Assigning LMS Permissions via Role Groups
Grant LMS rights to admins, trainees, managers, and assessors
🎬 Watch the video
📝 Overview
After enabling the LMS plugin, the next step is to assign LMS-specific rights (permissions) to appropriate role groups. This ensures that all users within a particular role group can access the features they need — whether it's completing training, managing content, or performing assessments.
While you can customise rights on an individual basis (see below), as with any other Cognidox rights, they are best handled via role groups.
Remember:
- Role group rights define what a user can do; Users can only belong to one role group
- User groups define which training they see; Users can belong to multiple user groups
We'll discuss user groups and the LMS in another article.
Note: Once users have been assigned LMS-specific rights via their role group, they will have access to LMS portlets on the home page. See Displaying LMS portlets.
👥 Common LMS Personas, and required LMS Permissions
In the Cognidox LMS, access to training features is controlled by role groups. Each role group includes one or more rights, which determine what users can do — whether that's completing training, creating courses, reporting on progress, or assessing submissions.
The way to assign these rights is by editing existing role groups to accomodate different user personas.
The table below outlines typical LMS user personas and the corresponding rights they require.
| User Role | Description | Required LMS Rights |
|---|---|---|
| End User (Trainee) | Completes assigned training requirements. May have limited access based on their user group. | Take part in LMS training |
| Training Assessor | Reviews and approves or rejects completed training submissions (e.g. quizzes or uploaded evidence). | Act as LMS assessor |
| Training Reporter | Views reports on training requirements or skills they've been assigned to. Cannot edit training objects. | View selected LMS reports |
| Line Manager | Reports on training progress for users in their assigned groups. | View selected LMS reports or View all LMS reports |
| Quality/Training Manager | Monitors training completion across the entire system. May be restricted by LAP (Limited Access Privileges). | View all LMS reports |
| Training Administrator | Creates, edits, and deletes LMS training content, such as requirements, quizzes, and skills. | Administer the LMS |
🔐 Note: Access to specific reports or training objects may still be controlled by Limited Access Partner (LAP) rights, even if a user has the correct LMS role.
🔄 Combining Roles
Many users may need a combination of rights. For example:
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A Line Manager may also be given assessor rights to review training
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A Training Administrator might also need report viewer rights for full visibility
Edit the existing role groups to match these combined responsibilities.
Note: The LMS is supplied blank for on-premises systems. For hosted systems (where it’s enabled), the plugin will be installed but un-configured. The Cognidox Administrator role group will be assigned all the LMS rights but, by default, none of the other role groups will have LMS rights.
📌 Best Practices
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Assign LMS rights via role groups, not directly to users
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Use clear, descriptive role group names (e.g. LMS Assessors, H&S Report Viewers)
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Create user groups to control which training each user sees
🛠 How to assign LMS rights on a per-Role Group basis
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From the main menu, go to:
Manage Cognidox → Users, Groups & Security → User and Group Rights
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Edit the rights assigned to the default Cognidox role groups as described in the following steps.
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Click on a role group name (e.g. Cognidox Administrator, User, etc.)
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Use Ctrl+F (or Command+F on Mac) to search for
LMSin the Group Roles section. -
Tick the boxes to enable the relevant LMS rights for that role group.
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Click Update Group Roles to save.
- Repeat for each role group that needs LMS access.
- Assign users to role groups as appropriate.
For more information on role groups and user groups, check out the online help.
🎯 Assigning rights to individual users
Cognidox users can only belong to one role group at a time. However, you can assign additional LMS rights to individuals when needed:
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Go to Manage Cognidox → Users, Groups & Security → User and Group Rights.
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Search for the user by clicking on the first letter of their name in the User Name & Roles section, then clicking on Roles & Group next to their name in the Users section.
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Use Ctrl+F (or Command+F on Mac) to search for
LMSand assign specific rights as exceptions.
Use this approach for special cases — e.g. a trainee who also needs line manager permissions. There's a generic online help topic on this subject.
Displaying LMS portlets
Once you've assigned LMS-specific rights via role groups, users will be able to display appropriate LMS portlets on their Cognidox home page.
To display portlets:
- Click the Account icon and choose Manage Portlets.
- Scroll down and enable the portlets. There are three in all, but availability is automatically controlled by your role group rights:
- My Training
- Training Assessments
- Training Reports
- Click Apply.
✅ What’s next?
Once role groups are defined, assign users to them. Then proceed to: