Profiles - Project profiles (Administrator)

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Introduction
• 1 Overview
• 2 Prerequisites
• 3 Getting started
  • 3.1 Opening the Profiles page
  • 3.2 Reading the profiles overview
  • 3.3 Default project profiles
• 4 Step-by-step workflows
  • 4.1 Editing a project profile
  • 4.2 Adding a project profile
  • 4.3 What happens to existing projects
• 5 Settings on the Edit project profile page
  • 5.1 Title
  • 5.2 Security level
  • 5.3 Permissions
  • 5.4 Default profiles
  • 5.5 Default permissions in root folder
• 6 Understanding security levels
• 7 How project profiles relate to other permissions
  • 7.1 Permission flow and override behaviour
  • 7.2 Relationship to site and course profiles
• 8 Troubleshooting
  • 8.1 A project manager cannot manage participants
  • 8.2 A profile change does not affect an existing project
  • 8.3 A profile cannot be saved

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Introduction

This article explains how to view, edit and add project profiles in itslearning. It describes every setting on the Edit project profile page, in the same order as they appear on the page, so you can follow the article while you work.

Site profiles and course profiles are configured on their own tabs on the Profiles page and are described in separate articles.

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1 Overview

Project profiles in itslearning define what users can do within projects, based on the profile they have in the project. Projects (called Communities in US English) are collaborative spaces for clubs, cross-functional events and group work.

Project profiles give role-based access control for these spaces. Unlike course profiles, project profiles manage a simpler set of permissions, because projects do not include assignments, tests or advanced pedagogical tools. The control makes sure that users only get the administrative and collaborative features they need for their role in a project.

Project profiles control:

• Participant management in the project
• Access to the trash can and the project calendar
• General administration of the project, for example announcements and project settings
• Which participants are treated as learners in reports
• Which profile new participants and project creators get
• The default permissions in the root folder of new projects

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2 Prerequisites

Before you configure project profiles, make sure you have:

• A System Administrator or Administrator profile with permission to manage profiles
• Access to the Administration area in itslearning
• An understanding of how your organisation uses projects and what each role in a project needs to be able to do
• The projects feature enabled on your site

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3 Getting started

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3.1 Opening the Profiles page

1. Click your profile picture in the upper-right corner and select Admin from the personal menu.
2. In the Settings section of the Administration menu, select Profiles.
3. Select the Project tab, the third tab next to Site and Course. The profiles overview for project profiles opens.

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3.2 Reading the profiles overview

The profiles overview is a read-only summary of all project profiles. You make changes on the Edit project profile page (see section 4.1).

Element	Description
Columns	One column for each project profile on your site, by default Project manager and Project participant.
Rows	The settings of a project profile, in the same order and groups as on the Edit project profile page: Permissions, Default profiles and Default permissions in root folder.
Green check mark	The setting is enabled for the profile.
Red cross	The setting is disabled for the profile.
Number	Shown instead of a check mark for Security level.
Pencil icon	Under the name of each profile. Opens the Edit project profile page. Some profiles also show a red cross next to the pencil. It deletes the profile.
Add profile	Above the table. Opens the page for creating a new project profile (see section 4.2).

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3.3 Default project profiles

A site has two project profiles from the start: Project manager and Project participant. You can add more profiles and change the names of the existing ones. The names are set per site and per language in the Title section (see section 5.1), so the names on your site can differ from the ones used in this article.

Profile	Primary purpose	Security level	Typical users
Project manager	Full project control	50	Project creators, club leaders, event coordinators
Project participant	Standard collaboration	30	General members, students, staff participants

The default settings for the two profiles are:

Setting	Project manager	Project participant
Security level	50	30
Manage participants in manually created courses and course groups	✓	✗
Use trash can	✓	✗
Manage events in project calendar	✓	✗
Manage general administration permissions	✓	✗
Include profile in learner reports	✗	✗
Use this profile for default membership	✗	✓
Use this profile for users creating a project	✓	✗
Full control	✓	✗
Edit	✓	✗
Write	✓	✓
Evaluate	✓	✓
Participate	✓	✓
Read	✓	✓

With this configuration, project managers have full administrative control of a project, while project participants can collaborate without access to sensitive administrative functions.

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4 Step-by-step workflows

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4.1 Editing a project profile

1. Open Admin > Profiles > Project (see section 3.1).
2. Find the column of the profile you want to change and click the pencil icon under its name. The Edit project profile page opens.
3. Change the title, permissions, default profiles or root folder permissions you need (see section 5). For settings with a value, such as Security level, enter the new value.
4. Review your changes and click Save. Click Cancel to leave the page without saving.

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4.2 Adding a project profile

1. Open Admin > Profiles > Project.
2. Click Add profile above the table.
3. Select a profile to serve as a basis for default values, and click Next. The values of the profile you select are the starting point for the new profile. Select Not defined if you do not want to base the new profile on an existing one. Click Cancel to leave without creating a profile.
4. Enter a title for each language you use (see section 5.1).
5. Enter a Security level that no other project profile uses (see section 6).
6. Select the permissions, default profiles and root folder permissions for the profile (see section 5).
7. Click Save.

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4.3 What happens to existing projects

A change to a project profile does not always apply to existing projects in the same way. What happens depends on the type of setting you change.

Type of setting	When the change applies
Permissions that do not depend on a resource, for example Use trash can	Immediately, for all users with the profile in all projects.
Standard resource permissions, set with Default permissions in root folder	Only for new projects and new elements. Existing projects and elements keep the permissions that applied when they were created, until someone changes them manually. A change also does not apply to an element where someone has already adjusted the permissions manually.

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5 Settings on the Edit project profile page

The Edit project profile page has four sections: Title, Permissions, Default profiles and Default permissions in root folder. The tables below show a recommended configuration for each setting. Recommendations are not requirements; adapt them to your organisation.

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5.1 Title

The Title section has one field for each language that itslearning supports. Each language has its own name for the profile, and users see the profile with the name in the language they use in itslearning. For example, the Project manager profile can be shown as Project manager in English (UK) and Community manager in English (US).

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5.2 Security level

The Security level (0 - 100) field sets the management hierarchy between project profiles. Each profile needs its own value. Higher values can manage lower values. The security level does not grant any permission by itself. See section 6 for the details.

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5.3 Permissions

Setting	Description	Recommended for
Manage participants in manually created courses and course groups	Determines whether users with this profile can add, edit and remove participants in a project. Essential for project managers who control the membership, but it should be restricted for regular participants.	Project manager
Import group structures when adding organisation groups to courses	Allows adding organisation groups that contain subgroups, for example year groups, and importing their group structure.	Only where needed
Use trash can	Gives access to the trash can of the project, so users can restore deleted content. The permission helps prevent accidental data loss while keeping access control appropriate.	Project manager
Manage events in project calendar	Allows adding, editing and deleting events in the project calendar. Useful for users who coordinate events or manage the schedule of a project.	Project manager
Manage general administration permissions	Gives access to the general administration of the project, for example announcements and project settings, and to reports. Restrict this permission to project managers.	Project manager
Include profile in learner reports (progress report, personal report, etc.)	Determines whether participants with this profile are treated as learners, for example in progress reports, personal reports and status pages. Usually disabled for project profiles, because projects focus on collaboration and not on assessment.	Disabled for both default profiles

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5.4 Default profiles

Setting	Description	Recommended for
Use this profile for default membership	The profile that new participants get when they are added to a project. It gives all new members a consistent baseline of permissions.	Project participant
Use this profile for users creating a project	The profile that is assigned automatically to a user who creates a project, for example with Add under Your projects on the Groups page. It gives the creator full administrative control of the new project.	Project manager

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5.5 Default permissions in root folder

These settings are the permissions that the root folder of a project gets when the project is created. The permissions cascade to the elements inside the folder and are the baseline for content management in the project. Changing them does not change existing projects (see section 4.3).

Permission	Description	Recommended for
Full control	Complete authority over the folder, including managing folder permissions and all the actions below. Restrict this permission to project managers.	Project manager
Edit	Allows changing the structure and properties of the folder.	Project manager
Write	Allows adding elements, copying elements to and from the folder and changing the order of the elements in the folder. Essential for collaborative content creation.	Project manager and Project participant
Evaluate	The folder itself does not use this permission. Elements inherit it. Projects usually do not use evaluation features, because they have no assessment tools.	Project manager and Project participant
Participate	The folder itself does not use this permission. Elements inherit it. Allows interacting with collaborative elements, for example discussions.	Project manager and Project participant
Read	View-only access to the content of the folder. This is the minimum permission users need to access the shared resources of a project.	Project manager and Project participant

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6 Understanding security levels

Security levels define the hierarchy of control between project profiles. They are numbers from 0 to 100, and a higher number gives the profile more control over lower ones.

Common values:

Profile	Security level
Project manager	50
Project participant	30

Key principles:

• Higher security levels can manage lower levels. A Project manager (50) can manage a Project participant (30), but a Project participant cannot manage a Project manager.
• Each profile must have a unique security level. If two profiles have the same value, you cannot save the changes until the values are unique.
• The security level does not grant permissions by itself. It only defines the hierarchy.

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7 How project profiles relate to other permissions

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7.1 Permission flow and override behaviour

Project profiles work within the wider permission system of itslearning:

• The site profile decides whether users can access projects at all.
• Project profiles decide what users can do within each project.
• Folder permissions, which start from the profile defaults, control access to resources.
• Project managers can customise the permissions of individual resources.

Override behaviour:

• Site-level restrictions cannot be overridden by project profiles.
• Project managers can adjust the permissions of individual users within their projects.
• Folder permissions can be changed independently of the profile defaults.
• Custom permissions override the inherited profile defaults.

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7.2 Relationship to site and course profiles

• Site profiles control site-wide functions and decide whether users can create projects. Restrictions in the site profile override project-level permissions.
• Course profiles work independently of project profiles. They contain additional permissions for assessments and pedagogical tools and do not affect project functionality.
• Project profiles work independently within a project. They have a simpler set of permissions than course profiles and focus on collaboration and not on assessment.

A user can have different profiles in the site, in courses and in projects. For example, a user with limited permissions in a course can be a project manager in specific projects.

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8 Troubleshooting

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8.1 A project manager cannot manage participants

Symptoms: The user sees the participant list but cannot add or remove participants.

Cause: The project profile lacks the permission, or the security level of the participant is higher than the security level of the user.

Solution:

1. Open the profiles overview on the Project tab and check Manage participants in manually created courses and course groups for the profile of the user.
2. Compare the security levels of the user's profile and the participant's profile (see section 6).
3. Enable the setting and click Save.

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8.2 A profile change does not affect an existing project

Cause: Default permissions in root folder only apply to new projects and new elements, and permissions that someone changed manually on an element stay as they are (see section 4.3).

Solution: Change the permissions manually on the project or element that should be updated.

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8.3 A profile cannot be saved

Cause: Another project profile has the same security level.

Solution: Enter a security level that no other project profile uses (see section 6) and click Save.

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