Managing Access and Users
m3ter supports two types of user for your Organization:
Users. Represent the people you’ll grant access to your Organization.
Service Users. Intended to represent automated processes that you want to grant direct API access to your Organization. You'll want to set up Service Users for integrations of your 3rd-party systems with the m3ter service.
Using Permission Policies, you can then control what Users and Service Users can do when they have gained access. See Creating and Managing Permission Policies.
You can also make a request to grant m3ter Support access to your Organization for a specified period.
This topic explains how to manage the people and processes you grant access to your Organization in m3ter:
Create Service Users, configure them to add Permission Policies, and generate Access Keys
Create and Manage User Groups to add Permission Policies to them and assign Users to User Groups
Make Request to Grant m3ter Support Access to your Organization
Important: Mixed Permission Policies - deny permissions take precedence! Care is needed if you set up a User's access with more than one Permission Policy applied to the User. For example, you might assign the Administrator Permission Policy directly to a User at the level of their individual permissions. But if you then add them to a User Group to which a more restrictive Permission Policy has been applied - say one that denies all members of the group access to any Meters - then the more restrictive permissions imposed by the User Group Meter Access Denied policy takes precedence over the more permissive Administrator policy.
Managing Users and Adding Permission Policies
You can view Users and modify their access to your Organization.
Viewing Users
To view Users:
1. Select Settings>Access. The Access page opens with the Users tab selected. Any existing Users in your Organization are listed. A User Details panel is shown on the right of the page.
2. Select a User if you want to view their details. The User details panel is populated for the selected User.
Tip: Users Missing? When you open the Users page, you should see all the Users you asked m3ter to set up for your Organization. If any are missing, please contact m3ter Support.
Adding Permission Policies to Users
Two types of Permission Policy are available for controlling User access to your Organization:
Managed. System generated Permission Policies. Two Managed Permission Policies are currently available to assign to your Users, Service Users, or User Groups:
Administrator. Read and write permissions. Can submit API calls.
ReadOnly. Read permissions only. Cannot submit API calls.
Note: You cannot edit Managed Permission Policies.
Custom. Permission Policies you create for your own Organization:
You can use the m3ter Permission framework to create and configure Custom Permission Policies to impose precise levels of access on individual Users and User Groups.
Warning: Working with Permission Policies? Before creating Custom Permission Policies to control Users access to your Organization, we recommend that you review the following topic in this section on Understanding, Creating, and Managing Permission Policies.
To add and manage Permission Policies for a User:
1. On the Settings>Access>Users tab, select the User you want to assign a Permission Policy to. The page adjusts to show the details panel for the selected User. Any Permission Policies assigned to the Service User are listed.
2. If you want to add a Permission Policy to the User, select Edit permissions. The page adjusts to show any Permission Policies assigned to the User.
3. Select Add Permission Policy. The page adjusts.
4. In the Add Permission Policy drop-down list, select the Permission Policy and select the Add Permission Policy. The selected Permission Policy is added to the User and is now shown in the Permission Policies list for the User.
5. From the Permission Policies list for a User, you can delete a Permission Policy assigned to the User.
Creating and Configuring Service Users
Service Users represent the automated process you want to grant access to your Organization. When you have created a Service User you can:
Add Permission Policies to the Service User to control what they can do when they gain access to your Organization.
Generate Access Keys for the Service User, which you can use to perform service authentication with the m3ter service. When you have authenticated the Service User, you can then can obtain a Bearer Token for use in API calls made to the service by the Service User. For details on how to generate access keys, see Service Authentication.
Creating Service Users
To create and edit Service Users:
1. Select Settings>Access. The Access page opens with the Users tab selected.
2. Select the Service Users tab. Existing Service Users in your Organization are listed.
3. If you want to create a new Service User, select Create Service User. The Create page opens.
4. Enter a Name for the new Service User.
5. Select Create Service User. You are returned to the Service Users tab where your new Service User is listed.
6. If you want to edit the Service User's details, select the Edit button. The Edit page opens.
7. Make your editing changes and select Update Service User. Your changes are saved and you are returned to the Service Users tab.
8. If you want to delete a Service User, select the Delete button. You are asked to confirm the delete action.
Adding Permission Policies to Service Users
Two Managed Permission Policies are currently available to assign to your Service Users:
Administrator. Read and write permissions. Can submit API calls.
ReadOnly. Read permissions only. Cannot submit API calls.
You cannot edit Managed Permission Policies.
You can also assign any Custom Permission Policies you've created to Service Users.
Warning: Working with Permission Policies? Before creating Custom Permission Policies to control Users access to your Organization, we recommend that you review the following topic in this section on Understanding, Creating, and Managing Permission Policies.
To add and manage Permission Policies for a Service User:
1. On the Settings>Access>Service Users tab, select the NAME text of the Service User. The Overview page opens. Any Permission Policies assigned to the Service User are listed.
2. If you want to add a Permission Policy to the Service User, select Add Permission Policy. The page adjusts.
3. Select the Permission Policy you want to assign in the drop-down list.
Important! You must add the Administrator Permission Policy to a Service User to allow the user to make API calls to the service.
4. Select Add Permission. The selected Permission Policy is added to the Service User and you are returned to the Overview page.
5. If you want to delete a Permission Policy from a Service User, select the Delete button. You are asked to confirm the delete action.
Creating and Managing User Groups
You can create User Groups and add Permission Policies to them. User Groups are very useful for controlling access to your Organization when you want to set up a number of people with the same Permission Policies to control their access. For example, you might have a Billing Operations team and you want to restrict the access of all members of this team to performing certain billing operations when working in your Organization. You can then:
Create a Permission Policy which allows the required range of Billing resource access.
Create a new Billing User Group and add this Permission Policy to it.
Add each team member to the Billing User Group.
Refrain from assigning any Permission Policies at the level of each individual team member.
To create a User Group:
1. Select Settings>Access. The Access page opens with the Users tab selected.
2. Select the User Groups tab.
3. Select Create User Group. The Create page opens.
4. Enter a Name for the new User Group.
5. Select Create User Group. You are returned to the User Groups tab where the new User Group is listed.
6. If you want to change the name of the User Group, select Edit, make your changes, and select Update User Group.
To add Permission Policies to a User Group:
1. Select Settings>Access. The Access page opens with the Users tab selected.
2. Select the User Groups tab. Select the hotlink NAME text of the User Group you want to add Permission Policies to. The User Group details page opens.
3. On the Permission Policies panel, select Add Permission Policy. The page adjusts.
4. Use the Add Permission Policy drop-down to select the policy you want to add.
5. Select the Add Permission Policy button.
6. You are returned to the User Group details page where you'll see a message confirming that the policy has been successfully applied to the User Group and it will be listed on the Permission Policies panel.
7. If you want to add another Permission Policy to the User Group, repeat steps 3. to 6.
To add Users to a User Group:
1. Select Settings>Access. The Access page opens with the Users tab selected.
2. Select the User you want to add to a User Group.
3. In the User details panel on the right, select Edit user access.
4. The User details page opens.
5. On the User Groups panel, select Add to User Group. The page adjusts.
6. Use the Add to User Group drop-down to select the User Group you want to add the user to and then select the Add to User Group button. You are returned to the User details page and the User Group to which you've added the User to is listed on the User Groups panel.
Making Request to Grant m3ter Support Access
You can make a request to grant m3ter Support time-bound access to your Organization. You'll likely want to do this to allow Support to respond to a request you've made to them for help in resolving an issue encountered in your Organization.
Note: Support Terms? When you grant m3ter Support access to your Organization, their activity in your Organization will be conducted fully in accordance with our Support Terms.
To make a request to grant m3ter Support access to Organization:
1. Select Settings>Access. The Access page opens with the Users tab selected.
2. Select the Support Access tab. On the Support Access Request panel, you can enter a date for when you want access to your Organization by m3ter Support to end.
3. Under Support access end date, use the calendar pop-up to select the access end date.
4. On the Permission Policies panel, select Add Permission Policy. The pages adjusts allowing you to select the level of access.
5. Use the drop-down list to select the Permission Policy you want to assign to m3ter Support and select Add Permission Policy. You are returned to the Support Access tab and the Permission Policies panel now shows the Permission for Support access.
6. Select Grant support access. You should receive a message to confirm Support access has been granted up to the selected end date. The page adjusts and shows Support access as ACTIVE with the Support access end date:
In this example:
Support access will end at midnight on March 4th, 2023.
Support has been granted Administrator access until that point in time.
7. If you want update the Support access you've granted - maybe because the issue you made a request to Support about has now been resolved and you want to close-off access, you can:
Reset the Support access end date to tomorrow's date and select Update support access to end access as soon as possible. Note that when you grant Support access, it must be for at least the remainder of the current day.
Under Permission Policies, delete any Permission Policies you've added for the access.
Viewing Permission Policies
To view Permissions Policies in your Organization:
1. Select Settings>Access. The Users page opens.
2. Select the Permission Policies tab. Any existing Managed or Custom Permission Policies are listed.
Next: Understanding, Creating, and Managing Permission Policies