Role-based filtering allows users to quickly locate modules, sections, topics, questions or assessments based on their job function or department. While developing content, you can create a list of roles corresponding to your intended users and assign the roles to the appropriate documents. During publishing, you can tailor your output by publishing selectively to one, several, or all roles. In the Player, users can then choose from a list of available roles to display only the content that is relevant to their job function; they can also toggle to display the entire outline if necessary.

Note: Roles are not available when content is played through a Learning Management System. The user never sees the Player interface, as the LMS creates its own outline for the content. You can still use roles to filter the content that gets published, however.

You can also create document outputs, such as Training Guides, that contain information relevant to only specific roles. In addition, the assigned roles populate the Roles/Responsibility field when you publish a System Process Document.

Note: See Also links can also be filtered by Role. If a linked document has a role assigned to it that matches a role set on the parent document, the See Also link appears in the Player output. If no matching role exists, the See Also link is excluded from the Player output.

Working with roles in the Developer requires two basic steps: First, you create the roles, and then you assign these roles to the appropriate documents. You use the Role Editor to create and manage roles in master role list documents. You assign roles and view role assignments at the document level through the Properties toolpane in the Library or Outline Editor. Once you assign one or more roles to a document, the role assignment is saved as a property of the document and travels with it on operations such as export and import.

By default, the Developer comes with one empty master role list for each language installed. These role lists are stored in the System/Roles folder and are named according to language. The default name of a role list document is Roles, followed by the two-letter abbreviation of the language of the document. For example, the Roles.en document is the master role list for the English language. Additional roles that are not included in any role list can also exist in your content. For example, while new roles assigned to imported content are automatically added to the master role list, newly imported roles may not be added if the master role list is open in the Role Editor and unavailable for updating. To simplify role assignment, however, it is recommended that you always update the master role list to include these additional roles whenever they exist.

 Multi-user Considerations

• If the master role list is checked out by another author, the new roles assigned to documents in a new import are not added to the role list as the document is locked for editing. Roles that have not been saved in the master role list appear as additional roles in the Assign Roles dialog box for those documents to which the roles have been assigned. After a locked role list is checked in, you are prompted if you want to add these roles the next time you open the role list.

When you assign roles to modules, sections, topics, questions or assessments, the Developer determines the language of the selected document(s) and displays a list of all roles in the master role list for that language, as well as any additional roles that are in use in the selected documents. You can assign roles to all selected documents at the same time; however, the selection can include modules, sections, topic questions, or assessments only, and all of the documents selected for role assignment must be of the same language.

Warning! Do not delete the role list for any language. Doing so disables role assignments for that language.

Once you assign one or more roles to a document, the role assignment is saved as a property of the document. If you later make changes to these roles in a master role list, the document assignment is not updated. Therefore, it is recommended that you define and finalize your role lists before assigning roles to documents. Otherwise, you must manually update each document to which obsolete roles are assigned to reflect the changes in the master role list.

Table of Contents  Back