Questions about capabilities
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harveycassidy
on Jun 11. 2008. 2:13 pm
Hello,
I'm currently set up with the 30 day demo, and I'm loving it. Every feature we currently use in our system, aC does better.
Little information. We want to us aC as a file transfer method that is easy to use. We want companies to be able to create their own users to view their own files we have allotted them without needing administrative interference. We're a small company (<500 users locally) but we have a lot of clients and things could get out of hand quickly. aC works wonders for this! In the future, I'm pushing to have our Project Management database converted over to aC along with a few other things.
I've been able to solve most of my million questions on my own, but there are two that I cannot figure out.
1) Can we have files older then two weeks be deleted? Reason being, we may be uploading 1-2GB a week, and we do not want to fill up a drive with files that we wont be using anymore. We could manually delete them through aC, but I cannot count on our users to do this. So, is there an option that when you upload files it will be removed after 14 days?
What would happen if we ran a script to clean the upload directory with files older then two weeks? Would aC have any problems with "missing files"?
2) Is it possible to have a user directly linked to the files section of the page? Without them having to view a project?
I will continue to work on this, but any help in the meantime is greatly appreciated. Thanks.
I'm currently set up with the 30 day demo, and I'm loving it. Every feature we currently use in our system, aC does better.
Little information. We want to us aC as a file transfer method that is easy to use. We want companies to be able to create their own users to view their own files we have allotted them without needing administrative interference. We're a small company (<500 users locally) but we have a lot of clients and things could get out of hand quickly. aC works wonders for this! In the future, I'm pushing to have our Project Management database converted over to aC along with a few other things.
I've been able to solve most of my million questions on my own, but there are two that I cannot figure out.
1) Can we have files older then two weeks be deleted? Reason being, we may be uploading 1-2GB a week, and we do not want to fill up a drive with files that we wont be using anymore. We could manually delete them through aC, but I cannot count on our users to do this. So, is there an option that when you upload files it will be removed after 14 days?
What would happen if we ran a script to clean the upload directory with files older then two weeks? Would aC have any problems with "missing files"?
2) Is it possible to have a user directly linked to the files section of the page? Without them having to view a project?
I will continue to work on this, but any help in the meantime is greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Staff
Ilija Studen
on Jun 11. 2008. 2:29 pm
Hi,
We are glad to hear that you like activeCollab. Now the answers to your questions:
1. If you delete files from /upload folder that will not break activeCollab. Only problem will happen when you try to actually download the file that was deleted. You'll get corrupt 0 bytes download.
Still, I would go with a module that is executed daily and deletes all the old files from within the application. This way you can have everything done properly - no abandoned data in the database and on the file system.
2. No, currently it is not possible. Project is required.
If you have more questions you know where you can find us.
We are glad to hear that you like activeCollab. Now the answers to your questions:
1. If you delete files from /upload folder that will not break activeCollab. Only problem will happen when you try to actually download the file that was deleted. You'll get corrupt 0 bytes download.
Still, I would go with a module that is executed daily and deletes all the old files from within the application. This way you can have everything done properly - no abandoned data in the database and on the file system.
2. No, currently it is not possible. Project is required.
If you have more questions you know where you can find us.
activeCollab team member | LinkedIn
Pro
harveycassidy
on Jun 11. 2008. 2:41 pm
Ilija Studen:
1. If you delete files from /upload folder that will not break activeCollab. Only problem will happen when you try to actually download the file that was deleted. You'll get corrupt 0 bytes download.
Still, I would go with a module that is executed daily and deletes all the old files from within the application. This way you can have everything done properly - no abandoned data in the database and on the file system.
Second option sounds ideal.
Is the module something I would have to write myself? I only ask as I do not have the tech knowledge I had at one time :(
*edit: Btw, thanks for the quick response. I was expecting a response by mid-afternoon =D
Staff
Ilija Studen
on Jun 11. 2008. 6:15 pm
Hi,
You will need to write that module on your own or have someone write it for you.
I've just started writing a series of articles that will cover activeCollab modules in more details. Here is the first one: Anatomy of activeCollab Modules. I'll see to have key concepts covered in the next week or two, but any experienced developer can learn how to create modules by looking at existing ones. You can also contact us and we'll point you in the right direction.
You will need to write that module on your own or have someone write it for you.
I've just started writing a series of articles that will cover activeCollab modules in more details. Here is the first one: Anatomy of activeCollab Modules. I'll see to have key concepts covered in the next week or two, but any experienced developer can learn how to create modules by looking at existing ones. You can also contact us and we'll point you in the right direction.
activeCollab team member | LinkedIn
Pro
harveycassidy
on Jun 12. 2008. 6:22 pm
What I hope is the last question. Should be pitching aC tomorrow to the bosses :)
I've been able to create projects and add users as an admin. Now, I want the client to be able to not only make users but add them to the project as well (as little client related interaction and give them a sense of power).
I have it set so clients can add other people to their company. But the problem lies with the client being able to add users to a project. It seems that if the client makes a project, he/she becomes a project manager and can add users. But we do not want them to be project managers, we want to be the project managers. There does not seem to be a permission combination that allows this.
Also, we do not want clients to be able to see other companies or other companies projects.
Advice?
I've been able to create projects and add users as an admin. Now, I want the client to be able to not only make users but add them to the project as well (as little client related interaction and give them a sense of power).
I have it set so clients can add other people to their company. But the problem lies with the client being able to add users to a project. It seems that if the client makes a project, he/she becomes a project manager and can add users. But we do not want them to be project managers, we want to be the project managers. There does not seem to be a permission combination that allows this.
Also, we do not want clients to be able to see other companies or other companies projects.
Advice?
Staff
Ilija Studen
on Jun 12. 2008. 7:44 pm
Only way for user to be able to add people to the project is to be project leader or have project_management or admin_access permissions set to Yes in their system role.
activeCollab is smart enough to list just people client already worked with on a project in the past. Other people are invisible.
If you give clients permission to create project you also give them permission to set themselves as project leaders for projects they've created. If you don't like that you can always change the leader later on or you shouldn't ever give them permission to create projects.
activeCollab is smart enough to list just people client already worked with on a project in the past. Other people are invisible.
If you give clients permission to create project you also give them permission to set themselves as project leaders for projects they've created. If you don't like that you can always change the leader later on or you shouldn't ever give them permission to create projects.
activeCollab team member | LinkedIn
Pro
harveycassidy
on Jul 24. 2008. 10:46 pm
Ok....so after we've done some more experimentation let me clarify what we'll be using the program for now (updated since initial purposes) and the issues we're down to.
By the way the support has been amazing!
I was all set to purchase the program, but the one license key per site prevented us from purchasing it (we would have to rethink our strategy). We were going to buy one license key and have a mirrored instance running for every single member of our company (<500 people.) So this option is no longer available unless we want to purchase 500 license keys. Correct?
So then we decided that we would try to work with aC with one license key for our company, we all REALLY like this software but we have one/two major hurdles that crop up from time to time and we're trying to work with them (but this is not always easy).
So this is our idea below and our findings. Please let me know if this is possible.
Since we cannot run mirror sites, we will have to run the entire company off of one site. We will have the parent company as the parent company and our users as child companies. If a user is named Frank, he would be associated with Frank (company).
Looking at the attached diagram:
We have the parent company with two members, Steve and Jonas. We want them to be able to see everyone's stuff. That should be easy, just give them full admin privs.
In Tim's company, we want Tim to be able to manage only his company. We want him to be able to create people, associate them with projects that he creates within his company, and be his own little "admin" within his section. We do NOT want him to be able to see anyone else's company or modify anyone else's company. This is the same for Alice, Johnny, and Frank.
In Tim's company, he wants to be able to associate Alice and Johnny (two employees within our company) on projects. If he was to do this, obviously Alice and Johnny would then be able to see Tim's company and only the projects they're associated with. But we do not want them to change anything. Is this possible to have a user with different permissions in different companies? Or would we be stuck having to create a new user every time? This is both for privacy issues and we do not want other people to mess with someone else's projects (deleting files on accident). I myself feel the permissions would overlap and we would not be able to do this.....
In Alice's company, she wants to include her mother on her project (say she has pictures she wants to show her). We want Alice to be able to create an account for her mother as a peasant where she can only view Alice's company.
Now, we want each individual company to be hidden from each other unless they're associated on a project with someone from the other company. And of course we want do not want anyone to have access.
Is this possible? I think to sum it up, we want each user to be able to own their own company and be an admin within their company. But when it comes to other people's companies, they can only be associated with them if someone allows them to. All of this while maintaining the single user name.
I really hope that is somewhat clear, I understand what I'm trying to achieve but I feel it is hard to explain :(
By the way the support has been amazing!
I was all set to purchase the program, but the one license key per site prevented us from purchasing it (we would have to rethink our strategy). We were going to buy one license key and have a mirrored instance running for every single member of our company (<500 people.) So this option is no longer available unless we want to purchase 500 license keys. Correct?
So then we decided that we would try to work with aC with one license key for our company, we all REALLY like this software but we have one/two major hurdles that crop up from time to time and we're trying to work with them (but this is not always easy).
So this is our idea below and our findings. Please let me know if this is possible.
Since we cannot run mirror sites, we will have to run the entire company off of one site. We will have the parent company as the parent company and our users as child companies. If a user is named Frank, he would be associated with Frank (company).
Looking at the attached diagram:
We have the parent company with two members, Steve and Jonas. We want them to be able to see everyone's stuff. That should be easy, just give them full admin privs.
In Tim's company, we want Tim to be able to manage only his company. We want him to be able to create people, associate them with projects that he creates within his company, and be his own little "admin" within his section. We do NOT want him to be able to see anyone else's company or modify anyone else's company. This is the same for Alice, Johnny, and Frank.
In Tim's company, he wants to be able to associate Alice and Johnny (two employees within our company) on projects. If he was to do this, obviously Alice and Johnny would then be able to see Tim's company and only the projects they're associated with. But we do not want them to change anything. Is this possible to have a user with different permissions in different companies? Or would we be stuck having to create a new user every time? This is both for privacy issues and we do not want other people to mess with someone else's projects (deleting files on accident). I myself feel the permissions would overlap and we would not be able to do this.....
In Alice's company, she wants to include her mother on her project (say she has pictures she wants to show her). We want Alice to be able to create an account for her mother as a peasant where she can only view Alice's company.
Now, we want each individual company to be hidden from each other unless they're associated on a project with someone from the other company. And of course we want do not want anyone to have access.
Is this possible? I think to sum it up, we want each user to be able to own their own company and be an admin within their company. But when it comes to other people's companies, they can only be associated with them if someone allows them to. All of this while maintaining the single user name.
I really hope that is somewhat clear, I understand what I'm trying to achieve but I feel it is hard to explain :(
Staff
Ilija Studen
on Jul 25. 2008. 8:30 am
If you want to have 500 instances of activeCollab running on 500 different URL-s you'll need to purchase 500 licenses.
Here is how you can set up what you described in previous post. Create a new role for employees of your company, name it ACME Employee and set following permissions:
- system_access - Yes
- add_project - Yes
- manage_company_details - Yes
- can_see_private_objects - Yes
This will be for employees. For people they bring on (Alice's mother) create a new role, name it Guests and set following permissions:
- system_access - Yes
Set Guests as default role (hover over it in Administration > Roles and click on Set as Default link that shows up).
That will pretty much cover what you want to do. Your employees will be able to manage details of their companies (because manage_company_details is set to Yes) and add guests to their companies. If they need to work together on a project administrator can arrange that first time. Later on they will be able to see each other in a project because they worked together already.
Please let me know if you have any additional questions.
PS: All role permission default to No. Set only ones I've listed to Yes.
Here is how you can set up what you described in previous post. Create a new role for employees of your company, name it ACME Employee and set following permissions:
- system_access - Yes
- add_project - Yes
- manage_company_details - Yes
- can_see_private_objects - Yes
This will be for employees. For people they bring on (Alice's mother) create a new role, name it Guests and set following permissions:
- system_access - Yes
Set Guests as default role (hover over it in Administration > Roles and click on Set as Default link that shows up).
That will pretty much cover what you want to do. Your employees will be able to manage details of their companies (because manage_company_details is set to Yes) and add guests to their companies. If they need to work together on a project administrator can arrange that first time. Later on they will be able to see each other in a project because they worked together already.
Please let me know if you have any additional questions.
PS: All role permission default to No. Set only ones I've listed to Yes.
activeCollab team member | LinkedIn
Pro
harveycassidy
on Jul 28. 2008. 5:04 pm
Ilija Studen:
That will pretty much cover what you want to do. Your employees will be able to manage details of their companies (because manage_company_details is set to Yes) and add guests to their companies. If they need to work together on a project administrator can arrange that first time. Later on they will be able to see each other in a project because they worked together already.
Please let me know if you have any additional questions.
PS: All role permission default to No. Set only ones I've listed to Yes.
That worked out really well for people being able to manage their own (and only their own) company.
The only problem is they still cannot add other people from another "Company", even if they're on an active (or closed) project together.
So I had an idea, create a project that would be a "global address book". This would be administratively handled. If everyone is on this "project" (within our company, not clients) then they should be able to see everyone on this list (with your logic). This would be ideal, but I cannot seem to work our the details. Would this hopefully work?
Is there a certain permission set either system role or project role that would prevent me from doing so?
I'll attach a couple screenshots to show the "setup". I have two companies. Kevin Bork and Ron Bryant. Kevin and Ron both of "Employee Permissions". I administratively added Kevin to one of Ron's projects. So when I create a project with Kevin, and try to add Ron, he is not showing up on the list.
