How to identify the Security Tasks and Security Roles associated with a specific window or report

This is a reposting of an article I originally wrote on my Developing for Dynamics GP blog.

From the Microsoft Dynamics GP Application Level Security Series.

Microsoft Dynamics GP version 10.0 introduces a new pessimistic task and role based security model. This model is defined in the following way:

• Access to all windows, tables, reports and miscellaneous permissions are classed as Security Operations.
• A set of Security Operations required to perform a specific task are assigned to a Security Task.
• Multiple Security Tasks required to perform a specific role are assigned to a Security Role.
• Each User and Company combination can then have multiple Security Roles assigned to it.

Note: Operations may be assigned to multiple Security Tasks and Security Tasks may be assigned to multiple Security Roles.

In the situation when a system administrator knows which window (or report) they wish to grant access to a user, but does not know what Security Tasks or Security Roles are associated with the window, there is no simple method to obtain this information from within the application.  It would be possible to scroll through each Security Task on the Security Task Setup window (Microsoft Dynamics GP >> Tools >> Setup >> System >> Security Tasks) and check if the window is selected, but this is time consuming.  The Print Operation Access report which can be printed after selecting the window will show which users have access to the window, but not how that access was obtained based on the Security Roles and Security Tasks.

To obtain the data we will use a new Security Resource Descriptions table (Technical Name: syCurrentResources (SY09400) table) which was added to v10.0 to create a SQL Query to obtain the information.  This table is initially empty, but can be populated by running the Clear Data File Maintenance process on it. The system will then rebuild the contents based on the current installed dictionaries.

Below are the steps to populate the Security Resource Descriptions table:

1. Click Microsoft Dynamics GP, point to Maintenance, and then click Clear Data to open the Clear Data window.
2. On the Display menu, click Physical.
3. In the Series list, click System.
4. In the Tables pane, click the Security Resource Descriptions table, and then click Insert.
5. Click OK.
6. Click Yes.
7. In the Report Destination window, select the Screen check box, and then click OK to send the report to the screen.
8. Close the report.

Now that the Security Resource Descriptions table has been populated we can use it in a SQL Query from SQL Query Analyzer (SQL Server 2000) or SQL Server Management (SQL Server 2005). The Query below will display the Security Roles and Security Tasks associated with a specific window or report as selected by changing the Display Name on the last line of the query.

SQL Query

SELECT  ISNULL(A.SECURITYROLEID,”) AS SECURITYROLEID, ISNULL(M.SECURITYROLENAME,”) AS SECURITYROLENAME, –ISNULL(M.SECURITYROLEDESC,”) AS SECURITYROLEDESC,
ISNULL(O.SECURITYTASKID,”) AS SECURITYTASKID, ISNULL(T.SECURITYTASKNAME,”) AS SECURITYTASKNAME, –ISNULL(T.SECURITYTASKDESC,”) AS SECURITYTASKDESC,
R.PRODNAME, R.TYPESTR, R.DSPLNAME, R.RESTECHNAME, R.DICTID, R.SECRESTYPE, R.SECURITYID
FROM DYNAMICS.dbo.SY09400 R
FULL JOIN DYNAMICS.dbo.SY10700 O ON R.DICTID = O.DICTID AND O.SECRESTYPE = R.SECRESTYPE AND O.SECURITYID = R.SECURITYID
FULL JOIN DYNAMICS.dbo.SY09000 T ON T.SECURITYTASKID = O.SECURITYTASKID
FULL JOIN DYNAMICS.dbo.SY10600 A ON A.SECURITYTASKID = T.SECURITYTASKID
FULL JOIN DYNAMICS.dbo.SY09100 M ON M.SECURITYROLEID = A.SECURITYROLEID
WHERE R.DSPLNAME = ‘<Display_Name>’

Note: The <Display_Name> placeholder represents the actual display name. For example, the display name may be “Sales Transaction Entry”.

Below are the example results based on a default installation for ‘Sales Transaction Entry’:

Result Set

SECURITYROLEID          SECURITYROLENAME                SECURITYTASKID          SECURITYTASKNAME        PRODNAME                TYPESTR         DSPLNAME                        RESTECHNAME     DICTID  SECRESTYPE      SECURITYID
———————– ——————————- ———————– ———————– ———————– ————— ——————————- ————— ——- ————— ———-
BOOKKEEPER*             Bookkeeper                      TRX_SALES_001*          Enter SOP transactions  Microsoft Dynamics GP   Windows         Sales Transaction Entry         SOP_Entry       0       2               619
CUSTOMER SERVICE REP*   Customer Service Representative TRX_SALES_001*          Enter SOP transactions  Microsoft Dynamics GP   Windows         Sales Transaction Entry         SOP_Entry       0       2               619
OPERATIONS MANAGER*     Operations Manager              TRX_SALES_001*          Enter SOP transactions  Microsoft Dynamics GP   Windows         Sales Transaction Entry         SOP_Entry       0       2               619
SHIPPING AND RECEIVING* Shipping and Receiving          TRX_SALES_001*          Enter SOP transactions  Microsoft Dynamics GP   Windows         Sales Transaction Entry         SOP_Entry       0       2               619

If there are no Security Roles assigned to the Security Tasks, they will show as blank. If there are no Security Tasks assigned to the Operation, they will also show as blank.

Security Table Information

Security Operations for a Security Task are stored in table sySecurityAssignTaskOperations (SY10700).
Security Tasks are defined in table sySecurityMSTRTask (SY09000).

Security Tasks for a Security Role are stored in table sySecurityAssignTaskRole (SY10600).
Security Roles are defined in table sySecurityMSTRRole (SY09100).

Security Roles for a User and Company combination are stored in table sySecurityAssignUserRole (SY10500).

Also see the following post for how to use the Support Debugging Tool for Microsoft Dynamics GP to achieve the same results:

How to identify the Security Tasks and Security Roles using the Support Debugging Tool

Edit: Build 10 of the Support Debugging Tool now includes a Security Information window which can be opened from the Security Profiler and Resource Information windows.  This window will display the Security Tasks and Security Roles associated with the select resource and provide easy navigation to the security windows to make changes if desired. Just right click and select Security Information to open the window. For more information see Support Debugging Tool Build 10 released.

David

Ref: Portions from KB 951229

17-Nov-2008: Add link to Support Debugging Tool version of the post.

15-Jan-2009: Add details of new Security Info window in Support Debugging Tool build 10.

30-Aug-2010: Added link to Update: How to identify the Security Tasks and Security Roles using the Support Debugging Tool.

This article was originally posted on the Developing for Dynamics GP Blog and has been reposted on http://www.winthropdc.com/blog.