Project access can be granted to groups of users via the Associated OBS Node combo box. When you select an OBS Node from the combo box, all users assigned to that node gain access to the project with the permissions determined by their default role on that OBS Node.
Note: There is one exception to the block access granted via assignment to an OBS Node. If the private projects checkbox is checked, users assigned to the project’s OBS Node will NOT automatically gain access to the project. The project will show up when the project list is filtered by OBS Node (but only users who have access to the private project via the User Access List or Primary Responsibility field will be able to see it). For more information on private projects, see Creating Private Projects and Working with Private Projects on the Project List.
Because there is no direct way to directly inspect the list of users assigned to each node (or the permissions they have been given with respect to that particular node) from within SLIM-Collaborate, using this option may require some coordination with your Site and/or Back Office administrator. But in most cases, your Back Office administrator will already have set up one or more templates with pre-configured project access settings appropriate for your team or group and you should not need to change the default access settings.
“What is an OBS node?” you may be thinking. Simply put, it’s a hierarchical list of logically related teams or groups in your organization. The OBS list is maintained by your site administrator via the SLIM-Collaborate Admin site. Individual SLIM-Collaborate users can be assigned to one or more nodes using their default roles (customizable sets of permissions) or permissions appropriate to the tasks they will need to perform within each node or group. For example, a project manager might have full permissions to all projects on her own node – this means she could view, edit, and log solutions as well as advance projects to the next stage. Her permissions for other nodes she is not directly responsible for might be “view only”. In general, assign the fewest permissions needed for each user to perform his or her work. To make day to day estimation, closeouts, and benchmarking easier, these decisions should be made by managers in your organization, who work with your site administrator and Back Office administrator to build the necessary default permissions into one or more templates. If this practice is followed, the average user will never have to worry about project access.