Scoping

Scoping is a functionality that allows an administrator to define and limit what objects users have access to view through the association to a specific Site(s). For example, if a company has offices in New York and London, the New York employees should have their scope reduced to that office only, and likewise for the London employees.

A Site, which is an object within the Organizational Breakdown Structure (OBS), can be a physical or virtual office or location, a department/division, or even a project. It is through this object that Scoping functions. When required, through the creation of site(s), users, groups, teams, clients, portfolios and projects that a particular user is permitted to view and access are clearly defined. As a result, Scoping enhances security, organizational efficiency/effectiveness, and can facilitate operations for a large or geographically dispersed organization.

The articles within this section elaborate on the Scoping functionality within PSA.

The concept of scoping:

  • All clients, portfolios, projects, teams and groups (or scoping elements) not associated to any specific site can be viewed by all users.
  • Only once a scoping element has been associated to a particular site do the users also associated to that site have the ability to view it.
  • Users see all scoping elements with no site association and all scoping elements that are linked to any of the user's associated sites.
  • Every user has a master site as well as an active site. The master site is the primary location of the user and is used to define the user's default holiday set and languages, which can both be overridden on a per-user basis. The active site specifies where the user is currently located (usually the same as the master site unless traveling or on assignment).

Example:

Within a company having offices in New York and London:

  • The New York employees may have their Scope reduced to their local office only, and likewise for the London employees.
  • On the other hand, certain staff members, such as Human Resources, Executive Team, Internal Training, may not require any scoping as their functions require them to maintain visibility and accessibility to all employees at both offices, New York and London.

Clarifications:

  1. Upon creation, a new Site is no longer automatically added to the Site administrator's Scope.
  2. Upon creation, Scoping does not automatically apply to new Users, therefore they are:
    • Not associated to any Site (including the Master Site and Active Site)
    • Able to view all Users and objects whether they have any Associated Site

Scenarios:

The following scenarios will further explain what Users see in the PSA based on the Sites set in their Scope:

Scenario A

User 1's Scope setting has NO Associated Sites, therefore:

  • Sees ALL Users/objects, whether they have Associated Sites or not.
  • Is not seen by those Users/objects who have an Associated Site(s).

Scenario B

User 2's Scope setting has Associated Sites, therefore:

  • Sees ONLY those Users that have common Sites associated to them.

  • Sees those objects that have common Sites associated to them as well as those that have no Sites associated to them.

  • Is seen by those Users that have NO Sites associated to them as well as those that have common Sites associated to them.

Defining Scope:

Within both the Organizational Breakdown Structure (OBS) and the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) are the following objects wherein Scoping can be defined. Upon creating any of these objects, by default, they are not associated to any Site and are visible to all Users:

  1. Organizational Breakdown Structure (OBS)
    • Group
    • Team
  2. Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
    • Client
    • Portfolio
    • Project

Note: Once an object is associated to a Site, it will then be made visible only to Users who are associated to the same Site.