Why is sharing content to specific groups not working on Survey123?

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01-20-2020 04:34 AM
RafaeldePedro
Occasional Contributor

We have a series of groups withing our organisation, and recently we have set up a user and group for field surveyors so they can only find and edit certain items. Bear in mind the this Field Surveyor user is only a member of the Field Surveyor group, and does not belong to any other groups in the organisation.

 

When logging in Survey123 as a the Field Surveyor user, I can find all existing published Survey123 forms when I go to download a form, while I was expecting only a few forms would be visible and available to download (those that had been shared with the Field Surveyors group).

 

This issue has not happened, however, when logging in Collector as the Field Surveyor user, where the only visible web maps to download are those that were shared with the Field Surveyors group and everything seems to display fine.

 

If this is an issue outside my control, it seems to make the use of groups a bit redundant in Survey123, as users are not affected by the groups that they belong or not belong to. Not to mention the data security risk of allowing full access in Survey123 to all organisation users.

 

Has anyone faced a similar problem? Or can anyone spot a step that I might have missed in my process, and which could be causing this issue?

 

Thank you

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7 Replies
Jim-Moore
Esri Regular Contributor

Hi Rafael

One reason the Field Surveyor would be able to see other surveys is if this member has the Administrator role (administrators can see all content in your organization).

Another would be if the other surveys this account can see on the Download Surveys page happen to be shared with all members of your organization and/or everyone (public).

Do either of these apply in this case?

Best regards,

Jim

RafaeldePedro
Occasional Contributor

Hi Jim,

It is true that the Filed Surveyor user was at first set with an Administrator role. However, in Collector it would only see those webmaps that had been shared with the group that it's a member of, despite having that Administrator role. So it seemed to be just a Survey123 issue, rather than an issue of which member has which role.

In any case, we amended the Field Surveyor role to Editor, and they can still view all surveys forms when going to download anything on Survey123.

Thanks for your quick reply, though. Is there anything else that comes to mind that could be causing this?

Rafa

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Jim-Moore
Esri Regular Contributor

Hi Rafa

Could you please try signing out of the app and signing back in again? This should reset the user's permissions in the app to reflect the change in user role.

Collector uses a different sharing model to Survey123 and will only show web maps that you own and those that have been shared with you through a group. See this neat explanation from Kylie Donia‌ for more info on Collector.

Best,

Jim

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RafaeldePedro
Occasional Contributor

Hi Jim,

I have tried this several times and it still doesn't work. The Field Surveyor user still has access to download every single form on Survey123 in the organisation, despite its "Data Editor" role and whether or not they have been shared with the Field Surveyors group, the only to which the user should have access. Maybe this is something worth looking into, as the app might need some sort of fix?

Thanks for your.

Rafa

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Jim-Moore
Esri Regular Contributor

Hi Rafa

Thanks for the additional information. I've tested this and it appears to be working as expected; if I sign in as a user who is not an administrator I can see: surveys the user owns; surveys that are shared with groups the user is a member of; surveys that are shared with all members of my organization; and surveys that are shared publicly.

Just to confirm, are the other surveys the Field Surveyor user can see shared with the organization and/or public?

Best,

Jim

RafaeldePedro
Occasional Contributor

Hi again Jim,

I think we're onto something here. I believed that in order to specify group sharing, I had to check the organisation box first. So I checked the 'organisation' box, and then I checked the 'Following groups' box, from which I selected the Field Surveyors group. I thought that following these steps would restrict the view from the remaining members within the organisation.

I have tested it by unchecking the 'organisation' box from existing survey forms, leaving only the groups, and it seems to have an effect on what the user can see/download on the Survey123 app. I will carry on further tests but I think this is the origin of the problem. I was confused by the different way of sharing between Survey123 and Collector but after your last message I think I understand it better.

Thank you

Rafa

Jim-Moore
Esri Regular Contributor

Hi Rafa, great to hear it's sorted out now.

As you've seen, you can share a survey with both your organization and specific groups; a reason for doing this would be if you wanted to share the survey with all members of your organization and also share it with additional users from a different organization who you've invited to a group.

Cheers,

Jim