Prevent Users from Deleting Features within a Versioned Feature Class (SDE)

[CoryWilliams]

Hi Team,
I was just wondering if there was any known way to prevent users from deleting a feature from a versioned feature class within an SDE database?

I want users to be able to Select, Insert and Update, but not Delete without going through the correct process.

Another reason is that I'm looking to do a lookup on a Features ID, in another one of our systems so we can record works against that feature in a separate database (i.e. Upgrades, Relocations, Maintenance etc).

Any thoughts?

Cheers,

Cory

[JakeSkinner]

Hi Cory,

If you have ArcGIS for Server, I would recommend creating a feature service and have the users edit this through a web map.  With a feature service, you can configure which editing operations are allowed.  For example, you can disable the delete operation:

http://resources.arcgis.com/en/help/main/10.1/index.html#//015400000393000000

[CoryWilliams]

Hi Jake,
cheers for that. I was hoping to keep them using ArcMap as they're network designers / planners.

Any idea whether this level of access is in the pipeline at all?
Enabling users to have a version and locking them down would be useful.

[JakeSkinner]

Not sure if this is in the pipeline or not.  I found a similar suggestion on the Ideas page:

https://c.na9.visual.force.com/apex/ideaView?id=087E00000004mi3IAA

I would recommend promoting this idea.

[LeoDonahue]

Cory, can you elaborate on your "correct process" for deleting?

I thought the concept behind versioning gives you an "adds" and "deletes" table for each versioned feature class and you get to manually review those adds and deletes during the reconcile/post process.

If a user deletes a feature from his/her version, why is that bad?  You still have that feature in your default version, yes? If you look at the adds and deletes table, an "update" is recorded as both a delete and an add.

I'm not sure I want ESRI to mess around with the permissions on versioning.  Maybe ESRI can address the need for a transactional feature class.

[CoryWilliams]

Cory, can you elaborate on your "correct process" for deleting?

I thought the concept behind versioning gives you an "adds" and "deletes" table for each versioned feature class and you get to manually review those adds and deletes during the reconcile/post process.

If a user deletes a feature from his/her version, why is that bad?  You still have that feature in your default version, yes? If you look at the adds and deletes table, an "update" is recorded as both a delete and an add.

I'm not sure I want ESRI to mess around with the permissions on versioning.  Maybe ESRI can address the need for a transactional feature class.

Hi Leo,
the way my system is currently setup (maybe I've overlooked something)... is that power users have the ability to add and remove features at will. They've created a version from the default.

My concern is that a feature may be removed, which is linked to various other systems.

I'm using GIS in a Telecommunications environment -- so if a pit was removed if I have other systems linked to that record, there is no safeguard in place at present to confirm it.

So by propper procedure, I'm looking at having a power user request a manager or GIS Admin to remove a feature...
Just looking to try and maintain data integrity.

[LeoDonahue]

Hi Leo,
the way my system is currently setup (maybe I've overlooked something)... is that power users have the ability to add and remove features at will. They've created a version from the default.

Ok.  Anything they delete is deleted from their version only, unless they can reconcile/post those deleted features to your default version.

My concern is that a feature may be removed, which is linked to various other systems.

Which version, the default or the power users version, are you linking to the other system?

I'm using GIS in a Telecommunications environment -- so if a pit was removed if I have other systems linked to that record, there is no safeguard in place at present to confirm it.

So by propper procedure, I'm looking at having a power user request a manager or GIS Admin to remove a feature...
Just looking to try and maintain data integrity.

This is where the manager or GIS Admin reviews what the power users edit in their versions before they reconcile those changes to the default version.  Granted this can be a real pain if there are alot of edits.  Doesn't the version changes dialog allow you to filter on deletes and not reconcile/post those changes to default?