KB User's Guide - Documents Tab - Using the Campus Access Setting to Protect Content

• Review of the Internal and External Site KB Model
• Definition of a Campus User
• Using the Campus Access Setting
• Including Inline Content For Authorized Users

Review of the Internal and External Site KB Model

Each KB space can have an internal site and/or an external site. Typically,

• content published to the external site is publicly accessible by anyone with internet access.
• content published to the internal site is restricted to your fully authorized internal users (i.e. those added to your Users list in the KB Admin Tools) as well as users authorized via a Group Authorization rule.

While it is possible to authorize all campus users for your Internal site by using the Group Authorization feature, doing so is only recommended if you will not be publishing internal content for a more specific set of users.

Definition of a Campus User

Regardless of whether you use the Campus Access setting described below, any campus user can successfully authenticate to your internal KB site. However, after authentication, the KB evaluates the user's access level to determine what content they are authorized to view.

Users who are identified as either fully authorized internal users or group-authorized users will have access to all internal content available to them, as described above.

Users who do not fall into either of these categories are considered campus users. When a campus user logs in to your internal KB site, they will see the site exactly as it appears under the external URL. This includes the same homepage content modules, side modules and links, and overall site styling.

In addition, when a campus user searches for content, they can only find and access:

• Documents published externally
• Documents published using one of the Campus Access settings described below

As a result, campus users can authenticate successfully but are limited to content that has been explicitly made available to them.

For additional information on the various user types and what they can see in the KB, please see: KB User's Guide - Explanation of User Types and Access Levels

Using the Campus Access Setting

At the document level, you can make individual documents available to all campus users, meaning users with valid credentials for your institution. In the KB Admin Tools, the document edit screen includes three Campus Access options, located in the Access section of the right-side panel.

These options allow you to control who can access a document by determining whether it is available only to authorized internal users or can also be viewed by authenticated campus users. This provides flexibility in sharing content with a broader campus audience while maintaining appropriate access restrictions.

1. Defer to SiteAccess (External site = Public access with no login; Internal site = Authorized staff user access).

   All documents are set to this option by default. If you leave this option selected, document access control works exactly as described in the first section—if the document in question is published externally, it will be available to unauthenticated users, and if it is published internally, that internal version will only be available to your authorized internal users.

2. Ext/Internal with campus login (Document title is exposed to External site but content view will prompt users to log in with their campus credentials)

   Selecting this option allows campus users to search for and discover the document via your External site, yet ensures that the content is restricted to valid campus users only. "[Campus login required]" is appended to the title when it appears on external site.

   

   When the user attempts to access the document, they will be prompted to log in with a valid NetID and password if they are not already logged in. At this point, they will be redirected to the Internal site URL. If they are not an authorized internal user, they will see the site as a campus user.

   • Note: Selecting the Ext/Internal with campus login campus access option requires that you check "Internal" Site Access so that the document content can be viewed there. However, you will be allowed to publish the document without necessarily checking "External" Site Access.

3. Internal for all campus users (Document is available to all of your internal staff and ANY campus authenticated user).

   This option makes the document available to any user with valid campus login credentials without having to expose your document title on the External site. By Selecting Internal for all campus users, those with a valid campus login credential can sign into your Internal KB site. If they are not an authorized internal user, they will see the site as a campus user.

   • Note: Selecting the Internal for all campus users option requires that ONLY "Internal" Site Access be selected.

Including Restricted Content for Authorized Users

In some situations, you may want to include content that is intended only for authorized internal users within a document that is available to a broader audience. While the Inline Internal Content Restriction tag is typically used for this purpose, it does not behave as expected when used in a document with Campus Access enabled.

Instead, we recommend storing the restricted content in a separate document and embedding it into the campus-accessible document using the Include Doc custom tag. For instructions on using this feature, see KB User's Guide - Documents Tab - IncludeDoc and Dynamic Web Page Content.

To include restricted content:

1. Create a new document containing the information that should be restricted.
2. If the document is intended to be accessed only through the embedded location, set Search Priority to Exclude from Search.
3. Set Site Access to your internal site only.
4. Leave Campus Access set to Defer to Site Access.
5. Publish the document.
6. In the campus-accessible document, insert an Include Doc tag that references the document ID of the restricted-content document.

Note: Access to the embedded document can be further restricted using the Read Access setting. This allows you to limit access to members of a specific User Access Group.

Getting Help

If you need clarification of what the best setting is for you and your specific present and future needs, please contact the KB Team at
kb-team@doit.wisc.edu for a consultation.