Contractor Editing Through a Feature Layer View
Metro Public Works maintains a hosted feature layer of 1,400 sidewalk assets with 38 fields, including inspection status, assigned district, repair cost, and internal notes. A public Experience Builder app shows only status and location. Six inspectors from an engineering firm must update six inspection fields for assets in District 3 only. The firm has its own ArcGIS Online organization, and the city will not add the firm's staff as city members or give them access to the city's content directory. The source layer is shared to the city's field-crew group and must remain private. The contractor must not see repair cost, internal notes, or assets outside District 3. The city also wants an audit trail and the ability to revoke access at the end of the 90-day contract without affecting public app availability. The GIS administrator must design the sharing and editing model.
1. Design the least-privilege sharing architecture for the contractor. Identify what is shared, with whom, and what remains private.
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Use a hosted feature layer view as the contract boundary, not the source layer. Create a view of the sidewalk layer filtered to District 3 and configured to show only the six inspection fields plus a stable asset ID and location. Enable editing on the view for those fields, and leave repair cost and internal notes out of the view. Create a group for the contract and share only the view with that group. Because the firm has its own organization and must not join the city organization, use a distributed collaboration between the two organizations, with a collaboration group that carries the shared view. Do not share the source layer or use a public feature service with embedded credentials. The public Experience Builder app continues to use its existing published data source, so public availability is unaffected. The source layer stays private and is never exposed to the contractor.
2. What editing, field, and group settings must be verified before the contractor starts work?
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Configure the view's editing properties carefully: allow update and, if needed, create, but not delete; make the six inspection fields editable; hide cost and notes; set the district filter as a view definition so it cannot be bypassed by a query. In the collaboration, grant the partner group only access to the view. On the partner side, members need an ArcGIS account and privileges to edit shared features; verify that they do not receive publishing or analysis privileges. Turn on editor tracking on the source so each edit records the username and timestamp. Test with one contractor account: confirm the account sees only District 3, cannot open the source item, cannot add fields, and cannot query hidden fields. If the collaboration configuration does not permit editing, fall back to inviting the six inspectors as city members with an Editor user type and the same view and group restrictions; do not widen access to the source.
3. How should the administrator audit and then revoke contractor access at the end of the 90-day contract?
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At the end of 90 days, remove the view from the collaboration group or remove the group from the collaboration, then delete the collaboration if no other sharing exists. Removing the group membership is the primary revocation; do not rely only on changing the view filter. Check the source layer's editor tracking for the contract period and export an audit copy. Confirm the public app still renders because it does not depend on the contractor group. Then delete the view or keep it unshared for records. If the partner cached data locally, require deletion under the contract. Review group membership and collaboration participants to ensure no residual access remains. Revocation should be tested from a contractor account, not assumed from an administrative change.