Sometimes the quickest way to understand what a colleague can see — or to check a problem they have reported — is to look at Pyron through their eyes. You can step into another person's account and see the same data, pages and drafts they see, without changing anything on their behalf.
Starting an impersonation
You start a session from the person's own page, which you open from the people list. The ability to view as someone is granted through a role, so if your account does not hold it, the button does not appear.
- Open the people list and select the person you want to view as.
- On their page, choose View as, at the top right.
- Enter what you are checking for them.
- Choose View as them to begin.
Pyron loads the app as that person, starting from their home page. The reason you enter stays with the session as part of its audit trail, so there is always a note of why an account was viewed.
A few limits keep the feature safe to use:
- You can view any active person in your organisation, apart from yourself and other administrators who can also view others.
- Automated accounts, such as service accounts and kiosks, cannot be viewed this way — they are not people.
- Only one session runs at a time, so finish or leave the one you are in before starting another.
- A session lasts up to an hour. When the time is up it ends on its own and returns you to your own account.
Read-only by design
A viewing session is read-only from start to finish. You see the account as its owner does, but you cannot change anything while you are in it.
Because you are looking through their eyes, everything is filtered to what they are allowed to see — the entries and the parts of the directory their access covers, the pages they own or that are shared with them, any private drafts, and their assistant chats. You get their view of Pyron, not your own.
While a session is running, a banner stays across the top of the screen. It names the person whose account you are viewing, counts down the time left, and gives you a way to leave straight away.
If you try to change something — saving an edit, running an action, sending a message — Pyron declines and reminds you that the session is view-only. Nothing you do can alter the person's data or act as them.
Viewing as someone never lets you act on their behalf. If you find something that needs fixing, leave the session and make the change as yourself, or ask the person to make it.
Everything is audited
Every viewing session leaves a complete trail. Starting a session is recorded together with the reason you gave for it, and ending it is recorded as well.
While the session runs, each page you open is recorded too. The trail names you as the person who looked, acting on the account's behalf — so it is always clear who viewed an account, not just which account was viewed.
You and other administrators can review this in the audit trail, alongside the rest of your organisation's activity. Because viewing as someone gives you their full view, every session is written down and open to review.