Overview
As the universe of M-Files expands, so too increases the number of key individuals assigned the important roles needed to keep your M-Files deployment running smoothly. This article describes the roles and relationships of these individuals, and the systems with which they are involved.
Solution
Customers, partners, and M-Files personnel interact at various touch points throughout their relationship. Some are administrative, others technical, and, of course, both. There are also contact points between M-Files and customers when processing subscriptions (new or modifications) not discussed here.
The roles and systems illustrated:
M-Files Manage
M-Files Manage is a browser-based tool providing administrative control over your subscription. It defines your M-Files vault(s) and your user community, where individuals (and groups) are identified and provided with an appropriate M-Files license for access (named, read-only, concurrent) to your vault(s), and to M-Files Manage itself. It is also used to designate specific vault users for certain advanced vault operations, and for change process approval under certain conditions described in a moment.
As part of the subscription onboarding process, you identify an M-Files Manage Subscription Admin, who was sent a registration email to establish the account and access the system.
Note: registration emails have expiration dates. In case of expiration before activation, or for other issues accessing Manage, please use the M-Files Support Portal to contact M-Files Support.
The Subscription Admin can perform all operations in M-Files Manage, and can assign the same role to other users, as well as two other roles available in Manage:
- Access Admin: create and edit users, give advanced vault access permissions, create cloud vaults, and configure user provisioning.
- Billing Admin: use the shop, send download links, and see information about subscription, users, vaults, and servers.
Another strictly administrative role is set in Manage as well, the "Information Security Contact". This is not a required designation; it identifies individuals that you want to receive special information from M-Files about security updates. See the M-Files Manage User Guide for complete information.
Vault Admin
An M-Files Vault Admin has authority over one or more vaults for configuration, modification, and related technical operations within the vault environment (installing applications, restarting the vault, and so on). This authority is set in the user's account profile as "Full Control of Vault" in their User Properties. Other types of higher or more restricted privileges when using a vault can be assigned for users as well. See Users in the User Guide.
Another important role at the vault level is that of the Trusted Person (aka Trusted Contacts). One or more individuals are assigned this role for every vault in your deployment. The role is essentially administrative - the Trusted Contact is considered an "owner" of the vault and is responsible for approving any unscheduled maintenance or related activity by M-Files Support or Cloud Operations. In such situations (for example, a system restart outside of normal maintenance windows), M-Files must have written approval from the Trusted Contact.
System Admin
For many on-premises M-Files users, "system admin" is often synonymous with "vault admin", as M-Files is a Windows-based client/server system, and Windows system administrators install and manage M-Files. Windows system admins perform certain tasks within M-Files that require their OS-level authority.
With M-Files cloud vaults, however, the Windows servers are no longer under direct control, and there are some areas of the configuration that have been restricted from direct update by Vault Admins--usually areas in the configuration that involve reaching outside of the M-Files cloud environment to synchronize with external systems (see Advanced Vault Settings, for example). Another area that is restricted is certain of the advanced vault operations and maintenance tasks. Attempting configurations in these areas when using the M-Files Admin Client can result in "access denied" error messages like this:
When this happens, please raise a case in the Support Portal and M-Files Cloud Support will assist you.
M-Files Support Portal
The M-Files Support Portal is browser-based resource where customers:
- access articles and links to the latest resources and information about M-Files
- perform submission, management, and tracking of support cases with M-Files Support
As part of the subscription onboarding process, you identify an M-Files Support Portal Admin who is sent a registration email to establish the account and access the system.
Note: registration emails have expiration dates. In case of expiration before activation, or for other issues, please see this article: How to Use Support Portal
The Support Portal Admin can in turn assign other individuals access to the M-Files Support Portal. See How to Use Support Portal for additional information.
