What do the modifyAllRecords and viewAllRecords Profile permissions mean?

Question

I'm currently modifying the profiles in my salesforce org through their xml files.

When I reach:

 <objectPermissions>
    <allowCreate>false</allowCreate>
    <allowDelete>false</allowDelete>
    <allowEdit>false</allowEdit>
    <allowRead>true</allowRead>
    <modifyAllRecords>false</modifyAllRecords>
    <object>Modem__c</object>
    <viewAllRecords>false</viewAllRecords>
 </objectPermissions>

Does anyone know what the <modifyAllRecords> and <viewAllRecords> tag represent? When I change those from false to true and I try to save the permission's xml file I receive an error:

"Save error: Permission Manage All Modem__c depends on permission(s): Read All Account"

Any one have any ideas?

Answer 1

"View and modify all records" means exactly what it says on the tin. Making this true for a profile will mean that users in that profile will have the ability to both view, and subsequently edit ALL the Modem__c records in your system.

The reason you are getting the error when trying to set this is because the Modem__c object is related to the Account object and thus you cannot grant an "All" permission on this child object without first considering the access permissions to the related records.

If you'd like to explain your object structure and/or intention for setting these permissions values to true, I'm sure the community could help out with some suggestions on how to progress?