Multi-user Operation Software for Project and Resource Planning
Multi-user operation is the central prerequisite for several project planners and employees to work on projects, resources and portfolios at the same time – on the basis of a shared database, with clearly defined roles and permissions. In the Rillsoft platform this is realised through the interplay of Rillsoft Project as a desktop client and Rillsoft Integration Server or Rillsoft Cloud as a server platform.
As soon as more than one project planner regularly plans the same projects or resources, file-based planning reaches its limits: diverging file states, manual merges and unclear responsibilities. Multi-user operation via the Integration Server solves these issues through a central project database, central user management and a granular permission model.
Central User Management
All users working with Rillsoft Project or Rillsoft Integration Server are managed centrally under Administration > Users. For each user you can:
- maintain master data such as name and phone number,
- define tenant access,
- assign personnel resources,
- grant user and folder roles,
- manage API access keys for iCalendar and Timeline.
Details on user maintenance are described in the Users documentation of Rillsoft Integration Server.
User Roles for Directory-Independent Activities
User roles control activities that are not bound to a specific project folder – such as user management, portfolio work or the resource pool. The minimum permission for working with Rillsoft Project is “read resource pool”.
Seven predefined roles are available:
- Administrator
- Tenant Administrator
- Project Manager
- Project User
- iCalendar User
- Vacation Planning User
- Vacation Planning Supervisor
Typical permission groups:
- User management: users, organizational charts, roles, licences, email templates, event log, LDAP/Redmine synchronisation
- Portfolio work: read, create, modify, delete portfolios; cross-project links
- Resource pool: read, modify, lock/unlock
- Vacation planning: manage vacation accounts, register vacations and sick leave, release or cancel
- iCalendar: access calendars of user, employees, tenant, project and portfolio
- Document management: read, create, modify, delete and restore documents and folder structure
Custom roles with individual permissions can be created in addition.
Folder Roles for Project and Document Permissions
Folder roles are tenant- and folder-specific. They control permissions on individual project folders and their substructures. Permissions of parent folders are inherited to subfolders by default; inherited permissions are recognisable by greyed-out checkboxes in the user interface.
Typical permission groups per folder:
- Folder structure: create, modify, delete, restore folders
- Projects: read, create, modify, delete, restore, lock/unlock
- Email notifications: project changes, milestone changes, negative remaining effort, cross-project links
- Feedback: register and approve
- iCalendar and Timeline: access additional modules via the web interface
By separating user roles (directory-independent) from folder roles (folder-specific), permissions can be finely tuned: a project manager can fully control a specific project folder while other areas remain invisible to them.
Personnel Resource Assignment
Not every employee needs their own user account. Under Administration > Users one or more personnel resources can be assigned to a user. This allows authorised users to enter planning-relevant data – such as working times or vacation requests – on behalf of these people, without requiring an individual account for every employee.
Organizational Chart for Administration, Feedback and Vacation Planning
The organizational chart represents the hierarchical user structure and controls approval paths and visibility. In Rillsoft Integration Server three separate organizational charts are maintained:
- Administration – including email notifications, calendar integration (iCal) and Timeline
- Feedback – as the basis for approving time tracking
- Vacation Planning – as the basis for requests and approvals in vacation planning
Hierarchies are adjusted per variant via drag & drop, so approval paths exactly match the company’s organisational structure.
Multi-tenancy
Rillsoft Integration Server is multi-tenant capable. Several organisational units – such as subsidiaries or business divisions – can use the same server, with completely separated data, users and roles. This architecture is also the basis of Rillsoft Cloud operation.
Multi-user Operation Functions at a Glance
- Several project planners work simultaneously on projects, resources and portfolios.
- Central project database for all users and tenants.
- Central user management with master data, tenant access and API keys.
- Seven predefined user roles plus custom roles for directory-independent permissions.
- Folder roles with inheritance for project, document and notification rights.
- Personnel resource assignment for employees without their own user account.
- Three separate organizational charts for administration, feedback and vacation planning.
- Multi-tenancy for several organisational units on a single platform.
- On-premise operation via Rillsoft Integration Server or hosted operation via Rillsoft Cloud.
Multi-user Operation as the Basis for Multi-Project and Capacity Planning
Realistic multi-project planning and capacity planning are only reliable when all project planners work with the same up-to-date data and permissions are properly delineated. Multi-user operation creates exactly this basis: a shared, consistent view of projects, resources and utilisation – across departments and locations.
This way Rillsoft supports companies in evolving project and resource planning from a single planning file to a central, multi-user-capable platform for the entire enterprise.