EZ Security System – Most applications require protection. How much protection your application requires depends on what areas of the application you need to secure. If the application contains sensitive data, you want to prevent unauthorized users from accessing the application. In addition to limiting access to the application to specific individuals, you may want to prevent individual users from changing data in some of the application’s forms.

Using the built-in security feature provided with Microsoft Access, you can set a password for a database to limit access only to those who know the database’s password. Access also provides user-level security so that you can define which tables, queries, and forms specific users can access or change. However, this built-in security feature is difficult to implement and maintain. You must have an in-depth understanding of Access objects and security architecture in order to effectively secure the database.

Our EZ Security System is an easy method of securing an Access database that goes beyond the functionality of the Access security feature. Our custom security system includes security at the application, form, report, form control, and report control level. This system includes security tables, stand-alone forms, and security functions to be added to your forms and reports.

Enable Security functions with our custom panel controls, our EZ Preference Manager, or our function calls.

The EZ Security Manager is a stand-alone form that administrators can use to add and maintain users, groups, group permissions, object permissions, and monitor security system status. The following figures illustrate the various interfaces of the EZ Security Manager.

You can add and delete users, copy users from the Access workgroup file, as well as change a user name and password. If you choose to utilize either the operating system security system, or the Access security system to handle the log on function, then you do not need to enter passwords through our security manager. Using this form, you also assign users to groups, remove users from groups, or copy the Access security system user/group cross-reference.

Users belong to groups, and the EZ Security Manager Groups tab, provides the interface to add, and delete groups, as well as copy groups from the Access Workgroup file if the application uses it. From this tab you can also print the various reports that list the users, and groups, as well as the group permissions.

Once a group has been established, the administrator can set the permissions for the group. This includes setting permissions for forms, form controls, reports, and report controls. This is where the EZ Security Manager goes beyond the Access security system.

With the EZ Security Manager you can still use the Access security system if you want. This would be necessary to limit access to tables, queries, macros, and modules. But, with the EZ Security Manager, you can also manage forms and reports and the controls on them. This is where an application normally controls the data. Imagine, using the same form for all users. Limit what each user can do on the form, and what data fields they have access to. Use the same report for multiple users, hiding sensitive data when needed based on who is running the report. The report security works in conjunction with our EZ Report Manager available as another product in our EZ Access Developer's suite.

Permissions for forms include: No Access, Read Only, Add Only, Edit Only, Edit and Add, Edit and Delete, Edit/Add/Delete. Permissions for form controls vary depending on the control and include such types as: No Access, Read Only – Enable, Read Only - Disable, Read/Write, Not Visible, and Visible. Reports and report controls have the same types of permissions: No Access, and Print. Even the permissions are table driven so the above lists can be modified to suit an application’s specific needs.

Once group permissions have been established, you can view the permissions for reports and form on the Object Permissions form. Just choose the type of object and select the object by name from the pull-down list. The control name and type is displayed along with the group names and permissions assigned. A hard copy of this can be printed from the Groups Tab previously shown.

The security system status and listing of security tables is shown on the Status tab of the EZ Security Manager. The Login System can be the operating system (Win 95/98/NT), Access security, or EZ Security. The current user id is shown as well as whether security and security warning is enabled.

If you do not use the operating system or Access security system, you can use the EZ Security Logon form when your application starts. The option to change the user name (not Logon ID) and password is provided.

In addition to the EZ Security System, also included are two methods to keep track of who accessed the system and data. These features are referred to as Record Stamping and the Audit Log.

Record Stamping – Know when and who added or changed data. Include in your table design fields for a user name stamp and date/time stamp. We provide functions to include in your forms to update these fields and display them. Typically, pressing a button or key combination would bring up a message box like this.

Audit Log – If you need to know who did what and when, this system can be added into your application to keep track of when a user starts an application and when a user quits the application. In addition, keep track of when forms and reports are opened or closed, menu items selected, queries run, data records are changed, and more. We also include a pre-designed report to report on the activities of users and actions they perform. For example, How much time did a user use an application over the last month? Which reports are being used and which ones are not? How fast are tables growing? And much more.

Administrative Interfaces – Who is currently accessing an MDB file is available by using our View Users form. This form accesses the current LDB file to show who is accessing the file.

To use the EZ Security Manager, you must know the basics of Microsoft Access. This includes knowing about Access objects and how they are used.

You do not need to know how to program in VBA (Access Basic) but you must know how to add a simple button to a form and enter one or two lines of VBA code to the OnClick event of the button.