Application categories
Defining a categorization structure
If you go to SelfService > Create request for myself > Select from service catalog, you will see that the catalog is structured by categories, as shown below. This structure is a default model, and you can customize it to meet your organization's needs. This categorization structure and appropriate naming can have a significant impact on how easily end-users can navigate the catalog and find what they need.
Categories are a type of resource, and all resources, regardless of type, are part of the OpenIAM Access Control model.
To view the existing category structure, go to webconsole > Access Control > Resource, and filter by Application Category as shown below.
You can modify or remove these categories based on your needs.
Creating a new category
To create a new category, go to webconsole > Access Control > Resource and click Create New Resource in the side menu bar.
Complete the fields shown in the table below.
| Field Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Resource Type | Select Application category from the dropdown. This setting determines which type of resource you are creating. |
| Name | Name of your category. This value can be any short descriptive name. |
| Display name | This is the value that end-users will see. It should be a short descriptive name that is meaningful to end-users. This field has been localized, and you should complete the localization for the languages you need to support. |
| Status | Flag that determines if this resource is active (visible) or inactive (hidden from all users). |
Is visible or Is public flags do not impact category behavior in the SelfService application catalog.
If you need to support multiple languages, complete the display name values for the necessary languages.
Save your category. You should see it appear in SelfService as well.
Creating a child category
In some cases, when working with a large number of applications, you may want to nest your category structure. To create a child category, follow the steps below:
- Create a new category as described in the previous step.
- Find the parent category by going to webconsole > Access Control > Resource, and search for the name of the category.
- Click the Actions button to view the resource details.
- From the side menu bar, click Entitlements.
- Right-click on Child resource and then click Add.
- From the dropdowns, first select Application category, and then the name of your category in the second dropdown.
The parent-child relationship should appear like in the example below.
In the SelfService portal, the addition of a child category in the service catalog will appear as shown below.
Manage end-user access to categories in the catalog
Access to application categories in the SelfService catalog can be managed based on the RBAC model. To enable this option, set the following flag to true in webconsole > Administration > System configuration:
Is Create Request categories Authorization Disabled (backward compatibility for cases where all categories were available to all users).
This enables the RBAC model and requires the assignment of roles (or groups) to application categories. Users who are members of these roles (or groups) will have access to the linked application category. If a user is not a member of any role or group linked with the category, they will not see it in the catalog. The same applies to subcategories.
By default, all application categories become visible in the catalog only if the user has access. Otherwise, the user will see an empty catalog.
Associating the application with a category
The next step is to associate an application with a category.
As discussed in the Application onboarding section, applications involved in user provisioning are represented as either managed systems or manual managed systems. Each of these is a type of resource.
Assuming you have already created a resource:
To associate an application with a category, follow these steps:
- Go to Provisioning > Managed System and find the application you want to work with.
- Open the details by clicking the edit icon.
- Scroll down the page and find the dropdown for categories.
- Select your category and click Save.
Now you can move on and define an approval flow.