Understanding Menu Administration

Menu administration is used to define the structure of System menus and to manage user access to menus, forms and jobs both directly and via security roles.

A diagram is provided below to describe:

All Security terms are defined in the subsystem glossary.

Data security is controlled by mechanisms described in Understanding Security.


The System provides a number of methods for navigation to forms and jobs, including:

Menu administration is primarily concerned with control of System Menus and Menu Bar Zooms.

System Menu Administration

Relationship of System Menus to Security Access

User access to data within the System is controlled by the Security subsystem. The menu facility does not directly restrict access to specific data within the System, but rather, controls access indirectly through the granting of access to menus, forms and jobs. A user can still access a System function granted via menu administration, even if the function does not appear on a menu, by using other navigation methods from the list above.

The granting of menu access will have no effect unless the user has at least one security role grant.

Menus, forms and jobs can be granted to System security roles. Access to menus is granted to users primarily via the security roles which they have been granted.

Additional menu access for individual users can be refined using the Maintain Person Menu and Form Grants form, although this facility should only be used in exceptional circumstances as it will make menu administration more complex and prone to error.

Structure of System Menus

The menu facility is highly flexible and permits menus, forms and jobs to be combined in hierarchical structures in almost any required permutation. The diagram below illustrates some of the possible ways in which menus can be structured. Details of some of the features of System menus appear below the diagram.

Menu Structure. (sec01)

System Menu Features

As numbered in the diagram above, the Menu facility features the ability to:

  1. Create a hierarchical structure of menus, forms and jobs (reports and processes).
  2. Have a mixture of sub-menus, forms and jobs displayed under a menu.
  3. Use any menu in a hierarchical structure as the entry point for individual users.

The same sub-menu, form or job can appear under more than one menu.

System Menu Maintenance

Menu Bar Zoom Administration

On the menu bar, above each form within the System, is a Zoom option. Selecting the Zoom option displays a list of forms which may be directly accessed by selecting from the list. This feature is detailed under Zoom Menu. There are two components of Zoom menus:

System Maintained Zoom Menu Items

For each form within the System, a list of target forms can be created for display in its zoom menu. The target forms will usually be those which are most commonly used in conjunction with the current form. For example, when using the Record Enrolments form (ENRF3000), a typical user may often wish to access the Maintain Person Address Details form (ENRF3030). ENRF3030 could be included in the zoom menu for ENRF3000 making the address details form readily available from any of the Record Enrolments screens. The Maintain System Forms and Zooms form (SECF0060) is used to maintain zoom menus.