Product Update: Invite Guest Users to your Projects

Hello, Orangescrum’ers! We are back with another update for you. Now users invite guest users to your projects and share the overall progress status with these guest users.

To ensure your successful support for our product, we have eagerly created the solution you want at Orangescrum.

Thank you once again to everyone who contributed by presenting and sharing their views on this feature.

Orangescrum has always understood very well the needs of its customers and what is best for them.

All subsequent updates are designed to improve Orangescrum’s efficiency and simplify the project workflow.

Recently, we released the Custom fields, Timesheet update, Resource Skillset, and this time we are back with “Guest User”.

Guest User

Some others call it “Guest Reviewer”. The guest user feature in project management software allows the registered guests to provide feedback or comments within the system.

Somehow, these guest users are not given full access as other users do have in the project management tool.

Their accesses are limited within the tool and allowed to make minimum proofing activities like adding comments to tasks, review project plans, etc.

Key Features of Guest Users in Oranagescrum

• Users do not have to upgrade their plan to provide project progress view to external users.
• You can set access or revoke access for guest users
• The project-based sensitive data are safe as guest users have view-only access
• Guest users can submit comments and reviews on project status
• View Project-based files
• View overall Project Progress
• Project status monitoring
• And much more

Uses Tips:

• This is a subscription-based feature
• You can invite limited guest users to your organizational subscription
• In the Orangescrum Startup plan, you can invite up to 5 guest users
• In the Professional plan, it depends on how much user subscription the organization has adopted. Ex: If an organization has taken 20 user subscriptions, then the organization can have 10 guest users

How to invite Guest User

It is the same process to follow as admin users used to invite other users to a project.

On the user role dropdown, you just select “Guest” and submit the invitation. The invited user can join to the Organgescrum using the invitation email link.

How to Restrict Access to Guest User

Guest users define themselves as limited access-based users. Still, in Orangescrum you can set access control on the User role management page.

Go to the User role management page and select the default group.

You can find the Guest on the drop-down list. And click on the “Guest”.

Then the action control drop-down menu will be visible under the Guest layer. The action controllers are Task Action, Timelog Action, File Action, Invoice Action, etc.

Now click on each action controller menu to see the detailed controller option.

Example: When you click on the Task Action controller menu, you can find the task management-related controller options; such as View, Manage, Delete, etc.

Users can easily select or de-select the controller option using the same menu.

As per the requirement, the admin can set or revoke the access to perform the guest user activities.

Spent hours column in task list page

We also have added the spent hour column on the task details page. So the user can see the spent hours for each task.

To enable this column, users must enable this feature by using the hide-show button.

Previously, there were only the estimated hour details listed on the task details page.

Task group filter in task list page

On the same task detail page, we have added the task group filter as well.

Now users can filter the task group using the    icon.

The benefit of having Guest users in the project lifecycle

Guest review functionality present in the Project management software is created to give you a perfect balance between visibility and security. You can easily share all the important files with the people you want to share with, without hampering the security of your sensitive project information.

However, without guest review, you are getting the option to give the stakeholders more access or no access at all.

But if you are giving access to the stakeholder, you are creating the possibility of sharing the information with those who don’t have any proper authority. This adds extra cost for the software, by forcing you to buy more licenses.

But if you don’t give any access to the guest, people force themselves to get reviews from outside the system. It will result in many consequences, such as

•  Requests from duplicates
•  Communication lost
•  Several versions of a file
• Incomplete audit trail
• Slow down the approval cycles

Using the Software Management Tools you are not only maintaining all the files and reviews, but you can also create a central repository of documents.

If you or your team look for any files, you are going to get them at a particular location for every file. There is no need to ask someone to send it to you or get worried that it is not placed in the right location.

You can also link the files with the tasks, this will help you to monitor and keep a report on the progress.

With this function, it becomes easier to check if the file is still waiting for approval or it’s reverted back to the creator for edits, etc.

In addition, guests can directly mark the digital files, which gives a clear understanding of the required changes.
This creates less chance of miscommunication and reduces the time-consuming tasks of teams such as collecting the feedback and cross-referencing separate files, emails, comments, and more.

Using the guest review functionality, you can create a secure invitation for the external collaborators to review the chosen files. This is to ensure that no anonymous user without authority can access your files or system.

The invitation creates a limitation on who can review, and the roles prevent sharing, forwarding, or printing the files. These are a lot more than just sending the files through email.

Also looking at the security point of view, the guest review also offers the feature of password protection, permissions control and access expiration.

Guest User FAQs

What does it mean to be a Guest in an Organization?

A project management software provides the guest user the access to review the project. The guest user can provide comments and feedback within the system.

These guest users were not given full access, unlike other users in project management tools.

They get limited access within the Software Management Tools. They are allowed for minimum proofing activities such as, adding comments to the tasks, reviewing the project plans, etc.

What access can a guest user get in an organization?

The guests have limited access in the organization. The guest can view only when access is given to them

• If the admin share a task: the guest will be able to see the task
• If a project is shared with the guest: the guest will have access to the task and the project.

Do I have to pay for Guests in an Organization?

No, the guest doesn’t have to pay any cost. The admin can add the guest free of cost. However, the admin can only add a limited number of guests.

What’s the difference between a Guest and a Limited Access Member?

There is no difference between a limited access member and a guest. Both the limited access member and guest can only access limited functions that are approved by the admin.

Can Guests see each other in an Organization?

No, the guest cannot see other guests in an organization. The admin doesn’t share that type of access with the guest user.

Who can invite Guests to an Organization?

The admin can only add the guest user. The access to add the guest user can be done by the admin itself.

Can a Guest become an Admin of an Organization?

Yes, the guest can be changed into an admin. This is possible only when the admin can add the guest as admin.

Can I convert a Guest to a Member or vice versa?

No, the guest cannot be added as a member. The guest user can only be converted as an admin.