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Alteryx Server Knowledge Base

Definitive answers from Server experts.

How To: Manage a Collection

TanyaS
Alteryx Alumni (Retired)
Created

How To: Manage a Collection

With the 2019.2 release of Server, Collections functionality has been expanded to overcome some of their previous limitations. This article covers Collections functionality and permissioning.

Prerequisites

  • Server 2019.2

Procedure

  1. Access a collection
    1. To access a collection, you need to create a collection. If you already have collections created, that's great, feel free to click on one you already have. If you haven't been leveraging collections, an artisan or curator will need to click the NEW COLLECTION button in the upper left corner. Add a meaningful name, such as the function group that will be collaborating in this Collection, and click ADD.

      NewCollection.png












    2. Your Collection now appears in the list of Collections available to you. Click the name of the Collection to access the contents.

  2. Manage the content

    1. A new collection will have no workflows or insights. As the owner, you are able to add any assets you want, just as has been historically possible with collections.
    2. To add assets, click ADD WORKFLOWS on the Workflows tab or ADD INSIGHTS on the Insights tab. Search for and select from your workflows and insights.

  3. Manage the users
    1. Previous versions of Collections allowed users to view a single users' assets that they had made available. In this release, we have worked to ensure that you can easily bring in people to collaborate on assets, rather than just viewing the information.
    2. To add a new user, navigate to the Users tab and use the ADD USERS button in the upper right. Use the search bar to look for an existing Gallery user or provide an email address to add a user who isn't part of the Gallery yet. Before clicking SAVE, set the appropriate permissions for the user. For guidance, see the example below on how permissions can be distributed to users.

      Add the new guyAdd the new guy












Permissions Example

You're the owner of a brand new Collection. The first person you add is the co-manager of the Collection, who is also the backup owner if you are unavailable. You give the backup owner admin privileges, which includes all asset and user permissions.

Next, you add your IT representative. This person has no interest in governing over the assets of the Collection, they just want to regularly clean up the Collection user set and ensure the right people have access. You give your IT rep user privileges, which allows them to add and remove users, update their permissions, and set their expiration dates.


Finally, you add the new guy, the new analyst to join your team. He is new to Server, and he is very excited. You want him to be able to add all the new analytics wonders he can create and update existing assets. However, until he gets familiar with the uses of all assets, you want to keep him from removing assets.


Permissions in your Meaningful Name CollectionPermissions in your Meaningful Name Collection




















Common Issues

I can't find Shared Schedules in my collection.

Shared schedules were not included in the current collection improvements. We're looking into possible implementation options based on the feedback from studios.

A curator can do more than their permissions allows.

Curators are automatically admins of collections. However, they are only able to access the assets of collections they are added to.

I can't edit user permissions.

You can! The current design allows you to select the checkbox at the front of the table, and a permission button displays at the top of the table, allowing you to edit the user's permissions. You can also use this method to bulk change permissions if needed.

Comments
BenMoss
ACE Emeritus
ACE Emeritus

Hey Tanya, Sydney and Marty, thanks for posting this, it will be really useful to share with our customers.

 

I do have one questions regards the 'update' permission on assets?

 

What exactly does this allow? To me it sort of suggests that anyone can update an asset if it is shared via a collection; but from my testing that's not the case?

 

Thanks in advance!

BenMoss
ACE Emeritus
ACE Emeritus

Bump @TanyaS , @SydneyF and @MartyM 

MartyM
Alteryx
Alteryx

Hi Ben, @BenMoss 

That is correct, if the user has the update permission for assets they can modify and save back up to gallery a workflow.

If you open up designer and open the workflow from gallery. (Making sure that designer is 19.2 as well) 

Modify the workflow and hitting save should open up the update dialogue with the location being the name of the collection. 

If that isn't what you're seeing if you could post an error message or what you are seeing if be happy to take a look. 

BenMoss
ACE Emeritus
ACE Emeritus

OH YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME (L); will be blogging this myself ASAP!

smoskowitz
12 - Quasar

Hi All --

 

Still learning all the server stuff. If I don't give any specific permissions to this collection (based on the grid above) will someone I add to the collection be able to run the workflow?

 

Here is what I want to do. I want to put certain workflows behind the login and segregate them into collections. For instance:

 

  • Tax Contingency Workflows
  • Tax Reporting Workflows

 

There is one workflow that I want anyone to be able to run without having to log into server or create an account. Thank you in advance for your help.

 

Seth

 

 

MartyM
Alteryx
Alteryx

@smoskowitz That is correct. If you add a workflow to a collection you can run that workflow if that collection is shared with you and you have the ability to run workflows. 

As for your last case, if you mark a workflow as public. Go into The workflow page -> sharing -> place in my companies gallery

If you go to gallery and don't log in that workflow will show up on the home page. In order to run it you will have to go to the Admin -> jobs page and enable anonymous usage (You must be a curator to do this)

 

smoskowitz
12 - Quasar

Thank you @MartyM, I think I am starting to get the hang out of how this works. The biggest piece that I missed is that a user needs to be a Member of the gallery for this to work correctly. I had everyone as a Viewer.

 

I learned something today!

 

Thanks,

Seth

8088
7 - Meteor

Hi !  Question:  Is is possible to add multiple workflows to a collection in a single operation (either by selecting multiple, wildcard etc) ?  I can see how to add them one at a time, but we want to do some housekeeping with our collections which means moving many workflows around.  And, since subscriptions are going away in favour of collections, want to get a head-start.  Thx.

JohnPelletier
Alteryx Alumni (Retired)

@8088 This is not yet possible, but we appreciate the great feedback, and we will definitely strongly consider addressing this need for an upcoming release.Thanks!

stvnhdmpa
8 - Asteroid

I'm still struggling to understand what the "Update" prevents if it is unchecked.  I just updated one of my processes and saved a new version in a collection where I didn't have "update" permissions. My assumption would have been that it wouldn't have saved as a published version if I didn't' have update access.   

smoskowitz
12 - Quasar

@stvnhdmpa -- If a user has only the update box checked, then they can update (change) a workflow, but not add or delete workflows to the server.

 

Thanks,

Seth

stvnhdmpa
8 - Asteroid

@smoskowitz See my above example.  This is my permissions in this collection.  I do not  have update access.

stvnhdmpa_0-1607100129434.png

 

As you can see, I updated a workflow and it updated in the collection.  

stvnhdmpa_1-1607100250002.png

 

I even later removed my "add" permissions and it still allowed me to update the workflow and the updated results appear to me in the collection.

 

I'm not able to add new workflows to that collection.  I am a curator, does that override these permissions? 

 

MartyM
Alteryx
Alteryx

@stvnhdmpa 
There are a couple other ways you could be seeing this. One is you have native access to the application. IE you are the one that uploaded it. 

As well as yes, being a Curator also overrides those permissions as you would be able do anything in the Admin side of server without the permissions anyway.

smoskowitz
12 - Quasar

@stvnhdmpa If you're a curator (admin), all other permissions mean nothing. Can you create a new account with less permissions to test?

 

Thanks,

Seth