Role-Based Policy transactions

The transactional Role-Based Policy (RBP) editing feature is designed to enhance performance and data integrity by allowing you to group a series of related policy changes into a single, cohesive unit called a transaction. Instead of making individual, immediate updates to the live policy database, all your changes are temporarily stored. This prevents potential service interruptions and ensures that other users only see a complete, consistent set of changes.

Initiate a transaction

1. Navigate to the Policy Management section of the application.
2. All policy pages will be in a read-only state.
3. Click Edit Role Based Policy to open a dialog box.
4. Provide a reason for the transaction (e.g., "Updating permissions for new IT team members"). This reason serves as a record for all administrators and will be visible in the transaction history.
5. If another user has an active transaction, the system will notify you. In the future, this notification will include details about the user and their reason, and will offer the option to override their transaction.
6. Click Continue Editing to confirm. The page reloads, and the Edit Role Based Policy button changes to Review Policy Edits button. The policy pages will now be fully editable.

Make and store your changes

1. Change your policy configuration, such as adding or deleting users, creating new roles, or modifying access permissions.

Crucially, any change you make is not applied to the live database. It is stored in a temporary, private "shadow table" on the server that is unique to your transaction.

This means that other administrators and end-users will not see your changes until you finalize the transaction. You can take your time to make multiple changes across different policy sections (e.g., users, roles, and schedule groups) without affecting the live environment.

The system is designed to handle this temporary state robustly, ensuring that even if a service restart occurs, your uncommitted changes remain safely in your shadow table.

Finalize the transaction (Commit or Cancel)

1. Click Review Policy Edits.
   A Transaction Summary page displays a list of all changes you are about to apply. This allows you to perform a final review.
2. When your changes are ready, you have two final options:
3. To save changes, click Commit Policy Edits.
   All changes from the shadow table are applied to the live policy database simultaneously. This is a critical step that ensures data consistency and minimizes the risk of service interruptions. After a successful commit, all changes are immediately visible to every user.

To cancel the changes, click Cancel Policy Edits. A confirmation displays warning that all changes made during the transaction will be permanently discarded.

If you confirm, the system reverts to the exact state it was in before you started the transaction. This is a form of rollback that ensures no incomplete or unwanted changes are ever applied. The policy pages return to their default read-only state.