Two things control what you can do with a visualization from Workiva Carbon: the role assigned to you in the workspace, and the permissions set on each individual visualization.
- Your role gives you access to the feature. It determines whether you can create and edit visualizations at all.
- Permissions give you access to a specific visualization. They determine which visualizations you can open, edit, and share.
This matches how roles and permissions work across the Workiva platform; see our articles on understanding roles and permissions to learn more.
Note: This article covers visualizations built from Workiva Carbon data. GRC visualizations work differently, and the BI roles and permissions described here don't apply.
Roles
A Workspace Owner or Org Workspace Admin assigns one of three roles from the workspace member list.
- BI Viewers have view-only access. They can access the Report Visuals screen and open the visualizations shared with them, but they can't create, edit, save, or insert a visualization into a file.
- BI Builders have all of the abilities granted to BI Viewers. They can also create their own visualizations, edit the ones shared with them (as an Owner or Editor), and insert them into documents, presentations, or spreadsheets.
- BI Administrators have all of the abilities granted to BI Viewers and BI Builders. They can also manage permissions on any visualization in the workspace. If they open one they don't have access to, they can grant themselves access rather than asking the owner.
| BI Administrator | BI Builder | BI Viewer | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Report Visuals and the visualizations shared with you | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Filter a visualization to explore the data | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Create a visualization | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Change and save a visualization you have access to | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Insert a visualization into a document, presentation, or spreadsheet | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Delete and manage permissions on the visualizations you own | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Manage permissions on any visualization in the workspace | ✓ | ||
| Grant yourself access to a visualization you can't open | ✓ |
Note: Being a BI Administrator doesn't make you the owner of every visualization. An administrator who doesn't own a visualization can manage its permissions but can't delete it.
Permissions
Each visualization has its own permissions. When you create one, it's visible only to you until you share it.
- Viewers can open a visualization and explore it, including applying their own filters. They can see how it's built, but they can't change its structure or styling, save changes, or manage permissions.
- Editors have all the abilities granted to Viewers. They can also change and save the visualization, but they can't delete it or manage its permissions.
- Owners have full access. In addition to Editor access, Owners can delete the visualization, share it, manage its permissions, and make someone else an Owner.
| Owner | Editor | Viewer | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open the visualization | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Filter it to explore the data | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Change its structure or styling and save | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Delete it | ✓ | ||
| Manage its permissions | ✓ |
Assign permissions
If you're an Owner of a visualization, or a BI Administrator, you can manage who has access to it.
- Open the visualization in the Visualization Editor.
- Click Permissions in the header at the top right.
- Select or search for a collaborator, then choose whether they're an Owner, Editor, or Viewer.
To change someone's access, select a different permission level next to their name. To remove their access, hover over their name and click Remove on the right side.
You can only share a visualization with people who already have a BI role. Someone without a role won't appear in the search.
Note: You can also reach permissions from the Report Visuals screen using the options menu on a visualization.
Access to Carbon data
Permissions control access to a visualization, but don't affect access to the data behind it. The data you can see in Workiva Carbon is the same data you see in Report Visuals, so two people can open the same visualization and see different results.
Permissions on inserted visualizations
When a visualization is inserted into a document, presentation, or spreadsheet, it follows the permissions of that file. Anyone who can open the file can see the inserted visualization, regardless of whether they have the proper role. Roles and permissions govern building and editing visualizations, not reading a report that contains one.
Note: The Visualizations source in the Connections panel appears only for BI Administrators and BI Builders, and you need permission to edit the file you're inserting into.
When you don't have access
If you open a link to a visualization you don't have permission to see, the page tells you that you don't have access instead of loading it. From there:
- If you can manage permissions on the visualization, which in most cases means you're a BI Administrator, select Open permissions to grant yourself access.
- Otherwise, contact the visualization's Owner and ask for Editor or Viewer permission.
Either way, Back to report visuals returns you to the full list.
Read-only mode
A visualization opens in read-only mode when you have Viewer permission on it, or when your role is BI Viewer. Read-only applies to how the visualization is built, not to how you explore it.
- The Structure and Style tabs are read-only. You can see how the visualization is put together, but you can't change it.
- The Filter tab stays interactive, so you can narrow the data to answer your own questions. Filters you apply this way aren't saved and don't affect what anyone else sees.
- There's no Save button, and you can't rename the visualization.