Understand groups and privileges

Creating groups and assigning users to them makes privilege management easier. Before a user can log in and use ThoughtSpot, you must create a username, a password, and a membership in one or more groups for them.

Starting in May 2022, ThoughtSpot rebranded pinboards as Liveboards. For backward compatibility, we currently support internal processes and external methods that use the older naming convention.
You have an option to manage users through LDAP or SAML.

For information on configuring SAML authentication, see Configure 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 upload user data

Can upload their own data from the application’s Data page using Actions  Upload data.

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 SHARABLE.

Can manage data

Can create worksheets, views, and SQL views. Can create connections to external databases. Can manage DataFlow.

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 use experimental features

Can access trial and experimental features that ThoughtSpot makes available to early adopters.

Can invoke Custom R Analysis

Can access R scripts to further explore search answers. Includes options to invoke R scripts on visualizations, create and share custom scripts, and share the results of R analysis as answers and Liveboards.

Can schedule for others

Can create and edit 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, but Insights are enabled on the cluster (this is off by default), 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.

 

Typically, the ALL group has a common set of privileges applies such as the Can upload user data and/or Can download data privileges.

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 Data security.

The following table shows the intersection of user privilege and ability:
Create/Edit WS
Create View
Create Embrace Connection
Modify Col. Props.1
Upload Data
Download Data
Share within Group
Share with all users
Manage RLS rules
CrUD Relationships
Read Relationships
See Hidden Cols
Join with Upload Data
Schema Viewer
Use Scheduler
Use Auto-Analyze
Can administer ThoughtSpot Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y2 Y Y Y Y Y Y
Can upload user data
 N N N N Y N Y N N
Y3
Y4
 N N N N N
Can download data
 N N N N N Y Y N N N
Y4
 N N N N N
Can manage data
 Y Y Y Y Y N Y N N
Y4
Y4
Y5
 Y N N N
Can share with all users
 N N N N N N Y Y N N
Y4
 N N N N N
Has SpotIQ privilege
 N N N N N N N N N N
Y4
 N N N N Y
Can Administer and Bypass RLS
 N N N N N N N N N Y N N N N N N
None N N N N N N Y N N N
Y4
 N N N N N

Table notes:

  1. Applies to non-owners only.
  2. Any tables.
  3. Author of at least one table in relationship.
  4. Only when read permission for columns used in the relationship.
  5. With edit permission.

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