User roles

A user's access to IRIS Focus features depends on the roles assigned to the user. For example, the administration features are available to user accounts with the administrator role. A user may have several user roles, and when they log in, they have the features of all their roles available.

User roles can be divided into two categories:
  • Focus roles are needed for full-scale remote sensing data visualization. Logging in with a Focus role reserves a seat from the license seat pool.
  • System roles are needed for system purposes. They do not reserve seats from the pool, and they do not offer the full-scale features. For full-scale features, the user also needs a Focus role.

Focus roles

Focus roles reserve a Focus seat from the license seat pool when logging in.

Focus roles

Focus Weather Radar

In the Add user screen, this role is called focus-radar.

Can access the full IRIS Focus feature set for visualizing weather radar data, such as:

  • Configuring product generation
  • Using data analysis tools, like Tracking tool
  • Creating personal areas of interest and monitoring these areas for weather events created by poweruser

Focus Lightning

In the Add user screen, this role is called focus-lightning.
Can access the full IRIS Focus feature set for visualizing lighting data, such as:
  • Configuring product generation
  • Using data analysis tools, like Tracking tool
  • Creating personal areas of interest and monitoring these areas for weather events created by poweruser

IRIS Focus Light

A user without a focus role enters the IRIS Focus Light view when logging in.

IRIS Focus Light view consists of a predefined map view with limited features. The following features are available:

  • View one predefined weather product at a time (a non-live radar product, or a lightning product)
  • See areas of interest with active alerts highlighted in the alert severity color when viewing current data
  • View WMS map layers
  • View the animation timeline
  • View the cursor tool
  • Create and edit personal color scales
  • Change radar site
  • Select map features
  • Use the Ruler Tool
  • Change user preferences

IRIS Focus Light view has an unlimited number of seats. If there are no IRIS Focus license seats available, the user will be logged in with an IRIS Focus Light license. If the licence is missing, users cannot log in. This could happen, for example, if the USB license key has been removed or if this is a new installation, not from the factory, that requires an e-mail be sent to Vaisala to retrieve the license.

Seat allocation and restrictions

A user with a Focus Lightning role reserves one of the IRIS_Focus_Lightning seats associated with the license.

A user with a Focus Weather Radar role reserves one of the IRIS_Focus_Weather_Radar seats associated with the license.

When the user logs out, the seat is released.

If a user with one of the Focus roles (Focus Lightning or Focus Weather Radar) logs in and there are no seats available, the user is directed to the IRIS Focus Light view. When an IRIS Focus license is available, the user is provided with an opportunity to switch to the full-scale IRIS Focus view.

The user is also directed to the IRIS Focus Light view in a situation where the user has both Focus Lightning and Focus Weather Radar roles, and the system has run out of free IRIS_Focus_Weather_Lightning or IRIS_Focus_Weather_Radar seats. In other words, both seats have to be available for this user to see the full-scale IRIS Focus.

System roles

System roles are needed for various system management tasks and functionalities. System roles do not reserve a Focus seat from the seat pool.

When logging in, a user that has one or more of these roles, but no Focus role, enters the IRIS Focus Light view.

System roles
Role Description
administrator
Can access all administration features, such as:
  • User and licensing management
  • Map management and configuration
  • Alert notification settings (email and SMS)
  • Dataflow monitoring

All administration features are described in IRIS Focus Administrator Guide.

Users with an administrator role must belong to the root organization.
poweruser

Can access poweruser features:

  • Can create new weather events
  • Can create places of interest that are visible to all users in an organization, and adding weather events to monitor on these areas.
  • Can set up and manage pre-defined composites.
  • Can configure MVFs to be used in nowcasting.
  • Can select an organization-level map projection.

All poweruser tasks are described in chapter Poweruser tasks in IRIS Focus User Guide.
user

Can access various features of the base software. This role must be assigned as an additional role to every user account with focus, poweruser, or kiosk role.
kiosk

Identical to the User role with the exception that an account with the Kiosk role will not be automatically logged out after a period of inacivity.

Considerations for assigning user roles

  • user role should be assigned to every user account, even if they also have other roles.
  • To create users that always enter the IRIS Focus Light view (so-called '"Light users"), only assign system roles to these users. Do not assign Focus roles to them.
  • Users with the poweruser role also need a focus role to access the full set of IRIS Focus features.

  • To avoid reserving a focus license when performing administration tasks, the default administrator account does not have the focus role.

  • To see both weather radar and lightning data, a user must have both Focus Lightning and Focus Weather Radar roles.