Empower Your Admins with User Impersonation
We’re excited to introduce a powerful new feature for administrators: User Impersonation. This function allows admins to experience the edays platform from the perspective of other users. This can be a game-changer for ensuring users are set up correctly and resolving any issues users might face—all without the need to involve edays support.
What is User Impersonation?
User Impersonation lets admins see edays exactly as their users do. This means they can step into the shoes of any staff member to gain deeper insights, troubleshoot reported issues, and verify setups. Whether it’s understanding why a user might be experiencing difficulties, or simply ensuring settings and access are correct, User Impersonation gives admins a first-hand view that makes troubleshooting simpler and faster.
Getting Started with Impersonation
To use this feature, you’ll need the User Impersonation permission enabled. Due to the elevated privileges involved, this role isn’t enabled by default—but it can easily be activated by your organisation's role manager or administrator - a guide for amending the roles can be found here. Once enabled, admins will see impersonation links in multiple areas, including the staff record search, staff record pages, and admin user sections.
The impersonation feature applies to all users visible in your staff record view. However, it excludes locked leavers and special accounts such as API accounts, to maintain data security.
How to Start Impersonation
Before impersonating a user, admins must confirm their intention to proceed. This is a critical step to avoid accidental impersonations and to ensure the administrator understands the implications of impersonating a user—especially given that it may expose data that is typically unavailable to them.
What Happens During Impersonation?
Once impersonation begins, admins are redirected to the user’s equivalent of the current page. For example, if an admin is on their own unplanned absence page, they’ll be taken to that user’s unplanned absence page.
While impersonating, admins can perform any viewing actions but cannot make permanent changes. This means:
- View without altering: Admins can review custom forms, browse absence requests, and navigate through different user pages.
- No Permanent Changes: Actions like submitting absences, modifying dashboard widgets, or saving changes are restricted to ensure data integrity. The notification bell and profile options are also inaccessible.
- Admin Panel Restrictions: The admin panel itself cannot be accessed while impersonating, ensuring the highest level of security.
Admins will know they are impersonating another user by a visible banner at the top of the screen, clearly showing who they are currently impersonating. To end impersonation, simply click the X in the impersonation drawer at the top of the page.
Why Use User Impersonation?
- Solve Issues Quickly: View and experience the exact user interface your staff sees, allowing you to identify and resolve issues without relying on screenshots or descriptions.
- User Setup Validation: Ensure that permissions, configurations, and settings are correct for each user.
- Efficient Troubleshooting: When users report issues, impersonate their account to directly see and understand the problems they’re facing, leading to quicker resolutions and reduced need for support escalations.
Ready to Enable User Impersonation?
This feature is designed to boost your efficiency and enhance your ability to support your team—all while maintaining strict boundaries around data security. If you’re ready to empower your admins with this tool, simply enable the User Impersonation permission today and start making user management easier and more insightful.
For more information or if you need help enabling this feature, feel free to reach out to our support team.