Building Query Access Group Trees
Trees are a graphical way of presenting hierarchical information. PeopleSoft Query uses query access group trees to control the access of the tables in the PeopleSoft database. You define a hierarchy of PeopleSoft record definitions, based on logical or functional groupings, and then give users access to one or more nodes of the tree. Users can retrieve information only from those tables whose record definitions to which they have access.
You create and update query access group trees using Query Access Manager. To get you started, we’ve included some sample query access group trees with the PeopleSoft applications. Which trees you have depend on which PeopleSoft applications you’ve installed. Each tree contains access groups and record definitions categorized by function.
Access groups mark and define a functional group of records or other access groups—in other words, they are descriptive placeholders used to categorize actual record definitions in a logical, hierarchical format. When you define users’ security rights to a tree, you specify which access groups they are permitted to query.
This section explains how to create query access group trees. It assumes that you’re familiar with the concept and terminology of PeopleSoft trees.
Query Access Group Tree Considerations
You should create query access group trees based on your organization’s needs and on any customizations you’ve made. Remember that the sample trees we provide may be replaced when you upgrade to a subsequent PeopleSoft release, so if you modify the samples rather than create your own trees, you may lose your customizations.
Every record definition that you want users to be able to query must be in a query tree. However, they don’t all have to be in the same query tree. One strategy is to use the sample query trees to provide access to the standard PeopleSoft record definitions, but create separate query trees for record definitions that you add in the course of customizing the system. This way, you take advantage of the sample trees but avoid overwriting your changes during future upgrades.
How you organize the contents of the query tree depends on the needs of your organization and your users. For example, you might want to create small trees that are not intimidating to non-technical or casual users. The sample query trees provided in the PeopleSoft application are divided by functions, but to simplify the trees, you may want to create separate trees that contain subcategories of each function. For example, you could create separate trees for U.S. and Canadian record components to grant users in each region security access to only the record components they should use.
Note: You should consider adding record definitions to the query trees in a hierarchy that matches the parent/child relationship of records in your database. Though you don’t have to organize records this way—Application Designer actually controls the parent/child hierarchy in your database—you’ll probably find it helpful to keep the query trees consistent with your database structure.