Client Access

You may or may not want to allow access to sensitive company information to all users.  This article describes how to limit the access that clients have to tasks.

For information on how to add and manage clients, see Adding Client Users.

Access control feature:

As an Admin, you have the ability to enable Client Access Control.  To do this:

1. Select the Workspace tab
2. In the Client Access control section, check the box marked Client Access Control 

Note that the access controls are available only if you have one or more client groups, and Client Access Control is enabled in the Admin - Workspace tab.

By default, clients do not have access to any tasks.  Once access control is enabled, you can manage which tasks are visible to your clients.

Client Access Control - Tasks  

Select a task which you wish to manage its access.   Note that there is a lock icon 🔒 in the top right of the task description.  This is the Access Control icon for that task.  Clicking on the icon will reveal the 3 access states of the task:

• No Client Access          (The client has no access to the tasks)
• Client Access On          (Participation in task is allowed for client) 
• Automatic                      (Tasks inherit the access control level of a section)

Once you click on the lock icon, you will be able to switch between the three states by selecting the appropriate radio button.

                              

                                       Client Access Menu - Tasks

Note that sections also have an access control icon.  The task and section icons work together to give you complete control over who can access which tasks.

No Client Access 

Selecting No Client Access will block the task from being seen by the client.  This will happen regardless of the access control setting in the Project Sections.  

In the image below, the task is set to No Client Access thereby making it inaccessible to clients.   Yet the other tasks are still visible to the client since the section is marked unlocked.

The task's access control setting always overrides the section access control setting, unless the tasks are set to automatic, in which case they will inherit the section’s access setting.

Client Access On

Select the Client Access On setting in the Access Control menu.  Note that the access control lock icon 🔒 in the top right of the task description will display the unlocked position.  

In the image below, the task is set to Client Access On, so it can be seen by the clients.  The other tasks in the section are set to their default settings as defined by the section and are still locked.

Automatic setting 

Select the Automatic setting in the Access control menu. 

When using the Automatic setting, the task will inherit the access rights from where it is placed.  If the task is in a section, it will inherit the access rights from the section (see below).  If the task is not in a section, it will not be visible to the client.  This means that the visibility of a task may change if you move it to another section. 

In the image below, the task is set to Automatic but the project section in which it resides is locked. Therefore, the task is locked to clients because the ‘February’ section is locked.  

Client Access Control - Sections

Access control of a section has 2 states.  

• No Client Access           (The client has no access to the tasks)
• Client Access On           (Editing of tasks are allowed by clients) 

If you click on the lock icon, you can switch between the two states by clicking on the radio buttons.

                                

                                      Client Access menu - Sections

Select the project which you wish to limit access to.  Note that there is a lock icon 🔒 in the section name.  This is the Access control icon for that section.

Section access control is considered the default setting of your tasks.   When tasks are set to Automatic access control, they inherit the access setting in their assigned section.  This can be overridden in the task access control by selecting either No Client Access or Client Access On.  

In the image below, both sections are set to No Client Access.   The task is marked Automatic (lock with gray icon).   Therefore, the task inherits the access control setting of the ‘February’ section and is set to off limits for the clients.

Dragging and dropping and Access control

You can drag and drop tasks across sections.  The Client Access control may change depending on the section and task settings.   You can use this feature to quickly manage Client access.

There are two primary scenarios:

• If a task is labeled locked or unlocked to clients, moving it to different sections will not change that.
• If a task is labeled automatic, the task will inherit the access control setting of the section.

Access Control in Task Discussions

You can also restrict access to individual messages in the task section.  To do this, click on the Post button.  You will see a pop up menu with two choices.  

• Project Team Only
• Project & Client Team

Select the desired option to manage access to the discussion.  If the task is locked, the client will not have access to the discussion even if the second option is selected, but the discussion may become visible to the client later if the task becomes unlocked.  

Access Control in Files

You can also restrict access to which clients have access to files in the task’s file section.  To do this, click on the Add File button.  You will see a pop up menu with two choices.  

• Project Team Only
• Project & Client Team

Select the desired option to manage access to the files.  If the task is locked, the client will not have access to files even if the second option is selected, but the files may become visible to the client later if the task becomes unlocked.