User Accounts

FDM user identities are set up by a system administrator. A user account associates a user identity with a business unit. By assigning a user account to a role in the business unit, a manager gives the user account the permissions that define that role and allow the user to perform business unit tasks.

FDM recognizes two user account types within any business unit—server user accounts and mobile user accounts. Server user accounts only have access to the FDM server software, while mobile user accounts only have access to the FDM mobile application software. User accounts may also be designated as both server and user account types, who have access to both the server and the mobile software. You must be either a system or business unit user with Modify Server Users or Modify Mobile Users permission to create and modify user account types for server users or FSRs (for more information, see Roles).

If FDM’s user store management feature is enabled (for more information, see System Settings), you can create a user’s FDM user identity, Windows user account, and FDM business unit user account in a single procedure. The user store management feature also lets you reset users’ passwords from within FDM.

One user identity can have multiple user accounts in multiple business units. For example, an FSR can be assigned to several business units. He or she can switch between them and the endpoint/meter configurations, workflows, and other configuration settings that go with those business units.

When you add a new FSR user account to your business unit, FDM automatically sets his or her work status to New for each of the market types (electric, gas, water, and/or telemetry) supported by your business unit. For any market type your business unit does not support, the FSR’s status is automatically set to Not Authorized.

Thereafter you can use the User Accounts view to modify the FSR’s work status or let FDM manage it for you (for more information, see The Audit Engine).

Once a user has an account, you can use the User Accounts view to subscribe him or her to FDM notifications for your business unit (for more information, see Notifications). The user may already have been subscribed to notifications by a system user, but these are in essence default notification subscriptions that a business unit user with Modify Server Users permission can override. Likewise, a user with Modify My Notifications permission can change their own notification subscriptions (for more information, see My Notifications).

If FDM is configured to support two or more languages (for more information, see Languages), you can use the User Accounts view to specify the language in which the FDM user interface is displayed by default for each user in your business unit. Like notifications, the default language selected for a user can be overridden by the user (for more information, see My Account).

In systems in which the FDM inventory module is enabled, the User Accounts details pane includes a Vehicles tab, which you can use to assign one or more FSRs to one or more of your business unit’s vehicles. This provides a convenient alternative to the Vehicles view for vehicle assignment while working in the User Accounts view (for more information, see Vehicles). You must have Modify Mobile User Accounts permission to use this feature.

The User Accounts view features a standard FDM list filter editor that lets you filter the list by first name, last name, user name, user type, account type, and status (active or disconnected), or by any combination of these criteria. For a detailed explanation of FDM list filters and how to use them, see Filtering Lists.