Understand groups and privileges
Before people can sign in and use ThoughtSpot, you need to create a username, a password, and a membership in one or more groups for them.
This page describes manual creation of users, groups, and privileges, but you can also manage users through SAML.
Privileges and groups
Privileges determine what kinds of actions users are allowed to do. You assign privileges to groups. Then, you create users and assign them to groups. This is how you grant users access to different capabilities in ThoughtSpot.
Each group includes a set of privileges for its users. The privileges a group has determine the actions that its members are allowed to do. If a user belongs to more than one group, they will have the highest level of the privileges from all the groups they belong to. Plan your groups so that you can use them to assign a common set of privileges to multiple users. Good planning will pay off in ease of administration and a better search experience.
There is a default group called All, which includes every user in ThoughtSpot. When you create a new user, they will be added to the All group automatically. You cannot delete the All group or remove members from it. Only users with either the Can administer ThoughtSpot or Can share with all users privilege can share an object with the All group.
You can also have a hierarchy of groups. That is, groups can belong to (that is, be children of) other groups. When using group hierarchies, permissions are inherited from the parent group. So if you’re a member of a sub-group, you would automatically have the privileges of the parent group.
List of privileges
Here are the different privileges, and the capabilities they enable:
- Can administer ThoughtSpot
-
Can manage users and groups and has view and edit access to all data. Users with this privilege can also download a saved Answer.
- Can administer Org
-
This privilege is only available if your organization is using multi-tenancy with Orgs. Can manage users and groups and has view and edit access to all data. Users with this privilege can also download a saved Answer. If a user has this privilege in the Primary Org, they are also a cluster administrator, and can view and manage users, groups, and data for all Orgs across the cluster. If a user has this privilege in any other Org, they are only an Org administrator, and can only view and manage users, groups, and data for their specific Org(s). Refer to Cluster administrators and Org administrators for more information.
- Can upload user data
-
Can upload their own data from the application’s Data page using Actions > Upload data.
This privilege is only available to Free Trial and Team Edition users. - Can download data
-
Can download data from search results and Liveboards.
- Can share with all users
-
Can see the names of and share with users outside of the groups the user belongs to. Members of groups with this privilege can also share with groups marked as NOT SHAREABLE.
- Can manage data
-
Can create connections. To view or edit other people’s connections, you must have the Can administer ThoughtSpot privilege.
Can create Worksheets and views.
Note that to edit a Worksheet or a view created by another user, you must have the Edit permission on that object, and it must be shared with you.
Can create SQL views.
- Can manage sync
-
Can use ThoughtSpot Sync to set up secure pipelines to external business apps and sync data. Note that users with admin privileges see all pipelines and syncs created by their team through the Sync tab in the Data workspace, while users without admin privileges see only the syncs and pipelines they personally create.
- Can use Sage
-
Users with this privilege can use the Early Access ThoughtSpot Sage features. These features must first be enabled by your administrator. For more information about Early Access features, see Early Access features. These features include Sage search, AI-suggested searches, and Contextual change analysis. You do not need this privilege for the AI-generated Worksheet synonyms feature.
- Can manage catalog
-
Users with this privilege can set up or edit a connection to a catalog. User setting up the catalog connection can also configure which fields to display or hide on the column and table level knowledge cards.
- Can schedule for others
-
Can create Liveboard schedules for other users and groups.
If a user previously had Can schedule for others privileges and the permission was removed, their existing schedules would continue to send as before. As owners of a Liveboard schedule, they could delete the schedule, but could not add or remove existing users.
- Has SpotIQ privilege
-
Can use the SpotIQ feature.
If this privilege is not enabled for the user, they can still see "Did you know" SpotIQ insights on the ThoughtSpot home page.
- Can administer and bypass RLS
-
Users in groups with this privilege (directly or through group inheritance):
-
Are exempt from row-level security (RLS) rules.
-
Can add/edit/delete existing RLS rules.
-
Can check or uncheck Bypass RLS on a Worksheet.
Your installation configuration may enable or disable the availability of this privilege. By default, it is enabled. Administrators or groups with the privilege Can administer ThoughtSpot can grant this privilege.
-
- Has Developer privilege
-
Can access and use the ThoughtSpot Developer Portal to explore the ThoughtSpot APIs and developer tools, and build web applications with ThoughtSpot content.
Privileges are additive, meaning that if a user belongs to more than one group, they will have the highest level of privileges from among the groups they are a member of. They are also inherited from the parent, so that a sub-group gets all the same privileges of its parent, all the way up the group hierarchy.
If you add the privilege Has administration privileges to a group, note that all users in that group will be able to see all the data in ThoughtSpot. Administrators can see all data sources, and Row-level security does not apply to them.
Permissions to see and edit tables, Worksheets, and Liveboards are set when you share them with users and groups, as described in the topic Data security.
The following table shows the intersection of user privilege and ability:
|
|
Create/Edit WS
|
Create View
|
Create Connection
|
Modify Col. Props.1
|
Download Data
|
Share within Group
|
Share with all users
|
Manage and bypass RLS rules
|
CrUD Relationships
|
Read Relationships
|
See Hidden Cols
|
Join with Upload Data
|
Schema Viewer
|
Use Scheduler
|
Use Auto-Analyze
|
Access Developer Portal
|
Run Sage queries
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Can administer ThoughtSpot | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y2 | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | N |
|
Can download data
|
N | N | N | N | Y | Y | N | N | N | Y4 |
N | N | N | N | N | N | N |
Can manage data |
Y | Y | Y | Y | N | Y | N | N | Y4 |
Y4 |
Y5 |
Y | N | N | N | N | N |
Can share with all users |
N | N | N | N | N | Y | Y | N | N | Y4 |
N | N | N | N | N | N | N |
Has SpotIQ privilege |
N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | Y4 |
N | N | N | N | Y | N | N |
Can Administer and Bypass RLS |
N | N | N | N | N | Y | N | Y | Y | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N |
| Can manage sync | Y | Y | Y | Y | N | Y | N | N | Y4 |
Y4 |
Y5 |
Y | N | N | N | N | N |
| Can use Sage | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | Y |
| Can manage catalog | Y | Y | Y | Y | N | Y | N | N | Y4 |
Y4 |
Y5 |
Y | N | N | N | N | N |
| Has Developer privilege | N | N | N | N | N | Y | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | Y | N |
| None | N | N | N | N | N | Y | N | N | N | Y4 |
N | N | N | N | N | N | N |
Table notes:
| |||||||||||||||||
