How much time are you spending on repetitive tasks that could be done with task automation? What projects could you be working on that would instead drive more business value?
Today, 86 percent of employees say automation in the workplace makes them more efficient, and 59 percent say they could save 6 or more hours a week if their repetitive tasks were automated.
A team conversation about workplace automation stats led us to think about Esri Portal for ArcGIS and the fact that most well paid, high-end Enterprise GIS Administrators deal with more mundane daily user management tasks. Our goal and eventual outcome focused on answering, “How can we help organizations simplify time-consuming, repetitive Portal tasks?”
Automating Repetitive User Management Tasks
If you are the GIS admin for your organization’s Portal system or have a Portal admin on your team, take a minute to reflect on how times a week admins are tasked with user management. The process usually goes like this: request comes in, admin stops what they are doing to address the user need, they then log into Portal and hopefully remember where to navigate to address the issue, they complete the task and then email the user letting them know the process is complete. Keep in mind that these four steps outline an example of a smooth process.
During that 10 -15 min window of user management time plus “switching time”, the GIS Administrator, a valuable resource to your team lost productivity on a task that can now be automated. Portal user management task automation is available to help streamline work processes and save time on repetitive tasks. Organizations can help GIS Administrators work more effectively as a Portal admin and free up time to focus on more important things, like keeping your Enterprise GIS up and running.
LOGIC’s Portal User Management Toolkit
We’ve developed a toolkit to assist with automating Portal user administration. Once deployed, instead of having your valuable resources going into Portal as an administrator, finding the right pages and subpages and then managing users by hand, you can simply send an email with the instructions.
Here’s a Snapshot of How the Toolkit Works
1. An email arrives in the configurable dedicated email inbox (ex. – portalusers@myorganization.com), the toolkit looks in the subject line for keywords to identify whether this is a bulk process or only represents a one-off, single or handful of users.
2. If a bulk process is identified, the CSV file will be downloaded from the email. If not-bulk, the text from the email will be read.
3. Below are the possible operations that will be performed by the toolkit per user:
Add User(s) to the Portal
Update User(s) in the Portal
Delete User(s) from the Portal
Add User(s) to the group
Delete User(s) from the group
Voila, you are done with no system login, no forgotten passwords, and no trying to remember how to do something in Portal.
Now, GIS Administrators can be jet setting on an international flight and add or change a user quickly by sending an email. Simplify, simplify, and simplify.
Here Are 4 Daily GIS Administrator Pain Points the Portal User Management Toolkit Overcomes
Remembering admin logins – Not all organization have a full-blown administrator who logs into the system often (believe it or not). While some administrators have a tight lock system for password management, the truth is many don’t and lose even more time related to user management trying to remember, manage or retrieve passwords.
Recalling the screen path to accomplish the task – If you aren’t logging in to the admin panel of Portal regularly, chances are you might forget where to go and how to achieve the necessary tasks.
VPN can be a pain – If you are outside of the firewall, a self-managing inbox with automated email readers is all you need. On a flight to Cancun when you get a request? No problem.
Share the wealth – Should GIS Administrators be managing access to a business tool? Distribute the power of user management to the teams that should be managing the users! Find a trusted user in the various teams, disciplines or geographies and give them the power, without giving away your administrator credentials or access to the treasure room.
It’s Time to Start Automating Repetitive Tasks
Task automation doesn’t just save time or boost productivity. It can also help improve employee engagement and job satisfaction by lifting the burden of time-consuming, mundane tasks. And, distribute the business team functions back the business where you can. You are too busy for this.
Contact us for a demo or to learn more about the Portal User Management Toolkit.