Simplifying Permissions
One of the main goals of Beacon is to digitize and expand access to data on campus.
To that end, we created a very simple Roles system that is easy to manage. It gives all Success Network members (of the same role) assigned to a student access to the same data to work together on their advisee's behalf.
While some campuses have expressed a desire for more finite role control, this simplicity is generally seen as a competitive advantage to other products on the market.
Role Levels
There are six different roles in Beacon: Student, Peer Advisor, Advisor, Generalist, Executive, and Administrator. Permissions of each role are additive and increase from Student (access to their information only) to Administrator (manage Beacon and all information therein). When a user is added to Beacon, they receive the role of "Student" by default. Higher roles are then assigned by the Administrator individually or in a bulk process through an FTP file drop.
Distinctions between Advisory Roles
Peer Advisor vs. Advisor
Like Advisors, Peer Advisors are connected to students and can review their advisee's Student Report, create notifications about them, and filter them into Groups. However, Peer Advisors see a smaller, curated data set on the Student Report and in their filter options.
Advisor vs. Generalist
Advisors and Generalists have the same set of tools. The main difference is that Advisors must be connected to a student to view their information and Generalists can search for and view advisor level information on any student.
The Generalist role is the only role we've added since Beacon's creation. The original set of roles were modeled after our early beta campuses who all happened to have very centralized advising systems. As we launched on more campuses, and started integrating with Locations, the need for a role for staff who served in a general advisory capacity, but didn't need to be connected to a student at all times, became apparent.
A good example of the Generalist role is a member of the Financial Aid department. While a Financial Aid Advisor may not need to be assigned to every student receiving financial aid, they will need to access a student's information when a student comes in to discuss why their dropping grades have caused their loan distribution to be suspended. In the Generalist role, the Financial Aid Advisor can view the student's Student Report and create an Alert to reach out to the student's Success Network so they are aware of the issue and can coordinate more direct intervention with the student and make a plan for improvement.