alumni_lookup

Champion Portal — AI Context: User Roles and Permissions

AI Context Bundle File 3 of 7
Purpose: Define all user types, roles, and their capabilities to ensure behavioral accuracy
Authority: Use this file to determine what each user type can and cannot do
Last Updated: January 2026

System Overview

The Champion Portal is part of a two-portal system sharing a single database:

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                    SHARED POSTGRESQL DATABASE                   │
├────────────────────────────┬────────────────────────────────────┤
│   LOOKUP PORTAL            │   CHAMPION PORTAL                  │
│   alumnilookup.com         │   alumnichampions.com              │
│   (Internal Staff)         │   (External Alumni)                │
├────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────────┤
│   • Admin                  │   • Champion                       │
│   • Portal Admin           │   • Community Leader (CL)          │
│   • Staff                  │   • CLC (all CLs collectively)     │
│   (uses Devise User model) │   (uses Devise Cp::Champion model) │
└────────────────────────────┴────────────────────────────────────┘

Champion Portal Roles

Champion (Base Role)

Who: Any verified member of the Alumni Champions program

Verification Status Requirements:

Status Can Do
unverified Cannot log in
email_verified Log in, edit own profile only
champion_verified Full portal access (below)

Champion Verified Capabilities:

Area Can Do Cannot Do
Profile Edit own profile, photo, privacy settings Edit others’ profiles
Directory Search/view other Champions Export contact lists
Messaging Send/receive messages, react Send to non-Champions
Discussion Boards Post, comment, react on boards they’re a member of Moderate, delete others’ posts
Events View events, download calendar Create/edit events
News View posts, like/unlike Create/edit posts
Communities View community pages, see membership Assign CLs

Community Leader (CL)

Who: A Champion assigned to lead a specific community

How assigned: Staff assigns via Lookup Portal admin interface

Community Types a CL Can Lead:

Type Example
District Nashville Community
College College of Music Community
Major Music Business Community
Affinity Phi Mu Community
Industry Healthcare Industry Community
Custom Special interest communities

CL Capabilities (in their assigned community):

Area Can Do Cannot Do
Moderation Hide/unhide posts, lock threads, pin posts Delete posts (only Staff)
Members View all community members Remove members
Support Threads Access support thread with Engagement Team —
Announcements Pin announcements to community board —

What CLs CANNOT Do:

CLC (Community Leadership Council)

Who: The collective body of all Community Leaders

Not a role in the system — just a term for “all CLs together”

Used for:

Lookup Portal Roles

Staff (Base Internal Role)

Who: Belmont staff with basic access to alumni data

Capabilities:

Area Can Do Cannot Do
Alumni Search Search, view alumni records Edit alumni records
Engagement View engagement data Modify engagement data
Champion Signups View, edit signups Delete signups
Insights View reports —

Portal Admin

Who: Staff with elevated Champion Program permissions

Additional Capabilities (beyond Staff):

Area Can Do
Champion Verification Link Champions to alumni records (BUID)
Champion Signups Delete, merge duplicate signups
CL Assignment Assign/remove Community Leaders
Champion Metrics View Champion Portal analytics
Events Create, edit, delete events
News Posts Create, edit, delete news posts
Moderation Delete posts, ban users (escalated moderation)

Admin

Who: Full system administrators

Full Capabilities:

Area Can Do
Everything Portal Admin can do ✅
User Management Create/edit/delete staff accounts
Settings System configuration
Data Imports Run data imports
All Admin Functions Full access

Permission Hierarchy

Champion Portal:                  Lookup Portal:
                                  
Champion ────────────────────────── Staff
    │                                │
    ▼                                ▼
Community Leader ────────────────── Portal Admin
    │                                │
    │                                ▼
    │                              Admin
    │                                │
    └───────────────────────────────┘
         (via Engagement Team)

Key relationships:

Authorization Guards (Code Reference)

Lookup Portal (ApplicationController)

# Any authenticated internal user
ensure_staff!         # staff?, portal_admin?, or admin?

# Champion program management
ensure_portal_admin!  # portal_admin? or admin?

# Full system access
ensure_admin!         # admin? only

Champion Portal (Cp::BaseController)

# Any authenticated Champion
authenticate_cp_champion!  # Uses Devise

# Champion-verified required
ensure_champion_verified!  # verification_status == champion_verified

# Community Leader in specific community
ensure_community_leader!   # CL for the requested community

Membership Types

Champions have a membership_type that determines their connection to Belmont:

Type Description Has BUID? Has Degrees?
alumni Traditional alumni with degrees Yes Yes
almost_alumni Current students not yet graduated Yes No (pending)
honorary Staff/faculty without degrees Yes No
parent Parent of student/alum No No
friend Friend of the university No No

Note: Only alumni type is fully implemented. Others are Phase 5 (future).

Verification Flow

1. Champion signs up (email/SSO)
        │
        ▼
   ┌─────────────────┐
   │  UNVERIFIED     │ ← Cannot log in
   └────────┬────────┘
            │ (email confirmation)
            ▼
   ┌─────────────────┐
   │ EMAIL_VERIFIED  │ ← Can log in, limited access
   └────────┬────────┘
            │ (Staff links BUID in Lookup Portal)
            ▼
   ┌─────────────────┐
   │CHAMPION_VERIFIED│ ← Full access
   └─────────────────┘

Community Membership

Champions belong to multiple communities automatically:

Community Type How Assigned
District Auto-assigned from ZIP code
College(s) Auto-assigned from linked Alumni degrees
Major(s) Auto-assigned from linked Alumni degrees
Affinity(ies) Selected during profile setup
Industry Selected during profile setup

What Each Role Sees

Champion Dashboard

CL Dashboard (Additional)

Staff (Lookup Portal)

Portal Admin (Lookup Portal, Additional)

Admin (Lookup Portal, Additional)

Common Permission Questions

Q: Can Champions create events?
A: No. Events are created by Portal Admin/Admin in Lookup Portal.

Q: Can CLs verify new Champions?
A: No. Verification is done by Staff/Portal Admin in Lookup Portal.

Q: Can Champions message non-Champions?
A: No. Messaging is Champion-to-Champion only.

Q: Can CLs moderate any community?
A: No. CLs can only moderate communities they’re assigned to.

Q: Can Champions see other Champions’ contact info?
A: Depends on privacy settings. Champions control visibility of their email/phone.

Source Documentation