Setting Up System Users

Learn how to create and manage group users to properly control access.

Written By Grainne Reidy (Super Administrator)

Updated at October 3rd, 2024

Introduction

System Admin

The AIQ system comes pre-set with two types of user roles: User and Admin. Admin is the highest level of administration, with full access to the system. We recommend having two system admins.

System Admin User Permissions

  • Creating new users
  • Assigning or un-assigning users to companies
  • Editing User Accounts
  • Re-sending User Passwords
  • Unlocking User Accounts
  • Deactivating User Accounts
  • Changing User Profiles
  • Changing User Roles
  • Managing User Profiles

To carry out system admin responsibilities:

  1. Log in to the Group Portal. 
  2. Click Group Management and select an option.

Admin User Role Permissions

  • Un-reconcile a Bank Reconciliation
  • Set up Approvers
  • Employee Expenses/Employees Listing (Action button becomes available)
  • Update/change supplier bank account details
  • Update/change customer bank account details
  • Re-open closed periods
  • Access new data importer steps (COA, BI Structure, Bank Import, and Static data)
  • Set up HMRC MTD connection
  • Redo VAT Return
  • Set up bank feeds
  • Enable/disable OData

See:

User Admin Introduction (24.0) - AIQ Academy

Manage User Profiles (24.1) - AIQ Academy

Add Users (24.2) - AIQ Academy

Edit User (24.3) - AIQ Academy

Assign Unassign Users and Companies (24.4) - AIQ Academy

User email invite and password management (24.5) - AIQ Academy

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Best Practices for Profiles and User Management

Which entity should I create my profiles in?

Create profiles in an entity that best represents your desired range of user permission levels.

What profile should non-finance users have?

Make sure non-finance users have a user type of Business User. All other profiles will be Finance User.

How do I create a single set of profiles across all entities?

At Group level:

  1. Create users at the group level with the relevant profile and User Role.
  2. Assign users to entities. The group users should now have the correct profiles in all the entities they have been assigned to.

At Entity level: 

Copy the profiles from the entity in which you created them to all other entities within the account. This will result in a single set of profiles across all entities. 


Select Also copy profile to the account to ensure that the profile is visible at the group level when creating group users.

How do I keep any future edits consistent across all entities?

When changing a profile’s permissions, remember to copy (and therefore overwrite) the updated profile to all other entities.
 

When changing a user’s details, such as profile or User Role, always change them at the group level so that these changes are propagated to the entities in which they are assigned to. 

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Managing User Profiles

Setting up User Profiles

Each User is assigned a User Profile. Before adding new Users, you need to set up Profiles with the appropriate User Types. 


A Profile can have a User Type of:

  • Business User: Business User Profiles have access to Purchase Orders, Sales Orders, and Reports. You can subtract permissions from a Business User Profile, but you cannot add more permissions than the Business User Type allows.
  • Finance User: Finance User Profiles have access to the complete functionality of the system. For the Finance User Profile, you can add or subtract permissions as desired.

Several Profiles come with the system: Practice Bookkeeper, Practice Accountant, Practice Power User, and Practice Administrator. Each has specific Menu, Dashboard, Report, and OData access permissions. Practice Administrator is assigned to the system administrator during AIQ implementation. 
 

In addition, you can create Profiles specific to your needs, with any user type. For example, you might create a Profile for a Data Entry User, Purchasing User, Supervisor, and so on.

Configuring existing User Profile access 

  1. Log into the Group Portal.
  2. Next to the relevant entity, go to Actions and select Maintain Menu Profiles.

  3. In the User Profile Management screen, you can enable or restrict access to Menus, Dashboards, Reports, and OData in their respective tabs. Tick or untick the boxes as appropriate for each profile. If a Profile is of the Business User type, some of the boxes will be greyed out, as Business User does not have access to all options. Alternatively, click (De) Select All to untick all boxes and then tick them as required. 

  4. Click Process.

Creating a new User Profile

  1. In the Select Company dropdown, choose the appropriate entity.
  2. Enter the chosen profile name in the Add New Profile field. You cannot create Profiles with duplicate names. You will receive a warning if you do.
  3. In Select User Type, choose either Business User or Finance User.
  4. Click Add
  5. Select or deselect permissions for Menus, Dashboards, Reports, and OData for the new Profile. 
  6. Click Process

Deleting User Profiles in an Entity

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Only Profiles with no users assigned to them will appear as options for deletion.

  1. From the Delete Profile dropdown, select the Profile you want to delete. 
  2. Click Delete. This deletes the Profile in the current entity only.

Deleting User Profiles at Group level

  1. Log into the Group Portal.
  2. Go to Group ManagementDelete Group User.

  3. In the Delete Profile screen, select a profile to delete. You can only select profiles that are not assigned to any Users.
  4. Click Delete.

Copying Profiles between Entities

  1. In the Copy Profile dropdown, select the Profile you wish to copy to the other Entities in the Group. If it already exists in any of them, you will receive a warning, that copying it might override current settings.
  2. Click Copy if you want to proceed.

Copying Profile Permissions in an Entity

You can copy Profiles to entities of the same type, for example, one trading entity to another. 

  1. In the Copy Profile Permissions of field, select the Profile permissions that you want to copy. In the To field, select the Profile that you want to have the same permissions. A Profile's permissions can only be copied to another profile of the same type (Finance or Business).
  2. Click Copy.
  3. Click Process.

Copying Profiles at Group level

  1. Log into the Group portal.
  2. Next to the relevant Entity, go to Actions Copy Profile.

  3. In the Copy Profile screen, select the relevant Profile from the Select Profile dropdown. 
  4. Tick Create at Group Level if desired.
  5. Select which Entities should have the Profile. You can only copy Profiles to similar Entities, trading to trading, or consolidation to consolidation.
  6. Click Copy.

Editing Profile Names

You can edit the names of Profiles you created but not those that come with the system.

  1. Click Edit Profile Name.



  2. You can now edit the names that are highlighted in yellow, and then click Update or Cancel as appropriate.

 

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If you use a Template Company to create Menu Descriptions and set up your User Profiles, then all these changes will be carried forward to all Companies that you set up using that Template Company.

  How do I Set Up a New Company or Corporate Entity?‍ 

See:

Manage User Profiles (24.1) - AIQ Academy

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Adding Users at Group level

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Adding users at Practice and Group levels follows the same process. The only difference is the label names.

Step One: Complete Group User Details

  1. Go to Group Management > Add Group Users.

     
  2. Fill in the following fields:
  • Group User Name: Enter your full username (ex.: Jack Adams).
  • Group Logon Name: Enter your User login name (ex.: “jadams”)
  • Profile: Select Accountant, Bookkeeper, Power User, Business User, or Finance User. Do not select Owner Manager or Project Manager.
  • Add Profile: Click to select a Profile User Type and name. The Profile will only be updated in those entities that the user is assigned to.
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The Profile a User has at Group level is the default that they will have at Entity level. However, you can change this. For example, you could set someone as a Bookkeeper at the Group level and as a Report User for a particular entity.

  • E-mail: Enter your user e-mail.

Step Two: Complete Permissions

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Users with a Business User Profile will only have one permission option enabled: User can only see their own POs.

 

Tick the boxes to control what admin functions the user will have access to. All the following options should be unticked except for users requiring admin rights:

  • Add Client: Ticking this will allow users to create new entities and to be able to edit Entities. This includes being able to change the entity name, create VAT groups and inactivate the Entity.
  • Manage User Profile: Ticking this means that the user will be able to make changes to User Profiles for all companies they have been assigned to.
  • Activate/Deactivate Clients: Ticking this will allow the user to activate or deactivate companies that they have been assigned to.
  • Re-assign Client: This allows the user to assign and un-assign themselves and other users from companies within the group.
  • Manage Entity Users: This allows the user to change user roles and profiles at the company level.

The following permissions should be enabled as required by the user:

  • Consolidation Manager: Ticking this allows the user to access the consolidation manager functions at the Group level.
  • User Can Update Exchange Rates Across the Group: Ticking this allows the user to update exchange rates across the Group, when this is enabled in the consolidation manager.
  • User can view only purchase orders that they created: Ticking this means that the user, for confidentiality reasons, can only view their own purchase orders, not those created by other users. 

Step Three: Process

Click Process. An email will be sent to the new user with instructions to create a new password. User passwords are not visible to anyone in the system. The link in this email expires in 48 hours. If a User cannot see their email, they should check their spam folder.
 

If the link expires or the user did not receive the email, it can be re-sent:

  1. Go to Group Management > Edit Group User
  2. Click the relevant Group User Name. 
  3. Click the Send password reset email to user link.



  4. The User will then receive an email reset link.

    Graphical user interface, text, application, email

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See:

Add Users (24.2) - AIQ Academy

User email invite and password management (24.5) - AIQ Academy

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Assigning and Reassigning Users to Entities


Group users are not able to access any of the companies within the group until they have been assigned to an entity. 

Assign Users to Entities

  1. Log into the Group Portal.
  2. Go to Group ManagementAssign Users to Entities.



  3. Under Available Entity(s), select the entity you want to assign or unassign users from.


     
  4. Select from Available Group Users or Assigned Group Users and use the arrows to move them from one column to another. 
    The system will alert you if:
    • the email address does not share the same domain address as the Entity. However, this does not prevent the User from being assigned to an Entity.
    • any of the Entities you try to assign the User to does not contain a matching User Profile.
  5. Click Process.
  6. Repeat all steps for each Entity you wish to assign users to.

Reassign Entities to Users

  1. Log into the Group Portal.
  2. Go to Group ManagementReassign Entities to Users.



  3. Under Available Practice Users, select the user you want to reassign.


     
  4. To assign an Entity to a User, select the desired Entity in Available Entity(s) and click >. To unassign an Entity to a User, select the desired Entity in Assigned Entity(s) and click <. Use the double arrows (<<, >>) to move all items from one column to the other.
  5. Click Process
  6. Repeat all steps for each Group User you wish to reassign.

See:

Assign Unassign Users and Companies (24.4) - AIQ Academy

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Changing Passwords and Unlocking Accounts


Users who do not use SSO can change their password by going to Setup > Change My Password and following the process.


Unlocking a User Account 

User accounts will be locked if a user has entered an incorrect password too many times.


To unlock Group Users:

  1. Go to Group Management > Edit Group User. 
  2. Click to open the relevant user.
  3. Untick Account Locked.

To unlock Entity Users:

  1. In the Group Portal, go to Actions > Manage Users against the relevant Entity.
  2. Click to open the relevant user.
  3. Untick Account Locked.

When accounts are locked, an email is automatically sent to all system admin users alerting them of this activity.

See:

User email invite and password management (24.5) - AIQ Academy

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Creating Additional Admin Users

Admin Users can add and edit Group Users. 
 

To create a new admin user:

  1. Create a group user as described previously (see Adding Users at Group level).
  2. Then click on Group Management > Edit Group User.


     
  3.  Click Update User Role and select Admin.
  4. Click Process. Any changes you made will now be present in all Entities that include the User's Profile without any need for further amending. 


     
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Take care to set the permissions correctly when promoting a user to administrator, as the permissions become locked at this point and cannot be amended.

See:

Edit User (24.3) - AIQ Academy

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Editing a Group User 

  1. Go to Group Management > Edit Group Users.


     
  2.  Select the required Group User Name from the list.


     
  3. In the Edit Group User screen, you can change:
  • Group User Name
  • Profile: Practice Administrator cannot be edited, they must be deactivated (see the Deactivating Users section below). If you change a User's Profile, you must unassign and reassign all relevant Entities to that User for the Profile to update.
  • Add Profile: If you need to create a new Profile, click Add Profile, followed by Process. The User Profile will only be updated in those entities that the user is assigned to. 
  • E-mail
  • Permissions
  • Update User Role: Select Admin or User.

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  1. Click Process. Any changes you made will now be present in all Entities that include the User's Profile without any need for further amending. 
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It is not possible to:

  • Change the Group Logon Name: If you need to change this, you will need to deactivate the old ID and create a new Logon ID.
  • Use the same email address for more than one user: If you want to change the Group Logon Name, and re-use an email address, you should change the email address in the old Logon ID before creating the new ID.

See:

Edit User (24.3) - AIQ Academy

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Deactivating Users

It is not possible to delete a User from the system. To remove access from a User, you need to deactivate the User.
 

If you deactivate a User at Group level, they will be deactivated in all Entities as well. If you want to prevent a user from accessing a particular entity, you should un-assign the user from the entity as described previously (see Assigning and Reassigning Users to Entities).

Deactivating Group Users

For Users with Group or Multi-Entity access:

  1. Log into the Group Portal.
  2. Go to Group ManagementEdit Group Users.

     
     
  3. Under Group User Name, click the relevant name to bring up its details. 


     
  4. Untick Active.



  5. Click Process.
  6.  After the ‘Group user updated successfully’ message appears, click Close.

Deactivating Bulk Payment Approver Users

  1. Log into the Entity that contains the Approver User you want to deactivate.
  2. Go to Approver Setup > Bulk Payment Approvers
  3. Next to the relevant user, go to Actions and select Delete.

     
  4. Click OK.

Deactivating Entity Users

  1. Log into the Group Portal.
  2. Next to the relevant entity, go to Actions and select Manage Users.


     
  3. Under Full Name, click the relevant user to open its details.


     
  4. Untick Entity User Active.
  5. Click Process.


     

Deactivating an API-linked user

Making an API-linked user inactive can cause your integration to fail. To get around this, use a new User ID to re-generate a new User Key:

  1. Log into the relevant entity/entities under an Active User account that you want to keep. 
  2. Go to SetupCompany Details & Settings.


     
  3. Under Integration, enter the company password and click Request User Key.
  4. A newly updated User Key will appear. Ensure you copy it all.
  5. To re-establish the link, send the new User Key to your integration point of contact.

See:

Edit User (24.3) - AIQ Academy

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Removing Admin Rights from a User

Once a user has been promoted to Practice Administrator, it is not possible to take away administration rights or amend the permissions of an admin user. These will appear grey and locked for editing.


If you need to do this: 

  1. Go to Group Management > Edit Users.

     
  2. Select the required Group User Name from the list.


     
  3. Change the email address associated with the current user. This will allow you to set up the new account using the correct email address. We recommend prefixing the current email address with "xxx".
  4. Untick Activation Status to deactivate the current user.



  5. Click Process.
  6. Set up a new account with the required Profile and Permissions.

See:

Edit User (24.3) - AIQ Academy

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