A project will contain one or more reports, and each report represents a single reporting obligation for a single entity and for a single reporting period. With permissions, you can manage who has access and what kind of access they have at both the project level and the report level.
Giving a user project-level permissions will simultaneously give them report-level permissions to the reports within that project. Likewise, giving a user report-level permissions will simultaneously give them file permissions to the files associated with that report.
Note: For users who are not part of the project or the project’s reports, you can still give them permissions to the individual files within a report by using Workiva’s file permissions feature as usual.
Requirements
- Your workspace must have the Multi-Entity Reporting (MER) Advanced, Fund Reporting Suite, or Insurance Suite solution enabled.
- You must have Project manager or Own projects and reports permissions to a project to manage and assign project-level permissions.
- You must have Report manager or Own report and files permissions to a report to manage and assign report-level permissions.
Project-level permissions
Project manager
The user creating the project becomes the Project manager by default. The Project manager:
- Is the primary point of contact for the project
- Can manage the project’s settings and permissions
- Gets Own report and files permissions to all reports in the project
Because the Project manager gets Own report and files permissions to all reports in the project, they can manage the settings of all those reports, and will also get Owner permissions to all files associated with those reports. See Report-level permissions for more details.
Own project and reports
Users with Own project and reports permissions:
- Can manage the project’s settings and permissions
- Get Own report and files permissions to all reports in the project
Note: The only difference between users with Own project and reports permissions and users with Project manager permissions is that the Project manager is the primary point of contact for the project.
Because users with Own project and reports permissions also get Own report and files permissions to all reports in the project, they can manage the settings of all those reports, and will also get Owner permissions to all files associated with those reports. See Report-level permissions for more details.
Manage project-level permissions
From the project dashboard, click Settings to open the Project settings panel.
Then you can manage project-level permissions in the Permissions section:
- To give new users access to the project and assign their project-level permissions, first select a user or group, then select the permission that you’d like to give them, and then click Add.
- To change an existing user’s permissions, open the dropdown next to that user and select a different permission. You can also remove that user from the project by clicking Remove from project.
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To change who has Project manager permissions, open the dropdown next to the new user and select Project manager. Once you assign the new project manager, then you can change the previous project manager’s permissions or remove them from the project.
Note: There can only be one project manager in a project at any given time.
Report-level permissions
Report manager
The Report manager:
- Is the primary point of contact for the report
- Can manage the report’s settings and permissions
- Gets Owner permissions [link to file permissions article] to all files associated with the report
Note: There can only be one Report manager (i.e., one primary point of contact) per report. Other users can manage the same report via the Own report and files permission – they can do everything that the Report manager can do, but just won’t be the primary point of contact.
Note: To ensure Report managers and those with Own report and files permissions only have access to the files that are relevant to them, make sure to add only the necessary files to any given report.
Own report and files
Users with Own report and files permissions:
- Can manage the report’s settings and permissions
- Get Owner permissions to all files associated with the report
Edit files
Users with Edit files permissions:
- Get Editor permissions to all files associated with the report
View files
Users with View files permissions:
- Get Viewer permissions to all files associated with the report
Manage report-level permissions
During project creation, you can optionally add users to each of the reports in the project and assign their report-level permissions.
After project creation, you can manage report-level permissions by first going to the report dashboard, and then clicking Settings to open the Report settings panel.
Then you can manage report-level permissions in the Permissions section:
- To give new users access to the report and assign their report-level permissions, first select a user or group, then select the permission that you’d like to give them, and then click Add.
- To change an existing user’s permissions, open the dropdown next to that user and select a different permission. You can also remove that user from the report by clicking Remove from report.
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To change who has Report manager permissions, open the dropdown next to the new user and select Report manager. Once you assign the new report manager, then you can change the previous report manager’s permissions or remove them from the report. If you don’t remove the previous report manager from the report, then they will retain Own report and files permissions.
Note: There can only be one report manager in a report at any given time.
Common scenarios with permissions
How do I give someone full access to a report?
Assign the report-level Own report and files permission to that user for that report. The user will then be able to manage the report’s settings and permissions, and will get Owner permissions to all files associated with that report (this allows the user to be able to work in all the report’s files). The only difference between this user and the Report Manager is that this user will not be the designated point of contact.
How do I give someone read-only visibility?
Assign the report-level View files permission to that user for the desired reports. If you want the user to be able to view all reports within a project, you’ll need to go to each of the report’s settings and assign the View files permission to that user for each report. This user will be able to see data in the project and report dashboards for only the reports that they have access to, and will not be able to edit anything. This is often ideal for executive users.
How do I reassign a Report Manager?
To change who has Report manager permissions, first go to the desired report’s settings. Then in the Permissions section, open the dropdown next to the new user and select Report manager. The previous report manager will retain Own report and files permissions, or you can remove the previous report manager from the report if necessary.
What happens to a user’s permissions to a file when that file is removed from a report?
When a file is removed from a report, the file continues to exist in its normal location in the workspace and remains accessible through the usual Workiva file experience. Any file permissions that were assigned using the usual Workiva file permissions feature will be retained. However, the users who received access to that file, only because they received permissions to the project or report that contained that file, will lose access to that file.
What happens when a user’s file-level permissions differ from their project-level or report-level permissions?
If a user’s file-level permissions differ from their project-level or report-level permissions, the higher permission will be used.
If a user has Viewer access to a file via the usual file-level permissions, and that user has:
- Either Project manager or Own project and reports permissions to a project that contains a report that is associated with that file
- Or Report manager or Own report and files permissions to a report that is associated with that file
Then that user will get Owner access to that file. If that file is removed from the report in the project, or the user is removed from the project, then the user will go back to having Viewer access to the file.
If a user has Owner or Editor access to a file via the usual file-level permissions, and that user has View files permissions to a report that is associated with that file, then that user will continue to have the usual Owner or Editor access to that file.
What are the best practices for assigning permissions to Auditors?
If the auditors only need to see the status and progress of a project and its reports, and do not need to edit or work in any of the report’s files, assign them View files permissions for each of the reports in the project. This will allow them to view all the files associated with the reports, as well as the related project and report dashboard data.
Otherwise, if the auditors only need access to a handful of files, and do not need to see the status and progress of the entire project and its reports, assign them the appropriate permissions to the individual files by using Workiva’s file permissions feature as usual.
What do each of the project-level and report-level permissions allow a user to do within a file in that project or report?
If a user gets Owner or Viewer permissions to a file via a project-level or report-level permission, then they’ll be able to perform the same file abilities as detailed here. For example, if a user has Owner permissions to a file because they have Own report and files permissions to a report that contains that file, then they can perform Owner abilities (editing document properties, adding comments, exporting the file, etc.) on that file.