Previous Article: Change Start / Due Dates, Assigned To, and Update Frequency
There are 3 different levels of access that a user (or team) can have to a plan item. Let’s talk through each of these levels and discuss what each level can do and how you can assign access to plan items.
The Access Section
The Access Section can be found about half way down the right side of the Plan Item Card. Within this section you will see a list of users (and teams) who currently have access to the Plan Item Card, whether or not they are a team or a user, and their assigned access roles.
The Access section
Access Roles
Users and teams can have multiple access roles at the same time. There are technically 3 access roles that a user can have (only 2 for teams). These roles are:
-
Administrator
-
Member
-
Assigned To
Administrators have access to everything in the Plan Item Card. As an Administrator it is your job to make sure that the correct set of users has access to the card, that the schedule settings are correct, and that the plan item has all of the information the Assigned To user needs in order to make accurate updates to it (e.g. setting an accurate description).
The Administrator role
You may see the term Inherited Admin next to a user’s name in the Access list. The Administrator role is passed down to children items within a plan and this term denotes when a user has Administrator access to a plan item higher up in the current plan’s hierarchy.
The Inherited Admin label
Member access allows users to do certain things within the Plan Item Card, however their access is limited when compared to Administrators. They can request and submit updates, add comments and files, as well as manage checklists. However, they cannot change any information inside of the Metric Details, Details and Dependencies, or Schedule and Assignment sections. They also cannot assign access to users or teams.
The Member role
The Assigned To has a specialized level of access within the Plan Item Card. The Assigned To is assigned from within the “Schedule and Assignment” section and is the only role that is not assignable from the “Access” section. For the most part, the Assigned To will see exactly what a Member would see when looking at the Plan Item Card. They have all of the same level of access as a Member, but are primarily responsible with providing updates for a plan item. Assigned To users will receive automated reminder emails (sent based on the plan item’s chosen frequency) that will prompt them to enter updates for an item.
Assigning Users
To assign users to a plan item, head to the Plan Item Card and navigate to the access section located in the right side of the Plan Item Card.
First, note that some users will already have access to the plan item (if only your user). To assign new users to the plan item, click on the “Edit Users/Teams” button in the top right corner of the section. Doing so will change the Access section into an edit panel, where you can add users and teams to the plan item.
The "Add Access" panel
To add a user / team, select them from the list in the edit access panel. Any selected users / teams will automatically be given member access by default. If you would like to add Administrator (or change it from member to solely Administrator access) you can use the Role checkboxes on the righthand side of the list.
As you select users / teams from the list, they will populate the “Newly added users / teams” list at the top of the edit access panel. If you would like to remove these users from the list, you can deselect in the list or click on the red ‘x' to the right of the user’s / team’s name in the “Newly added” area.
When you are satisfied with the users / teams you have selected, click on the “Save” button at the bottom of the panel. If you would like to cancel all of your changes, you can click on the “Cancel” button instead.
Once you have added the new users / teams, they will show up in the Access list with their respective role assignment.
Editing Access Roles
If you want to change the roles a user or team has and don’t want to remove their access complete, you can do so by clicking on their current role in the Access list. Doing so will show a dropdown that allows you to give them another role (or take away their current role).
Note that only Administrators can make changes within the Access panel.
The edit role dropdown
There are a few things to keep in mind when editing access roles:
-
If a user / team already has member / administrator access, clicking on their role won’t doing anything.
-
If a user is a Contributor and you click on their Member role, you will be presented with a message stating that Contributors cannot be assigned as Administrators.
-
If a user is an inherited administrator, you will see the message “Role cannot be removed because it is inherited.” To change an inherited administrators access, navigate to the highest level plan item this user has access to in the plan. There you can remove their access.
The Inherited Administrator role message
Removing a user’s access is just as easy as editing it and can be done by clicking on the red 'x' next to the role.
The remove role button
Finding a User / Team
If you have a lot of users and / or teams assigned to a plan item, you may need to use the find text box at the top of the Access section. Typing into the find text box will pare down the list to only show user / teams that match your typed text. Clicking on the 'x' to the right side of the find text box will clear your typed text and show all users / teams in the list.
The Find User / Team textbox