Access Control Concepts

Access control is term for the overall system ProjectWise uses to enforce document, folder, and work area security in the datasource. Access control determines not only which users can see which documents, folders, and work areas, but also what those users can do with those documents, folders, and work areas.

Security in ProjectWise Is Exclusive

When a datasource is first created, no access control settings are configured, therefore all users you create will have access to all folders and documents in the datasource. It is only when some users are explicitly given access permissions to certain items that other users become excluded from accessing those same items.

Security Can Be Applied in Various Places

In ProjectWise Administrator, security can be applied globally to the datasource, and/or to specific environments, workflows, and workflow states. In ProjectWise Explorer, security can be applied to specific folders and documents. The various levels of access rights allow you to control access either broadly, across all states or folders, or narrowly by assigning rights according to each folder, workflow and state.

Security Settings Are Inherited

If security is applied to a workflow in ProjectWise Administrator, and that workflow is applied to a folder in ProjectWise Explorer, then that folder automatically inherits the access permissions set for the workflow.

Note: In Datasource Properties, on the Folder Security and Document Security tabs, items cannot be inherited from, as this is the highest level of security in the hierarchy.

Excessive Security Settings Can Affect Performance

While ProjectWise can handle complex security settings, it should be noted that the fewer security settings there are, the better performance will be, in particular when creating new folders or changing security settings.