Permissions

Valispace implements permissions on a project level, meaning that permissions for components, Valis, and matrices are always derived from the project they are located in. For instance, let’s say vali_1 is part of ComponentX and ComponentX is part of TestProject. If you have “read” permission for TestProject then you will also have “read” permission for vali_1 and ComponentX.

Permission Types

Permissions are cumulative, which means that higher-ranking permissions always automatically include all lower-ranking permissions. For example, “read” access is automatically included when you have “write” permission. The following three types are available (in cumulative order):

READ-ONLY

Read permission allows you to view a project and all its elements: components, Valis, and matrices. You can also use this data in other projects, for example in formulas of Valis. However, you cannot edit anything inside the project where you have “read” access.

READ & WRITE

To manipulate any elements inside a project you need to possess written permission for that project. With “write” permission, you can edit/delete the project and all components, Valis and matrices inside it. However, with written permission, you can't assign permissions for the project to other users.

MANAGE

Manage permission for a project gives you the ability to add or remove permissions for other users for this specific project. You automatically get manage permissions for a project when you create it. A superuser can also assign manage permissions to you or remove them.

Special Permissions

Additionally to the project permissions, there are a few special permissions that are assigned on a user level:

Create/edit tags
Create/edit types

All of the above are granted by default but can be revoked by admins in the admin panel under “Users“ and going into the specific User Id.

Public Projects

In public projects, every user is automatically granted “write” permission. Projects are public by default and have to be made private if permission management is required.

Superusers

Superusers by definition always have all available permissions. Superusers can also assign (and revoke) superuser rights to other users.

Setting up your Permissions

You can add custom permissions on each level within a module in Valispace. You can set permissions on workspace level, project level, and lower-level objects. If no custom permission is set, the user will inherit the permissions from the higher level in the order: Workspace > Project > Components / Specifications > Subcomponents / Groups > Valis / Requirements.

Add new permissions by clicking on the three dots ( More options) in the upper right corner and selecting Permissions.

In the side panel that opens you can set the permissions for the object that you have currently navigated to, or the project if you are in the project tab. At the top of the side panel, you will see the name of the object that you are setting permissions for, in the example below it's the specification Vehiclespecification. You can also see which object it inherits its permissions from if no custom permission is added.

To add permissions to a project, make sure that the project is not public. This is changed by unchecking the box Everyone can read & write on the project level and adding permissions for each user or group there.

Custom Permissions

To add custom permission, click on Create Custom Permission on the side panel.

You will have two choices when creating new custom permission, which are explained below:

Inherit permissions from `object`

With this option, you can set custom permissions on object, which will also propagate to any children below it. The default custom permission for each user will be inherited from the parent object. Also, when creating new permission on the parent object, for example adding a new user to the project, its permission for the current object will be inherited from the parent. This is also the case when a user's permission in the parent object changes. If a user has a custom read permission and has to write permission on the parent, if the parent permission changes to manage, the read permission will be overwritten with the new manage permission.

Some example use cases are:

You want a user to have read access to a whole project, and custom write access to a specific specification and all requirements in that specification.
You want a user to have write access to a whole project, but only read access to a specific specification and all requirements in that specification.

Start permissions from scratch

With this option, all propagation of permissions from the parent level is stopped. There are by default no permissions created on the object, but you can add custom permissions for each user to this object. No permissions will be inherited from the parent, even when adding new users.