Lesson 2.2: User Groups

To maintain strong internal controls and ensure a proper segregation of duties within your nonprofit organization, FastFund Online uses a highly customizable permission system. Rather than configuring access rights one by one for every single employee, the system allows you to create User Groups.

User Groups are customized security profiles that contain multiple specific permissions based on job categories or the responsibilities of your back-office departments. For example, you might create a “Payroll Clerk” group that only has access to employee data and payroll batches, while a “Payroll Manager” group might also include access to reporting and final payroll posting.

When a new person joins your team, you simply assign them to the appropriate User Group rather than manually assigning individual permissions. This saves administrative time and ensures that staff only have access to the specific modules needed to perform their job duties.

Important Security Note: Only users who have been granted Company Administration rights have access to the USER MANAGEMENT functions required to set up and modify User Groups.

[INSERT SCREENSHOT: The ‘User Groups’ list window displaying the existing groups like Accounting, Accounts Payable, Fund Raising, and Payroll]

How to Create a New User Group

1. From the horizontal Main Menu, select Administration.
2. In the vertical Task Menu on the left, locate the USER MANAGEMENT section and click on User Groups.
3. Click the New + icon to create a new group.
4. Enter a Name (e.g., Accounts Payable) and a Description (e.g., Responsible for entry, payment, and management of vendor invoices).
5. Click SAVE to generate the group profile so you can begin assigning permissions.

[INSERT SCREENSHOT: The ‘User Group Details’ screen showing the Name and Description fields at the top, with the ‘Available Permissions’ box on the left and ‘Assigned Permissions’ box on the right]

Assigning and Removing Permissions Once the group is saved, you will see a list of Available Permissions on the left and Assigned Permissions on the right. FastFund provides standard navigation icons to help you easily move permissions between these two columns:

• Assign a Single Permission: Double-click the permission in the left column, or click the permission to highlight it and click the Right Pointing Arrow icon (>).
• Assign Multiple Permissions: Hold down the CTRL key on your keyboard to select multiple individual permissions, or hold the SHIFT key to highlight an entire block of permissions. Once highlighted, click the Right Pointing Arrow icon (>).
• Assign All Permissions: Click the Double Right Pointing Arrow icon (>>) to instantly move every available permission into the assigned column.
• Remove Permissions: To remove a permission from the group, highlight it in the Assigned column and click the Left Pointing Arrow icon (<). To remove all of them at once, use the Double Left Pointing Arrow icon (<<).

Once you have finished structuring the exact access rights for the department, click SAVE.

Editing or Deleting User Groups If a department’s responsibilities change, you can update their access at any time. Simply click on the User Group’s name from the main list, adjust the assigned permissions using the arrow icons, and click SAVE. If you attempt to exit the screen without saving, FastFund will prompt you with a warning to ensure you don’t lose your work.

To permanently remove a group, click into the User Group’s profile and click the red DELETE button. A prompt will appear asking you to confirm the deletion.