Question

Data Source Security in Forms

Forms Security Ideas

Updated February 17, 2022

asked on October 17, 2014

I am trying to find if there is a way to secure data sources in Forms 9.2 that would allow someone to add a data source to their Form without having to be a Forms System Administrator. What I have is a group of HR users that I have granted their active directory group the role of Process Creator in Forms and thus they can create/copy their own Processes/Forms. The issues are:

When they create a new process they cannot add the data source for employee info to their form and thus cannot add Lookup Fields
When they copy an existing process it removes the Lookup Fields from the copy, forcing them to recreate any common lookups once their process has been granted access to the data source

I realize we can have an admin just grant them rights when they create a new form or create copies of their forms so they don't loose any common lookups but this creates additional work for the IT staff that administers this. If a Process Creator can create/manage/copy their own processes then why can't they add their own data sources without having to involve a Forms System Administrator?

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replied on October 22, 2014

It's a security concern. Because tables can provide drop-down lists with the contents of columns, Forms could theoretically be used to see the content of any table available for look-ups. When a System Administrator gives someone permission to use a data source in their process, they're giving them permission to see the contents of the table. That separation helps keep data a little safer.

Since there's no way to currently do what you're asking, I've tagged this post as a feature request; it sounds like you're asking for more granular security when assigning data sources to processes.

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replied on October 27, 2014

I figured it wasn't available now but would like it in future versions as this is becoming a common request as more multi-department Forms environments come online. The current issue is where we have both a Human Resources department and a Student Records department using the same Forms site. They each don't want the other to be able to use their respective data sources but do want to be able to build on the fly without IT's involvement. Another option would be separate forms environments (almost like duplicating the WebLink8 setup in IIS for WebLink) so that we can begin to build independently secured environments on the same server without the need to purchase multiple forms portal licenses.

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replied on February 17, 2022

This has been improved since Forms 11 Update 1, with it you can configure access rights for data source to allow a group of users to access specific data source, the users with access rights can use the data source directly when create/upload processes. But the system admin still needs to be involved to manage the data source.

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Data Source Security in Forms

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