Hello,
When I click Add Another Role and set role for specific user, the system require me email to them accept this invite, very hard to use for bulk edit.
I think email Invitation to New Role is additional, the Journals manager can Skip this email (Like Skip send email to author in 3.4.0) and force set role for user.
What application are you using?
For example, OJS 3.5.0-0
Directly editing a user’s account, including changing their roles, presents a GDPR risk, so we intentionally changed it to require an invitation rather than a direct edit. Can you describe the use case for batch editing user account? Maybe there’s another way to accomplish the same thing.
Regards,
Alec Smecher
Public Knowledge Project Team
Hi @asmecher
The current mandatory invitation email policy also poses GDPR risks. Sending an unsolicited email without user consent may violate the core principles of GDPR. (I and another librarian from around the world don’t live in the EU; we don’t have a GDPR policy.)
What I need is not just for “batch edits” but for effective internal governance and legal compliance. Key use cases include:
Initial Setup & Data Migration: This process involves creating accounts for existing editorial and staff teams. Sending mass invitation emails to people who are already members of the organization is inefficient and unnecessary.
Internal Role Changes: When a staff member is assigned an additional role (ex: from Production editor to Journal Editor). They are already part of the system, requiring them to “accept invitation” for an administrative change is a redundant step.
Offline Consent: When a user has given written or verbal consent (e.g. at a conference). The admin needs a way to create an account for them without sending them repeated invitation emails.
The proposed solution is not an “edit” button, but a deliberate option: “Assign Role Directly (Skip Email) like you Decline Submission and Skip send email to author”.
This option empowers the Journal Manager to perform administrative tasks based on the legal basis of a “legitimate interest” in managing their team. This gives OJS more flexibility and is actually more GDPR compliant in essential administrative activities.
Best Regards,
Thuan Huynh
Because of this feature change, many journals in Indonesia have not considered upgrading to version 3.5. Hopefully the developer community will find a solution soon.
Hello @huynhnguyenthuan,
I believe all of the above issues can be solved via other means. This, however, requires some access to admin tools. The following solutions might not be perfectly suited to your needs but I hope we can complete them without sending unsolicited emails. As well, this using the Admin role and therefore does not viloate any GDPR policies.
I will list out your main issues one-by-one and provide the potential solution afterwards.
Bulk Edit / Initial Setup & Data Migration: This process involves creating accounts for existing editorial and staff teams. Sending mass invitation emails to people who are already members of the organization is inefficient and unnecessary.
Solution: You can use the users XML plugin to batch edit or import large groups of users
Internal Role Changes: When a staff member is assigned an additional role (ex: from Production editor to Journal Editor). They are already part of the system, requiring them to “accept invitation” for an administrative change is a redundant step.
Solution: Admin tools > Hosted Journal > Settings Wizard > Users > Edit User, you can add roles to existing users without them accepting invitations.
Offline Consent: When a user has given written or verbal consent (e.g. at a conference). The admin needs a way to create an account for them without sending them repeated invitation emails.
Solution: Admin tools > Hosted Journal Settings Wizard > User > Add User, you can add users like you did in 3.4.
I hope these ideas help resolve the problems you are seeing with the new invite to a role feature.
All the best,
Beau Grier
Public Knowledge Project Team