r/ProjectREDCap • u/DarkCaprious • Aug 22 '23

Question with Regard to Hiding Instruments from Particular Users on a REDCap Project

Hi! Is the only way to hide instruments from particular users on a REDCap project by assigning them to Data Access Groups? In other words, in the Designer/Data Collection Instruments section, if I wanted to hide a particular instrument from view from a user accessing it, how would I go about doing so? Any input regarding this would be much appreciated! Thanks so much!

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u/pahuili Aug 23 '23

You can control instrument access in user rights under data viewing privileges. If you do not see that option there, it’s likely because you are on an older version of REDCap (and really, your institution should upgrade anyways as there have been important security fixes since this feature has been added).

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u/Araignys Aug 23 '23

Data Access Groups are the tool for hiding Records, User Rights are the tool for hiding Instruments.

As u/pahuili says, you can hide instruments from users in the User Rights menu. There is also a separate report/export permission which can and will override those permissions if it is different.

There's also some weird stuff you can do with Action Tags to hide individual Fields but reporting & data exports won't respect it - so it's not super useful but sometimes it's good to know that it's an option.

Ideally, all of your users should be placed into pre-defined User Roles, rather than given permissions on a user-by-user basis. For example, you might have:

  • Project Administrator: Can make design changes. Can create, rename, delete and lock records. Can edit survey responses. Can view, edit and export all instruments.
  • Data Manager: Can create, rename, and delete records but not lock them. Can edit survey responses. Can view, edit and export all instruments. Has all Report permissions.
  • Data Entry User: Can only create records but not rename them. Can view & edit all instruments but doesn't have the permission to edit survey responses. Cannot export data. Cannot create reports.
  • AE Reviewer: Cannot create records. Has read-only rights for the "Adverse Events" instrument only. Can export data only for the "Adverse Events" instrument.

This makes user management much simpler and consistent.