Roles and Rights

Microsoft Content Management Server defines distinct roles that participate in the process of creating and updating Web sites. For the most part, these roles correspond directly to the natural roles that apply to Web sites, though in a few cases, the names have been changed to correspond to terminology used for various concepts in the Content Management Server architecture.

Content Management Server also employs the notion of rights groups, which can be established to limit various types of access to particular users. Rights groups are created and associated with different types of containers, such as folders, channels, and galleries, with different types of rights groups being associated with different types of containers. When a user is put into a rights group associated with a particular container, that user will be allowed to work on the entities in that container. For example, if there is a folder named PressReleases that is used to contain press release pages for the Web site, and it has a single rights group named PressRelAuthors associated with it, only those content authors in that rights group will be allowed to create or update pages in the folder PressReleases.

The following table lists the roles in Content Management Server, their descriptions, and the rights groups to which they belong.

Role	Description
Subscriber	The subscriber role is used to define the set of people allowed to view the Web site using a browser. While many Web sites allow anyone to access their content without logging in, other Web sites require users to log in, sometimes charging a fee, in order to view particular portions of the site. Users who have identified themselves by logging in are subscribers, while users who have not identified themselves are considered to be a special type of subscriber called a guest.
Subscriber	The subscriber role is used to define the set of people allowed to view the Web site using a browser. While many Web sites allow anyone to access their content without logging in, other Web sites require users to log in, sometimes charging a fee, in order to view particular portions of the site. Users who have identified themselves by logging in are subscribers, while users who have not identified themselves are considered to be a special type of subscriber called a guest.
Author	The author role is used to define the set of people allowed to create pages and post those pages to the Web site. Author rights groups are associated with channels, folders, and galleries, providing a mechanism to control, which authors can create and update different types of pages, including the templates, and resources that are used to create those pages. Note that authors are not allowed to add or remove resources or templates, and may be limited to using particular ones. By defining different author rights groups, different groups of authors can be restricted to creating pages for particular subsets of the Web site.
Editor	The editor role is used to define the set of people allowed to review the content of the pages created by authors and either approve them or decline them. By definition, editors can do everything an author can do, and they can approve or decline pages for publication. Editor rights groups are also associated with channels, folders, and galleries, similar to the author rights groups. In addition to the activities permitted to authors, editors are allowed to approve or decline pages. Like authors, editors are prohibited from adding or removing both resources and templates. By defining different editor rights groups, different groups of editors can be limited to editing content for only a subset of the Web site.
Moderator	The moderator role is used to define the set of people allowed to review the proposed posting location (the channel) of the pages created by authors, and the duration for which they will be available for viewing on the Web site. Moderators can approve or reject these aspects of a posting, or directly modify them before approving the posting. Note that moderators do not re-approve a posting unless the posting properties themselves are modified. In other words, content changes do not require a second approval by a moderator to be seen on the Live site. Moderator rights groups are associated with channels, providing a mechanism for controlling which moderators control postings to which channels. By defining different moderator rights groups, different moderators can be assigned to control postings on different subsets of the Web site.
	Note that due to customer feedback about how Content Management Server is actually used, the role of moderator may not be carried forward in future versions of Content Management Server, including the 2002 version.
Resource manager	The resource manager role is used to define the set of people allowed to add or remove the resources used in the pages in the Web site. Resources are the items that can be added to a page or template other than basic HTML. For example, images, sounds and video clips, are all resources. Resource manager rights groups are associated with resource galleries, providing a mechanism for controlling which resource managers are in charge of which resource galleries. By defining different resource manager rights groups, different resource managers can be limited to managing resources for only a subset of the Web site. In order for resource managers to be able to create resource galleries themselves, they must be added to the administrators rights group, as only administrators are allowed to create containers such as galleries. Every company will need to decide for itself whether the convenience associated with enlarging the group of administrators is worth the risks.
Template designer	The template designer role is used to define the set of people allowed to create templates for the Web site. Although there are two distinct types of templates, page templates and navigation templates, both types are controlled using this one role. People in this role are also referred to as site developers. Template designer rights groups are associated with template galleries, providing a mechanism for controlling which template designers are in charge of creating and updating templates in different galleries. By defining different template designer rights groups, different template designers can be limited to creating templates for only a subset of the Web site. In order for template designers to be able to create template galleries themselves, they must be added to the administrators rights group, as only administrators are allowed to create containers, such as galleries. Every company will need to decide for itself whether the convenience associated with enlarging the group of administrators is worth the risks.
Administrator	The administrator role is used to define a set of people who have unlimited access to the Web site and the Content Management Server tools used to develop the Web site. This includes the responsibility for creating the various types of Content Management Server containers in the Web site infrastructure, such as folders, channels, and galleries. There is only one administrators rights group, and it is created when Content Management Server is installed. Any user added to this rights group will have permission to perform any action within Content Management Server. This includes the ability to create containers of various types (folders, channels, and galleries) and for establishing the rights groups associated with the other roles. It is likely that in the 2002 version of Content Management Server, multiple administrator rights groups will be possible, creating the possibility of site administrators that are allowed to perform administration tasks for only a particular subset of a Web site.

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