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The Impersonate feature
The Impersonate feature

What the "Impersonate User" feature is and what it is used for

Daniel Sternegard avatar
Written by Daniel Sternegard
Updated over a week ago

The "Impersonate" feature was recently released - here's a short summary!


An introduction

What is it?

The "Impersonate user" feature is an emergency tool for Planhat Support Team to resolve difficult technical issues. It allows people from the Planhat organisation (only), like technical support, to essentially "log in" to a Planhat user's account (but without sharing any password). The user will grant access to be impersonated and can easily and swiftly revoke access (see step-by-step guide below). The impersonator can freely move around the account during the session.

What is it used for?

This is first and foremost to better enable a fast and high-quality customer support to our Planhat customers. By allowing technical support to impersonate accounts and effectively "see what they see", it is easier to troubleshoot and therefore reduce time-to-resolution. This is a last resort if other troubleshooting options have been exhausted (e.g., screenshots, describing problem, etc).

In other words: there is no need for Planhat users to think about "Impersonate", its only functions to enable support.

How is security ensured?

  • Users have to grant access to "impersonation" - see below how

  • Each impersonation session can only last 1 hour before the impersonator is automatically logged out

  • The user can at any time interrupt access - see below how

  • Each impersonation access only lasts 1 day (if not interrupted before, which is recommended practice when the situation has been resolved)


Practical step-by-step guide

Case: you've been re-directed here from Planhat technical support to start an impersonation session.

1. Go to your profile in Planhat

2. Press the button in the top-right corner, and press "Allow to Impersonate"

3. Planhat Support Team will now be able to impersonate your account. During this time, you are free to move around.

4. When the session has ended, go back to the same place in Planhat and "Disallow to Impersonate"

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