Feature Requests:
More granular control over user levels

1. •  
     CommentAuthorMichael
   • CommentTimeApr 1st 2008

    
   We recently received the following feature request:
   

   I’d like my Managers to be able to setup a project or client without having to come to the admin (me) to do it for them. I don’t have a complete open book policy to our finances so it would be great if there was more customization on the features users have access to.

   
   User levels are always challenging. We have wrestled with this and have gone with broad user levels because it makes it easier for most Intervals users to administer and support. You don't run into the problem of user 1 can do this, user 2 can do this, etc. With our client work on the Pelago side of our business we have created very granular user permissions for some of our customers and the complexity has caused problems. With one client we created a series of check boxes for just about every piece of functionality and those could be saved and grouped. Unfortunately our client constantly struggled with certain pieces of functionality being there for some users but not others. I have seen this done in a more simplistic fashion where each tab (global link) could be turned on and off per user, but Intervals has so much cross referenced information that this approach isn't super clean.
   
   It would be great to get feedback on the current user levels. Are they working for your needs? Are you in favor of broad user levels for simplicity or very granular user levels?
2. • CommentAuthorjnhearne
   • CommentTimeApr 1st 2008

    
   For My inner office Intranet site, I have set up three levels of Admins.
   
   Primary - Me and My partners
   Secondary - Office Managers & Accounting
   Tertiary - Producers
   
   Then I go straight to resource permissions
   
   Employee - Employees
   Freelance - Freelancers
   
   Then executive;
   
   Client - Clients
   
   The different levels allow me to get specific with sensitive vs. non-sensitive material.
   
   
   Maybe instead of getting granular with permission levels for the 4 different User levels you have, maybe add two more user types. I would use different user types more.
3. • CommentAuthorbee
   • CommentTimeApr 12th 2008

    
   Yes! So would I. We definitely need to filter tasks, so subcontractors, designers and managers can't see each others' task assignments. In fact, if I can't filter that feature, I'll need to shut down Intervals. You can imagine the mess if Subcontractor Joe sees exactly what's being assigned to Subcontractor Pete and vice versa. Yikes.
4. • CommentAuthorstevel
   • CommentTimeMay 28th 2008

    
   Intervals does a pretty good job with balancing features and ease-of-use and it's nice to see the team being open and responsive to customer requirements.
   
   The issue I run into is that users can see much more than what they need to do their jobs, executive users in particular. Executives can currently see the number of hours each task takes, which is inappropriate if billing by flat rate. If you still want execs to have access to task comments, file sharing, project tracking, etc., the alternative is to stop tracking time using the system.
   
   For this, user-definable groups based on the existing groups would be a good thing. I'm sure defining individual permissions at the user-level would be a maintenance nightmare. But, in the same way you can define a master set of default types under 'Settings', you could extend the functionality of 'People Types' to be configurable, where groups can be copied (or subclassed) and edited.
5. •  
     CommentAuthorMichael
   • CommentTimeAug 1st 2008

    
   We are planning on changing up the Executive User quite a bit. In fact, the term "Executive User" will be removed. Here is what we are kicking around:
   
   1. Add Contacts to Clients
   2. Can this contact login yes/no
   3. What can they see and do? (have a series of checkboxes - Upload Documents, Submit Work Requests, Make Comments on Tasks, View Invoices, View Financial Information, View Time, etc.)
   
   This will be a little trickier to support because it introduces customized user views, but we think this will be more powerful and easier to use than the current Executive user.
   
   The reality of Executive type of users is that they do typically vary greatly depending on the client, relationship, history, etc. On the Pelago side of our business we would definitely customize our client access.
6. • CommentAuthorLauraTDG
   • CommentTime2 days ago

    
   I would also love to see some additional access levels, if not more granular control over permissions.
   
   Specifically, we have Project Managers who need to be able to create new projects and clients (as mentioned in the post you originally quoted) but who should not be able to delete clients, change the settings of other users, or get into any of the site settings or time controls.
   
   With 15-25 new projects coming in on any given day, the two people who should be administrators don't have the time to add all these projects, and usually don't have all the information they'd need to do it correctly. The result is that 16 of our 20 employees are currently grouped as Administrator, which makes me really nervous.