Changes to ProjectPlace's User Model

During the first half of 2025, ProjectPlace will update its user model, from a "global" model to an "isolated" model.

This document serves to explain what this change means, how it will be rolled out and what the rough timeline is.

Let's start by establishing what the current user model in ProjectPlace is.

Current User Model (global)

Currently, each email address is tied to a single user account. Users belong to organizations in two ways:

Account members: Full members of an organization. As such they can be head administrators of workspaces, and members of organizational teams.
External members: Members of workspaces in an organization without being members of the organization itself.

An email address can only be related to one user account globally across the entire ProjectPlace service.

Example Scenario

Sven (sven@example.com) has a user account with ProjectPlace. He cannot have any more user accounts with that same email-address. Sven is an account member of Organization A and an external member in Organization B. This means:

He can be head administrator of workspaces in A.
He can be member of teams in A.
He cannot be an account member of B.
He can be added to workspaces in B but cannot shoulder the head administrator role in them.
He cannot be a member of teams in B.
He can access workspaces and portfolios in both organizations (if he has been added to them)

This means that when Sven is signed in - he has access to all of the things that he is associated with across all organizations.

The Problem

If Organizations A and B are actually different divisions of the same company, Sven should ideally be able to be a full account member of both. The current model prevents this, causing confusion and administrative inefficiencies.

This update will resolve these (and other) limitations.

Now, lets discuss what the future user model is all about.

Future User Model (Isolation)

After the transition, Sven (sven@example.com) can have multiple user accounts linked to the same email, each associated with a specific organization.

Key Changes

Sven can now be a full account member or an external member in multiple organizations.
He must sign in to a specific organization to access its information.
Each organization will have a unique sub-domain (e.g., organization-a.projectplace.com).

Sign-In Experience

If Sven knows the sub-domain, he can sign in directly by going there.
If unsure, the main sign-in page (service.projectplace.com) will guide him to the correct sub-domain.
He can maintain separate sessions for different organizations in multiple tabs.
Data from one organization will never be visible while signed in to another.

Transition Timeline

The transition will take place in batches from April to the end of September. Organizations will be affected at different times during this period.
At least two weeks before an organization's transition, administrators will receive an email with details, including the exact transition date and the new sub-domain. No action is required unless there is feedback on the sub-domain name.

Transitions will occur only on Saturdays or Sundays to minimize disruptions.
Affected users will be automatically signed out and unable to sign in during the transition.
The transition process will take 10 minutes to 2 hours, depending on the number of users associated with the organization.
Once completed, administrators will receive a confirmation email.

FAQ

How will users be affected?

All affected users will be signed out during the transition and must sign in again once it has completed. For most users (who belong to only one organization), the only noticeable changes will be:

A slightly different sign-in experience.
Email notification links pointing to sub-domains instead of service.projectplace.com.

For users associated with multiple organizations, their accounts will be split into separate user accounts, each linked to their existing email. Their experience will change as follows:

They must sign in at the correct sub-domain or use the discovery sign-in to find their associated organizations.
Instead of seeing all their information across organizations, they must sign in separately for each organization.
Some users may need to reset their passwords. (If so, they will be guided to do so).

Will affected users be notified?

No, but the sign-in process will include guidance to help users onboard:

Tools to discover the correct sub-domain.
Prompts for users who need to update credentials (e.g., password or two-step verification).

How exactly will the sign-in experience change?

There will be two ways to sign in:

Direct sign-in at the correct sub-domain (e.g., organization-a.projectplace.com). This sign in will be very similar to the current sign-in.
"Discovery" sign-in via service.projectplace.com

What is this "discovery" sign in you speak of?

Since Sven's email-address may represent any number of user accounts across different organizations, it may be hard for Sven to find out or remember which sub-domain he should go to. We will therefore provide opportunity for him to find his way forward from the global sign-in page located at service.projectplace.com

Sven enters his email.
A verification code is sent to sven@example.com.
After entering the code, Sven sees a list of clickable sub-domains wherein he has a user account, allowing him to proceed.
Users with only one organization are redirected automatically to the correct subdomain.
Users with no associated organizations are informed that they don’t have an account.

What does this mean for user management in an organization?

Most aspects remain unchanged, but the new model introduces:

Users can now be full account members in multiple organizations.
Deleting a user from one organization does not affect their memberships in others.
Organizations can now enforce specific two-step verification methods for external members (previously only enforceable for full account members).

How does this fit in with Planview Admin?

Initially, only full account members will be synced with Planview Admin. Exactly as today.

In the future, external members will also be integrated with Planview Admin, allowing them to sign in with a password via Planview Admin. At this point, external members will have to set up new credentials.