Secure Data for Process HQ

This page applies to developers, system administrators, and data governors. It describes how to secure your business data in Process HQ.

Before securing business data, review the different user roles involved in Process HQ and how they work together to secure data."

Overview

You can display a record type as a dataset and as process data in Process HQ:

• Datasets allow business users to explore data in reports and dashboards.
• Process data allows business users to measure the effectiveness of your organization's processes.

When selecting data to use in Process HQ, you'll need to make sure your users have access to everything they need to build comprehensive reports and gain insight into your business processes. You can apply multiple layers of security to take full advantage of Process HQ while also protecting sensitive data.

To manage access to your data in Process HQ:

• Review security on record types.
• Choose record types to use as datasets.
• Assign data stewards to record types.
• Secure process data.
• Grant access to processes.

Show record types as datasets

You can show any synced record type or unsynced record type as a dataset in Process HQ.

When you generate record types, they're configured to show as datasets in Process HQ by default. When you create individual record types, you must manually enable them to appear as datasets.

To show record types as datasets:

1. Developers should review the record type security configurations to make sure report creators can access the data they need.
2. A developer or data governor must make the record type available as a dataset.

Review security on record types

To allow users to view and update the record data in a report or dashboard, they need the following permissions on the base record type and any related record types:

Security	Required Configuration
Record type object security	Users must have at least Viewer permission to view the record type as a dataset and use the data in reports and dashboards. As a best practice, you should configure the record type security so that Default (All Other Users) is set to No Access. This ensures that only users who have been specifically granted permission to the record type are allowed to see the record data.
Record-level security	Users must have access to see the appropriate records (or rows of data in the dataset). If no record-level security is applied, then users with Viewer permission to the record type can see all rows in the dataset.
Field-level security	Users must have access to see the appropriate fields. If no field-level security is applied, then users with Viewer permission to the record type can see all fields in the dataset.
Record action security	Users must have access to see the appropriate record actions. Users must also have Initiator permission to the underlying process models.
Record view security	No additional configuration necessary. Users can only view a record's Summary view, which is automatically visible to any user with permission to see the record type and the record itself.

Make record types available as datasets

When a record type is available as a dataset, users with the appropriate permissions can:

• Ask AI Copilot about all available datasets in the Data Catalog.
• Use datasets to build reports and dashboards.
• Ask Data Fabric Chatbot questions about the record type.

To ensure report creators have access to all necessary data, you must also make any related record types (one-to-one or many-to-one) available as datasets. We recommend only enabling the record types that users specifically need for their business use cases.

Depending on your role and where you are working, you can make a record type available as a dataset from Appian Designer or from Process HQ.

Show as a dataset from Appian Designer

If you generated record types, those record types are shown as datasets in Process HQ by default. For all other record types, you must enable this option manually.

To show a record type as a dataset from Appian Designer:

1. In the record type, go to Workspaces.
2. Select the Show this record type as a dataset in the Data Catalog of Process HQ checkbox.

3. Click SAVE.

4. Deploy the record type to your production environment.

Show as a dataset from Process HQ

If you want to show multiple record types as datasets, you can quickly do so from the Data Governance page in Process HQ. Any configurations you make on the Data Governance page take precedence over individual record type configurations set in Appian Designer.

To show a record type as a dataset from Process HQ:

1. In Process HQ, go to the Data Governance page. By default, all synced and unsynced record types in your environment appear.
2. Select the checkbox for each record type you want to show as a dataset.
3. Click SHOW IN DATA CATALOG.

Use record types as process data

You can only use synced record types as process data.

To use these record types in a process and allow business users to analyze it:

• Data governors must assign data stewards to record types, so those data stewards can see that data in Process HQ and use it to add a process.
• Data stewards should hide sensitive data from the process as needed.
• Data stewards must set permissions for other users to access the process.

Grant access to processes

To grant other users access to processes, data stewards can configure security for processes they add.

Users can have either Viewer or Analyst permissions for processes.

Action	Analyst	Viewer
Add a process KPI to a dashboard *	Yes	Yes
Access a process, view, KPI, or insight	Yes	Yes
Add, edit, or delete a process view	Yes	No
Add, edit, or delete a KPI	Yes	No
Drill down to insights	Yes	No
Save an insight	Yes	No
Comment on a saved insight	Yes	Yes
Define the expected activity order or activity costs	Yes
View conformance and costs	Yes	Yes

^{* Must also be a member of the Data Fabric Report Creators system group}

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