Work Management Standards › User Profile and Security Standards › User Profiles

User Profiles

OS/400 user profiles allow you to achieve a precise modulation of who can do what on the machine. The standards described below apply to the use of user profiles.

A user profile should be set up for each user—even if the user will have the same initial menu as other users. It is important that OS/400 user profiles are used because:

• The authorization checking for user profiles has a microcode level implementation that is very secure. User profiles are therefore the most secure way of controlling what a user is allowed to do.
• Individual OS/400 user profiles are a necessity for the correct use of many OS/400 functions, including authorization, audit trails, and accounting. It is important that use can be resolved down to as fine of a level as possible, for example, the individual user. In other words, a user profile not only controls what a user may do, but it is also used to trace what the user has done.
• The use of individual user profiles permits personal addressing by electronic mail and message sending software. This is likely to be of increasing significance as your systems grow and you start to network them. For this reason, you should take care to name profiles in a systematic way.