Manage ontrack Designer Setup

You can control user access to pages, set target databases, manage data sources, and view change history from the General group of the System Configuration Commands ribbon.

General group buttons

From the General group of the System Configuration Commands ribbon, you can:

You can create, update and delete primary roles in ontrack Designer. Creating primary roles can be useful for sites requiring greater control over which pages individual users will see.

Note: You need to have the Manage Roles role to access this functionality.

To configure primary roles, click the Manage Roles button on the System Configuration Commands ribbon.

Manage Roles button

The Manage Roles window will be displayed, which lists all the currently configured primary roles used and the number of pages each role has access to in ontrack Designer.

Manage Roles window

From the Manage Roles window, you can:

Add primary roles

Delete primary roles

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To add a primary role:

  1. Click the Add button on the Manage Roles window.

    Manage Roles window - Add button

    A new row is entered in the grid.

    Manage Roles window - new row

  2. Enter the details of the new role in the Short Description and Long Description fields.

    Short Description and Long Description fields

  3. To copy the role pages from another role, select from the Copy Role Pages drop-down field.

    Copy Role Pages field

  4. Click OK to save the role.

    The primary role is added.

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To delete a primary role:

  1. Select the role you want to delete from the grid.

    Manage Roles window - select role

  2. Click the Delete button on the Manage Roles window.

    Delete button

    A message is displayed to confirm deletion of the role.

    Delete role message

  3. Click OK to confirm the deletion.

    The role is deleted.

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ebs: ontrack Hub and ebs: ontrack Learner Hub pages are assigned an ID number from a numeric sequence in the ebs database. While the current database is determined by which system the user logs into when loading ebs: central, page edits can be imported into another ebs database (for example: your Test system).

Problems can be encountered if a user attempts to import a page which has obtained an ID number from one system into the other system if the ID number has already been used in the second system. To ensure that page ID numbers are always consistent and unique, ontrack Designer can be configured to obtain its ID numbers from one database, thereby eliminating clashes.

You can control which database ontrack Designer will go to obtain page ID numbers on the Set Target Database window, (accessed by clicking the Set Target Database button on the System Configuration Commands ribbon).

Set target database button

Note: This is an institution wide setting and will apply to all users of ontrack Designer for the database they are accessing.

The recommended configuration for institutions with a live and test environment is:

  1. Log into the test system, and set the target database to Deployed on another target database and set this to the live database.

    Set Target Database window - Deployed on another target database option

    Note: For Oracle customers, if ontrack Designer is being used from a number of different machines, the TNS entry to the live database must be named the same on all machines.

  2. Enter the database username and password.

    Username and Password fields

  3. Click the Test button to check whether the connection is working.

    Set Target Database window - Test button

    A message is displayed confirming whether the target has been set correctly.

    Test Database Connection message

  4. Click OK to save your changes on the test database.

  5. Log into the live system and set this to Deployed on this database.

    Set Target Database window - Deployed on this database option

  6. Click OK to save your changes.

    The target database is set.

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The data required for ebs: ontrack Hub and ebs: ontrack Learner Hub pages can be retrieved from a number of different data sources. To configure different data sources, click the Manage Data Sources button on the System Configuration Commands ribbon.

Manage Data Sources button

Note: You need to have the Manage Data Sources role to use this functionality.

The Manage Data Sources window will be displayed, which displays all the currently configured data sources. On this screen you can add, update, delete and test data sources.

Manage Data Sources window

From the Manage Data Sources window, you can:

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To add a data source:

  1. Click the Add button on the Manage Data Sources window.

    Manage Data Sources window - Add button

  2. Enter the details of the data source into the available fields.

    Manage Data Sources window - available fields

The fields on the Manage Data Sources window are described in the following table.

This field Holds this information...
Data Source Type

The type of data source to connect to. Select from the following:

  • SQL
  • Oracle
  • MySQL
  • REST
Description The description of the data source.
Database Name/ Server/Catalog Name The name of the database to connect to. This field will display as Server/Catalog name if SQL, MySQL or REST have been selected.
Username

The username used to connect to the data source.

Note: The username should have sufficient privileges to access the required data.
Password The password for the username.

  1. Click Save to save the configuration.

    The data source is added.

    Note: The data source connection must be valid on the application server hosting the web services for ebs: ontrack Hub and ebs: ontrack Learner Hub, not the client machine that you are using to run ontrack Designer. This is because it is the application server that will be accessing the data.

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To delete a data source:

  1. Select the data source you want to delete from the data sources in the left pane.

    Manage Data Sources window - data source selected

  2. Click the Delete button.

    Manage Data Sources window - Delete button

    A message is displayed to confirm deletion of the data source.

    Delete data source message

  3. Click OK to confirm the deletion.

    The data source is deleted.

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Testing a data source enables you to check whether a data source is working correctly before using it in ebs: ontrack Hub or ebs: ontrack Learner Hub.

To test a data source:

  1. Select the data source you want to test from the data sources in the left pane.

    Manage Data Sources window - data source selected

  2. Click the Test button.

    Manage Data Sources window - Test button

    If the test was successful, a message will display confirming the test has worked.

    Test data source confirmation message

  3. Click OK to close the message.

    Note: If the test was not successful, a message will display stating why the test did not work.

    Test data source error message

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You can view the history of changes made in ontrack Designer by selecting the required item (for example: a page) and clicking the Show History button on the System Configuration Commands ribbon.

Show History button

This will display the Item History window which includes the following fields:

  • Version - the version when the item was last changed

    Note: The major version (that is: 24.0) will be updated automatically on install if it has changed and any user edits incremented in the final number of the version.

  • Status - the status of the change made
  • Comments - the check-in comment when publishing the change if entered
  • User - the user that made the change
  • Date - the date and time the change was made

Item History window

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