D2L BrightSpace

Roles and Permissions in Brightspace

Org Hierarchy

Org Units: Brightspace organizes content and users through org units, such as courses or semesters. Custom org unit types can be created to fit specific needs. The platform uses a hierarchy, defined by the org structure, that connects the root node (organization) to leaf nodes (courses) through layers like faculties or departments. Each org unit typically represents a group of users or a specific organizational level.

Role Management

Configuration Variable: These settings can enable or disable specific functionality in the platform, later these can be edited for specific roles. For example, you can set the configuration variable that allows locker file sharing in your platform. As a security measure, you can choose to disable locker file sharing for the guest role.
Role Interactions: Role interactions determine how a role interacts with others, including permissions for actions such as searching, impersonating, enrolling, or viewing email addresses.
Cascading Roles: Assigning a cascading role to a user at a higher org unit (e.g., a department) automatically enrolls them in all units beneath it. This feature is typically used for site administration.
User Enrollment: Permissions are assigned by enrolling users in specific org units with defined roles.

Examples of Roles and Permissions

An administrator might enable locker file sharing in Brightspace using a configuration variable.
As an additional security measure, they might choose to disable locker file sharing for users with the "guest" role.

Creating Roles

The platform allows the creation of a new role, the user has two options:

Start Fresh: Creates a brand new role.
Choose a role: Copies an existing role. You can then change its name and settings.

If the user starts fresh, they need to enter the role details on the New Role, after that, they are taken to the Edit Role Interactions page. Then, they can customize role settings, like those mentioned above.

Exporting and Importing Roles

Roles can be exported and imported as .csv files. This functionality allows users to:

Copy permissions from another organization.

Restore previously exported roles.
Import manually created roles.