Restrict Advanced Find functionality for End Business Users

Issue: Product Owners often highlight that they would want the restrict the Advanced Find Functionality to all business end users. While we can control which fields can be allowed as filter criteria for search and which not, but the users can add any field as column and view the data as desired. Although the Print and Export privileges are often not provided, but Data Leakage is often an underlying statement.

Solution: Hide Advanced Based on the User access. Unfortunately, this solution is not available as standard feature in system.

Workaround: Everyone loves workaround and we have a workaround for Advanced Find too!!
Now because it is workaround, it has some limitation. The limitation is that the Advanced Find button cannot be hidden, however, the users will not be able to get the search result. The “Result” button (the find button) can be hidden, thus restricting not be able to fire the search result.

Steps for Workaround:

1. Create a new Solution or to an existing solution add “Application Ribbons”

2. Use Ribbon Workbench to open the solution

3. Navigate to “Advanced Find”, in the Home and click on “Results” button.

Now here we have 2 major options available to restrict Advanced Find
3.1. Hide Results button in Advanced Find. This would hide the button for all users including Admin and no one will be able to use this functionality. Probably this may not be requirement for all. If this functionality is required, users can click on hide and publish the Ribbon Workbench and it will done.
3.2. Customize the button command to restrict only for specific user roles. Now to do this you may want it to be easily configurable and not hard coded, thus at this stage, you can create a new entity “Hide Advanced Find”. Using this entity, we would write the command on this button as below and publish the Ribbon Workbench.

4. Navigate to Security roles and assign or remove the “Read” permission of the custom entity created.

5. Result

When the user with role of Sales Person login to CRM, while they can view and click on the Advanced Find button, however, the “Results” button is no longer visible, hence they cannot execute or run the command.

Users with privilege to the Advanced Find Entity, can view the “Results” button.