As an application administrator, your first step in setting up Oracle Primavera Cloud is to add users. Users are individuals with access to your OPC database. You will need to create a user for anyone who needs to access the program. During this process, you can also configure their licenses and permissions. These will determine what projects they have access to, and what they can do within them. Regardless of their level of access, however, you must first add them as a user.

In this article, we will cover how to create new users, assign licenses, and adjust user settings in Oracle Primavera Cloud. By default, this can only be done by application administrators. The default application administrator will be the individual who purchased the program. However, you can assign multiple users as administrators to allow them to perform this implementation. 

Accessing Global Admin

In Oracle Primavera Cloud, you’ll manage administration using the Global Admin app. However, only users with administrator level privileges will have access to this page. Again, you can have as many application administrators as needed – but when you first acquire the program, there will be only one. This administrator will need to add all other users – administrators and end users – to the program to give them access to it. As an administrator, you can find Global Admin under the Main Menu.

The Users page will list all users within the application. In a new OPC database, you might just see one user, representing yourself. On this page, you can create as many users as needed, regardless of the number of licenses you have. However, a user will not be able to log in to the program unless you assign them a license.

Adding a New User

To add a new user to your Oracle Primavera Cloud database, select Add.

In the Add User window, use the following sections to enter in details about the user.

User Details

Under User Details, you’ll enter in some identifying details for the user. The only required fields are those with an asterisk beside them.

Company

First, select the user’s associated Company. By default, a company for your organization will be available. If this user is a part of your company, select your company from the list and press Select. You can add users from other companies, but you will need to create those companies first. Users from other companies will only be able to see the data assigned to their company within the system.

If your company has more than one office location, you also need to choose an Office. If you haven’t created multiple offices, this field will fill in automatically with Corporate Office.

Email

Under Email, enter in the user’s email. The user must have access to this email, as this is how they will log in to the program. It’s a good idea to double check this field before creating the user, as you can not change a user’s email after creation. After creating the user, an activation email will be sent to this address, allowing them to set their password.

Name & Additional Details

Next, use the First Name and Last Name fields to enter in the user’s name. You can choose a language and enter in additional details, such as Phone, Mobile, and Title – but these fields are all optional. OPC Users can also adjust these details on their own once they have access to the program.

Permissions

Under Permissions, you can determine how the user will be able to access the system. These options adjust what data the user can access, and what they can do with that data. To start, if you have a user in the system with the needed permissions already, you can choose to Copy Security Settings from an Existing User. This will allow the new user to use the same security and access settings of a user created earlier – which can be useful for standardization.

If you don’t choose to copy settings, you will need to adjust the following fields manually:

User Type

First, you’ll need to choose a User Type, and there are five options available:

• Users: These are standard users who will only have access to the data you assign to them. This is the type of user you should use for most of your end users.

• Company Restricted Users: These are users from other companies that may need access to your OPC database. This type of user will only be able to access information assigned to their company. This can be useful when working with subcontractors, but it’s important to note that these users will require a license. You may want to export or print project data for these subcontractors, rather than using one of your OPC licenses on them.

• Application Administrators: These are users who have access to all data within the system, including Global Admin. You will not be able to hide any data from this type of user – they have access to everything. These users will be able to perform all admin functions as well, such as creating users and setting permissions. You can create as many application administrators as needed. It’s recommended to have at least two application administrators within the system.

• Contact Only: These are users who will receive email notifications from Oracle Primavera Cloud, but cannot log in to the program. This user type does not require an OPC license. 

• Idea Submitter Only: These are users that can submit ideas within the application. This user type also does not require an OPC license.

License

Next, choose a License to assign to the user. You can assign more than one license to a single user to give them access to different application functions. This option is not available for application administrators – they will be automatically assigned a license by default.

You can choose to leave this section blank and assign licenses after creating users. However, a user will not be able to log into the application until you have assigned them a license.

Global Permission Set

Finally, choose a Global Permission Set. Global Permission Sets determine what users can do globally within the application. This is a short list of permissions that determine whether a user can perform actions such as exporting or downloading Excel files. In the Permission Sets app, you can create custom global permission sets. However, the program provides you with two default global permission sets:

• View Only (System): This permission set gives the user read-only privileges. The user will be able to view data within the program, but they won’t be able to edit it. 
• Administrator (System): This permission set has all global privileges assigned. It grants the user full access to all global permissions. However, users with the Administrator global permission set are NOT application administrators. You will still need to assign these users workspaces and projects to allow them to view and edit data.

Any custom permission sets will appear here as well. For help creating a new global permission set, please refer to this article.

With these details entered, select Next to continue.

User Groups

If you have user groups set up, you can assign the created user to one by selecting Assign. User groups allow you to assign permissions and access to multiple users simultaneously. This is not a mandatory field, and if you don’t need to add the user to a User Group, press Next to continue.

Defaults

Under Defaults, you can choose default permission sets to assign to the user when they’re assigned an object. Permission sets determine exactly what a user can do within an assigned project or workspace. You should use this field if the selected user will always have the same permissions for every project or workspace they’re assigned. For example, if you were to assign a default Project permission set, those permissions would apply to any project you assign to the user. You can, of course, adjust the permission sets for each individual project as needed- even with this default.

This is an optional field. If you leave the defaults blank, you’ll need to assign a permission set every time you assign a project or workspace to the user.

Access

Under Access, you can assign the user access to specific objects – such as projects, portfolios, workspaces, and programs. Unless the user is an application administrator, they will only be able to view data that you assign to them. Without any data assigned, they won’t be able to access anything within the database. It’s very important to assign objects to the user if they’ll need to view or work within that object. 

You will also need to assign a permission set for the assigned object. While assigning the object gives the user access to it, the permission set will determine exactly what they can do within it. For example, can they just view data, or can they add and edit data? You can assign each user a different permission set for each object you assign to them.

To assign access, select Assign and choose the object and the associated permission set. One thing to note is that if you assign a user access to a workspace, they’ll have access to all project and child workspaces within it. If you want to give a user access to all projects in the database, you can assign them the Corporate Root workspace.

You do not have to assign access at this point – you can always do it within the created object or by editing user details later on.

Apps

Under Apps, you can choose which pages the user has access to within their Main Menu. Select/deselect the visibility icon to show/hide apps as desired. It may be a good idea to hide any apps that your user won’t need to access to simplify their interface.

However, users can always customize the displaying apps on their own as well. Even if you hide an app from the user, they can turn it back on in their Main Menu.

Summary

Finally, under Summary, you can view the data you have configured for the user. If you made a mistake, you can edit this information further by selecting the Edit icon.

Select Finish to add the user.

The added user will receive an email with instructions on how to activate their account and set their password. Once activated, they will be able to log in and access Oracle Primavera Cloud. If your user needs help getting logged in to the program, please refer them to this article.

Adjusting User Details

Once added, the user will display on the Users page. You can adjust any details for the user by selecting the Settings gear to the left of their name. Here, you can access Edit User Details, Manage Access, Manage Defaults, and Manage Apps – all the same pages you used to create the user. If you made a mistake when creating the user, or if their level of access changes, you can quickly make any adjustments here.

However, as mentioned earlier, you can not change the Company, Office, or Email Address for the user. If any of these fields are incorrect, you’ll need to deactivate the user and create a new one, instead.

Resetting User Passwords

In Oracle Primavera Cloud, only the user has access to their password. The application administrator will not be able to view, set, or even change a user’s password. Instead, the password is managed completely by the end user.

However, the application administrator can choose to reset a user’s password if they forget it. Additionally, if the user didn’t receive or lost the initial activation email from Oracle, this will resend that email.

To reset a user password, select the Settings button next to the user and select Reset User Password.

The user will receive an email from Oracle with a link to create a new password for their account.

Removing Users

At this time, you can not remove users from your Oracle Primavera Cloud database. However, users can not access the system unless you assign them a license. Because of this, you never have to worry about these users getting back into the system – you control whether or not they have access.

Instead of removing users, you can instead deactivate them. You might want to do this if the user has left your company, or if you entered the wrong email address. Deactivating a user will set their status to Inactive and they will no longer be a choice when assigning licenses.

To deactivate a user, select the Settings button to the left of their name select Deactivate User.

If the user ever needs access to the program again, you can activate them by selecting the same button and pressing Activate User.

Moving a License from One User to Another

You can create as many users as needed, but each user requires a license to access the program. If you create a user without assigning them a license, they will not be able to log in to OPC. However, you can switch licenses from one user to another at any time. If someone leaves or joins your company, this can ensure that everyone has the right level of access.

To move licenses across users, navigate to the License Usage page within the Global Admin app. Again, this app is available in the Main Menu for all application administrators.​

Then, press Save in the upper right hand corner.​

In the Assign Users window, search for the desired user and double click on their name. Select Assign, and then Save.

The user will now be able to log in and access the Oracle Primavera Cloud database. They will not receive an email about the license assignment. Instead, you’ll have to notify the user that they now have access to the program.

Summary

One of the first things you’ll need to do as an Oracle Primavera Cloud application administrator is add users to the program. You will need to add a user for everyone who is accessing the program. As an application administrator, you can add users to the program using the Users page within the Global Admin app. Here, you can configure not only who has access to the program, but also what they have access to. You’ll want to assign each user a license, access to projects and workspaces, and permission sets to ensure they are able to work in their projects. After adding a user, you can always adjust these permissions if you made a mistake or if roles change. Once added, your project team will be able to access and collaborate within Oracle Primavera Cloud.

Lauren Hecker is an Oracle Primavera Cloud, Primavera P6, and Microsoft Project instructor who teaches onsite and virtual scheduling courses. To see her next open enrollment course, please visit our calendar. To schedule an onsite or custom course, please contact us!