The trainee who deleted the column
On a first day, a trainee opens the shared sales sheet and deletes a column. Everybody can edit it.
Nobody meant harm, but 400 rows are damaged. If the trainee could only read the sheet, the fault could not happen. Permissions decide who may do what to data.
Key words
| Word | What it means | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Permission | Approval to do something with data. | May read the sheet |
| Authorisation | Deciding what a signed-in person is allowed to do. | Staff may edit, students may not |
| Privilege | A special power given to an account. | Administrator |
| Access right | A single allowed action on an item. | Read, write or delete |
| Rule | A condition that decides if access is allowed. | Only from the office |
| Least privilege | Giving only the access a job needs. | Read only for a trainee |
| Platform | A system or service that data lives on. | A cloud drive |
The cells students fill in are left blank in this preview.
By the end of this lesson
Note
I can explain how permissions control who can see and change data on different platforms.
Starter: what you already know
Have a go
Starter: what you already know
3 questionsYour answers are marked here and are not kept. A college account keeps every student’s marks.
Four ideas about access
Authorisation decides what a person may do after they sign in. Signing in proves who you are. Authorisation says what you can do.
A privilege is a special power, such as an administrator who can add users. An access right is one allowed action on one item: read, write or delete.
A rule is a condition. For example, only from inside the office.
Worked example: the sales data
| Person | Privilege | Access rights on the sales data | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trainee | None | Read | Needs to look, but not to change |
| Analyst | None | Read and write | Cleans and adds data |
| Data manager | Administrator | Read, write and delete | Owns the data |
| Visiting auditor | None | Read, only in office hours | A rule limits when |
The cells students fill in are left blank in this preview.
Check: which idea?
Have a go
Check: which idea?
3 questionsYour answers are marked here and are not kept. A college account keeps every student’s marks.