Users

Users are a bit unique in the realm of Person-related data, because it’s often the case that they are not imported from some other system, being instead maintained only in Rattail. (Of course it is still possible to import User records from another system.)

When you first setup a Rattail system you create the first “admin” User. You then login as that User and can create other Users as needed, depending on who needs access. For more info see also User Auth.

It’s possible to tie a User record to a Person record, although technically not required. It is recommended since it opens up other possibilities, for instance the app might present different features based on some other related aspects e.g. of the Employee record of the current User.

It’s also common to create dedicated User accounts to represent the other systems involved, e.g. your POS. Such accounts do not tie back to any Person and exist only for sake of attributing changes to the applicable system, when data is imported to Rattail.

The username for each User must be unique. Passwords are stored using 1-way encryption, so are not recoverable and must be reset if lost.

It is possible to authenticate users against something other than Rattail, instead of or in addition to normal Rattail authentication. For instance it can check LDAP, or a corresponding employee table in your POS DB (e.g. if those credentials are stored as plain text).

It is also possible for Rattail to auto-create users upon first login, if authenticating from another system like that. If your permissions are setup such that any “authenticated” (i.e. logged in) user has access to certain features, this may be a useful option for you. In some cases you may also need to add logic to auto-assign the newly-created user to some particular role(s) based on whatever…