WFM UK: UI Refresh HR: Access Level Hierarchy Explained – Fourth & HotSchedules Customer Success Portal

Overview

What is the Access Level Hierarchy?

The Access Level Hierarchy is a set of levels that employees are assigned to, which establishes where they sit in a company hierarchy. This can be tailored to a particular company to match their job titles/industry. It is also possible to set up multiple Access Level Hierarchies, should a company need one for sites and one for Head Office.
The hierarchy also determines which other employees users can see when logging into the portal. For example, users cannot see those on the same or higher level than themselves. This is for security reasons and to maintain the privacy of sensitive information.

Please Note: Login details can be provided by the employee's manager or Head Office, as this information is not provided by Fourth. Please see the following article for more information on this - Accessing Fourth's Solutions - HR & Payroll

This article shows how the Access Level Hierarchy works within the Fourth system.

Guidance on making changes to the Access Level Hierarchy can be found here.

Viewing the Access Level Hierarchy

Go to HR > Company Admin > Access Level Hierarchy

Fig.1 - Access Level Hierarchy in Company Admin

Select the required Hierarchy

Fig.2 - Selecting a Hierarchy

This will display the various levels set up within the Hierarchy (see Fig.2 and Fig.3)

Fig.3 - Levels Within a Hierarchy

To display all employees on a particular Hierarchy level, select View under the Employees column, as seen in Fig.4

Fig.4 - View Button

Select Return to Edit Hierarchy to go back to the Access Level Hierarchy list
Select an Access Level (select the Description)

This will open out into Module Permissions, as seen in Fig.5.

Fig.5 - Module permissions page

To see all permissions for a given access level, use the Edit buttons against each module

Please Note: Changing the permissions in the Access Level Hierarchy will affect all employees on this level and any other levels the template has been assigned to. This is because it is the access template that is being changed.

What do 'Status' and 'Default' Refer to?

Status and Default are used when two or more Access Level Hierarchies are created. It is possible to have, for example, one hierarchy for sites and one for Head Office.

The Default setting as seen highlighted in Fig.6 refers to which hierarchy would be at the top of the list seen in Fig.2 if more than one was set up.

Fig.6 - Status and default settings

As a hierarchy cannot be deleted, the Status setting is used when a hierarchy is no longer being used. It would be set to Inactive and new one set to Active

Please Note: These two settings are also within each level, so a particular access level can be made inactive.

Setting Up a New Access Level

Go to HR > Company Admin > Access Level Hierarchy > select the required Hierarchy > Create

Fig.7 - Creating a New Access Level

In the Access Level creation screen put the new level name in the Description field, as seen in Fig.8

Fig.8 - New Access Level creation screen

The Parent Level is the level that sits above the newly created level. For example, in Fig.8, Employee is being selected.

Fig.9 shows how this would then look on the Hierarchy.

Fig.9 - A newly created level in the Access Level Hierarchy

Applying an Access Level to an Employee

Go to HR > Employees > Employee List > search and select the required Employee > Employee Access > Assign Access Levels
The correct Access Level can then be selected, as seen in Fig.10

Fig.10 - Assigning an Access Level to an employee

Please Note: Users will only see those access levels below them in the Hierarchy as per the drop-down in Fig.10. So for example, a Department Manager could only assign Assistant Manager/Supervisor or Employee, and would not see Department Manager or above.

Things to Remember

A user can only see other employees in HR & Payroll that are below them on the access level hierarchy.
A user can only put another employee on an access level lower than their own.
When making changes to permissions within the access level hierarchy, be aware that this will change the access for all employees on that access level.
If changes are made to current access levels this could have an effect on who an employee reports to, managers being able to see their employees, employees being able to see others they shouldn't, managers receiving holiday notifications, reporting, etc.
There is a report that can be run to find out the access level of each employee within the system. Go to HR > Users > Employee Access Level.