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Managing access

Managing access

If you need to collaborate with others on your assistants, you can quickly add users to your service instance from the Manage menu. Or to tailor specific access to your assistants, use the Identity and Access Management (IAM) page in IBM Cloud.

Adding users from the Manage menu

In watsonx Assistant, each assistant contains all the draft and live resolution methods (actions and search integration) and channels you add (such as web chat, Facebook, or Slack). The simplest way to provide access is to add users to your watsonx Assistant service instance with manager access to all assistants. Users get all the privileges that they need to build and deploy any assistant.

To quickly add users with manager access to all assistants, complete the following steps:

  1. Open the Manage menu Manage menu.

  2. Click Add users.

  3. Enter the email addresses of the users that you want to provide full access to. Separate email addresses with commas, spaces, or line breaks.

    Add users
    Add users

    Adding users from this menu enables them to read, write, and manage all assistants in the service instance.

  4. Click Submit.

After you click Submit, any user that you invite receives an email to access the instance. After they accept the invite, they can open the service instance and manage all assistants.

Managing access with Identity and Access Management

Another way to add users to your assistants is using Identity and Access Management (IAM). If you want to add users, and you don't want them to have full Manager access, use IAM to add them. From IAM, you can also manage access roles of those users that are already added to your assistants.

Opening Identity and Access Management

  1. Open the Manage menu Manage menu.

  2. Click Manage users.

  3. In Access and permissions, click Identity and Access Management in step 2.

    Access and permissions
    Access and permissions

Adding users in Identity and Access Management

  1. In IAM, click Invite users.

  2. Enter the email address of the person who needs access.

  3. In How do you want to assign access?, choose Access policy.

    Access policy
    Access policy

  4. In Service, choose watsonx Assistant, then click Next.

    Service
    Service

  5. In Resources, choose either All resources or Specific resources.

    If you choose All resources, the user can access all the instances of watsonx Assistant in your account.

    If you choose Specific resources, you can narrow access in Attribute type. With this setting, you might need to add multiple access policies for a user to grant the correct access. For more information, see Example of limiting access to one assistant.

    Choices include:

    Attribute types
    Resource attribute type Description
    Service Instance Choose a specific service instance of watsonx Assistant
    Assistant, Environment, or Skill ID Enter the ID value for the resource. Use the Assistant IDs and API details section in Assistant settings to get the ID values for your assistant, environments, action skill, or dialog skill.
    Resource Type If you enter an ID value, choose Assistant ID, Environment ID, or Skill ID to identify the ID type
    Region Choose a specific region (for example, Dallas or London)
    Resource Group Enter or choose a resource group that you created

    Resources
    Resources

  6. In Roles and actions, select the service role that you want the user to have. Service access controls what a person can do in watsonx Assistant. Next, select the platform role that you want the user to have. Platform access controls a person's ability to access a service instance in IBM Cloud. Then, click Review.

    Roles and actions
    Roles and actions

  7. Click Add to add the access policy.

    Platform and service access
    Platform and service access

  8. To finish, click Invite.

    Invite button
    Invite

The user that you invited appears in your list with the status of Processing. After they accept the invite, status changes to Active, and the user can work on your assistant with you.

Platform roles

A platform role controls a user's ability to open and work with a service instance in IBM Cloud.

At a minimum, each user needs the Viewer platform role for a service instance

Platform role details
Role Open Modify Delete Manage access
Viewer checkmark icon
Operator checkmark icon checkmark icon
Editor checkmark icon checkmark icon
Administrator checkmark icon checkmark icon checkmark icon checkmark icon

Service roles

A service role controls what a person can do within each service instance.

Service role details
Role Description
Reader Read-only access to a resource. Use with Logs Reader to provide access to Analytics.
Writer Create and edit within a resource.
Manager Manage everything in a resource.
Logs Reader Use Logs Reader in combination with the Reader or Writer role to provide access to Analytics.
Version Maker Create or delete versions of an assistant. Doesn't provide publish access.

This table explains the minimum service roles that are required for common tasks in an assistant.

Minimum service role details
Task Resource Minimum service role required
Assistant
Create assistant Service instance Writer
View assistant settings Assistant Writer
View assistant ID Assistant Writer
Update assistant settings Assistant Writer
Enable or disable dialog Assistant Writer
Delete assistant Service instance Writer
View assistant list Assistant Reader
Actions
Create action Action skill Writer
Update action Action skill Writer
Delete action Action skill Writer
Download actions JSON file Action skill Reader
Upload actions JSON file Action skill Writer
Copy action Action skill (in destination assistant) Writer
Create collections Action skill Writer
Update collections Action skill Writer
Delete collections Action skill Writer
Read collections Action skill Reader
Publish
Publish version Environment Writer
Create version without publishing Assistant Writer or Version Maker
Delete unpublished version Assistant Writer or Version Maker
Download version Assistant Reader
Environments
Create environment (Enterprise plan only) Assistant Writer
Update environment settings Environment Writer
Delete environment (Enterprise plan only) Assistant Writer
Integrations
Add integration Service instance Writer
Update integration Service instance Writer
Delete integration Service instance Writer
After Integrations
Create integration Assistant, Service instance Writer
Update integration Assistant, Service instance Writer
Delete integration Assistant, Service instance Writer
Dialog
Create intent Dialog skill Writer
Update intent Dialog skill Writer
Delete intent Dialog skill Writer
Import intents Dialog skill Writer
Export intents Dialog skill Reader
View intents Dialog skill Reader
Create entity Dialog skill Writer
Update entity Dialog skill Writer
Delete entity Dialog skill Writer
Import entity Dialog skill Writer
Export entity Dialog skill Reader
View entity Dialog skill Reader
Download intents and entities Dialog skill Reader

Example of limiting access to one assistant

This example explains how to follow the steps in Adding users from the Manage menu and set specific resources that limit a user to building and publishing actions in one assistant. For each user, you need to add three access policies that identify the service instance, assistant ID, and skill ID. (Use Assistant settings to get the ID values for your assistant and action skill.)

This table lists the values that you need to add for each policy:

Settings to limit access to one assistant
Policy Specific resources Value Service role Platform role
1 Service Instance Choose the instance that includes the assistant None Viewer
2 Resource Type Assistant ID Manager None
2 Assistant, Environment, or Skill ID ID for the assistant Manager None
3 Resource Type Skill ID Manager None
3 Assistant, Environment, or Skill ID ID for the action skill Manager None

The access policies for your user should look like this example:

Access policies example
Access policies example

With this set of access policies, your user can build and publish actions in one assistant. The user can't add integrations because the service instance is set to Reader. The user has read-only access to other assistants but can't build or publish actions.