.

Assigning roles to users

When you have defined the various roles and their corresponding rights, you can assign one of the roles to each of the users who will use Mobile Messaging.

To assign a role to a user:

1.From the Tasks section of the navigation bar, choose Subusers.
2.Click on the subuser's name to open the Edit user dialog box.
3.Select the Rights tab.
4.Click into the Roles text-box and select the appropriate role from the list.
5.Click Save.

Assigning roles to the hierarchy

When you have defined the various roles and their corresponding rights, and assigned the roles to the appropriate users, you can assign the roles to a hierarchy node. If you assign a role to a hierarchy node you can grant the users who are assigned to the role higher permissions. For example, you could assign the Supervisor role to the California group and therefore make all supervisors able to initiate messages to individuals and groups in the California group.

To assign a role to a hierarchy node:

1.From the Tasks section of the navigation bar, choose Hierarchy.
2.From the hierarchy tree select the hierarchy node that you want to add the role to.
3.Select the Roles tab.
4.Click Add Roles.
5.Select one or more roles from the list.
6.Click Add Roles.

Example Scenario

In this example, it is assumed that you have created a hierarchy that matches the example structure, configured the following rights and roles for the users in the hierarchy, and added the Supervisor role to the California node in the hierarchy:

User

Role

"Fleet access" Right

"Mobile access" Right

"Can contact platform users" Right

"Can contact mobile users" Right

"Can contact groups" Right

John Smith

Supervisor

Allowed

Denied

Allowed

Allowed

Allowed

Kevin Santos

Supervisor

Allowed

Denied

Allowed

Allowed

Allowed

Kyle Webb

Driver

Denied

Allowed

Denied

Allowed

Denied

George McDonald

Driver

Denied

Allowed

Denied

Allowed

Denied

Jeremy Burke

Supervisor, Driver

Allowed

Allowed

Allowed

Allowed

Allowed

Jason Sullivan

Driver

Denied

Allowed

Denied

Allowed

Denied

The users in this example can initiate messages as follows:
 

John can initiate messages to all individuals within the groups below him and to the groups California and LA.
Kevin can initiate messages to all individuals and to the groups California and LA.
Kyle can initiate messages to George, Jeremy, and Jason. He cannot contact any groups.
George can initiate messages to Kyle, Jeremy, and Jason. He cannot contact any groups.
Jeremy can initiate messages to all individuals and to the groups California and LA.
Jason can initiate messages to Jeremy only.