If you're working in Backbone cross functionally with teams like merchandising, marketing, e-commerce, or just trying to drive more collaboration within your own company, we're excited to announce the relaunch of Read-Only Users! (ROU)
Organizations of all sizes are able to add Read-Only Users to their contract that are able to pull reports and product info.
Before we jump into some recommendations on Best Practices, we just want to be clear what an ROU is not able to accomplish - so if you're looking to add users with any of the functionality mentioned below, we suggest meeting with our Account Management to discuss your contract.
Things a ROU can not do:
Cannot Create, Edit, or Upload Images for Products / Components
Cannot Create Tech Packs
Cannot Create Component Variants
Cannot Create, Edit, or Upload Images for Palettes / Swatches
Cannot Use the Blocks Module
Cannot Use the PoM Library
Cannot Use the Shared Folders Module
Cannot Use the BoM Template Library
Cannot Edit Line Sheets they are shared on
Cannot Edit Item Views they are shared on
Best Practice #1: Onboard your Read Only Users
Although it might sound like common sense, giving your teams the proper training and vocabulary to understand not only your workflow but the Backbone Platform can make a big difference in your team's success.
With everyone on the same page about the basics, it becomes easier to hand-off a project or delegate to someone else. We recommend that everyone who is making changes, creating reports, or exporting, goes through the 8 Key Steps (that are relevant to their position/module they're working in) or reads our Backbone 101 articles.
It's a little time up front but these things are chalk full of useful info to improve collaboration.
Best Practice #2: Recognizing Icons
Making a product involves a lot of moving parts, and many different teams. If you add a handful of ROUs to the mix who are creating reports, things may get messy!
When full access users make reports, we distinguish those with an icon showing that a ROU can not edit the contents of it.
However, there isn't an icon to show full access users which reports were made by a ROU. Therefore, we recommend that read only users label their own reports with things like "ROU" or "Shared View" or even the name of their department like "E-Comm"
Best Practice #3: Taxonomy and Custom Fields for ROUs
Something else we recommend is creating appropriate Taxonomy and Custom Fields to help ROU find the info they need quickly. This might look like creating a Custom Field Divider labeled with something such as “ROU Teams”. Under this divider, you could create custom fields like a check box for “Merchandising Approval”, a date field for “E-Commerce Launch”, etc
This is so that when they are pulling products for their own reports, they can quickly filter and select anything marked with a Custom Field pertinent to their workflow.