Limit access by location

Narrow what each member can see and change to their own locations, Business Units and asset classes, then switch Access by location on for your account.

When each depot or branch should look after its own records, you can limit members to the locations and Business Units they work in. Their role still decides what they can do; Access by location decides where they can do it.

Like a preset, Access by location only ever takes access away. It can't give anyone a permission their role doesn't include.

Before you start

Access by location has to be made available to your account by Assignar first. To join, contact Assignar support. Until it is available, none of the controls on this page appear.

You also need your locations set up, see Set up your locations, and each worker, asset and project placed at its location, see Set where records belong.

What each area shows a limited member

Once Access by location is on, each area follows the location and Business Unit of the record it belongs to:

Area	A limited member sees and changes
Assets	Assets based at their locations, in their Business Units and, where you set one, in their asset classes, plus assets another location shares with theirs. Viewing, editing and deleting are each limited separately. An asset's certificates and their history follow the asset. Adding or changing a certificate needs the asset at their own locations, in their Business Units and asset classes; a shared asset doesn't count. Certificate expiry notices go only to people who can see the asset. See Read the calibration register.
Projects	Projects that belong to their locations and Business Units. A project's milestones, its own milestone alert settings and its subcontractors' asset certificate status follow the project. Milestone alerts go only to people whose locations include the project. See Track project milestones.
Orders	Orders at their locations: the order's own location or, if it has none, its project's.
Projects via crew and Orders via crew	Another location's project or order with one of their workers or assets booked on it. They see its name, number, client, status, dates, location and Business Unit only, read only. See See projects and orders from other locations.
Timesheets	Timesheets for work at their locations (the order's location, or else the project's), timesheets of workers based at their locations, and their own. Editing, approving and deleting need the work to be at their locations. Pay on a timesheet can also be changed by someone with Update payroll for the worker's location.
Leave	Leave of workers based at their locations.
Dockets	Dockets whose order, or else project, is at their locations. The Charges list of dockets and site diaries priced from a rate card follows the same rule.
Variation dockets	Variations whose order, or else project, is at their locations, and the ones they raised. Raising, reviewing, approving, recording a sign-off, sending a sign-off link and opening the signed scan need the variation at their locations. Alerts to reviewers and approvers go only to people whose locations include it. See Variation dockets.
Scheduler	Shifts on their orders. Their workers' and assets' shifts on another location's orders show as Busy, with no order, project or client, so clashes still show. A shift's required forms, and the Outstanding tab under Forms, follow the same rule. See Allocate workers and assets.
Payroll and pay rates	The pay rates and pay items of workers based at their locations, whichever project the time was worked on. Pay Rates shows only those workers. See Apply pay rates.
Invoices, supplier invoices and purchase orders	A document only when every project and order on it, including on each line, is at their locations. One line from another location hides the whole document.
Quotes	A quote when at least one order it's linked to is at their locations. They then see the whole quote, including lines for orders at other locations. A quote with no order follows its project. A quote with neither counts as being at your default location with no Business Unit, so only members whose locations include the default location, and who aren't limited by Business Unit, see it or can create one. Editing, invoicing, sending and turning a quote into orders follow the same rule.
Safety and quality	Issues, actions, investigations and permits of projects that belong to their locations, and their history. On any project they also keep their own items: issues they raised or are assigned to, directly or through a tag they hold, issues with an action assigned to them, and actions assigned to them. They don't see the project's other items.
HSE statistics and handover dossiers	Manual exposure hours and lead-indicator targets of projects at their locations. Hours and targets with no project count as being at your default location with no Business Unit, so only members whose locations include the default location, and who aren't limited by Business Unit, see or change them. Closing or restating a month needs access to every location and every Business Unit. A handover dossier follows its project. A PDF of the whole register, or a Handover schedule, shows only to members who aren't limited by location or Business Unit, and to the person who made it.
Site register	The register, sign-ins and roll calls of projects that belong to their locations.
Project and order chats	A project's chat when the project belongs to their locations, and an order's chat when the order does. See Messages.
Document library	A document's link to a project or order only when they can see that project or order. The library itself stays open. See Document library.

Some things stay the same for everyone, whatever their locations:

the worker list;
pay rate documents such as awards and agreements, rate templates, allowances and payroll tags;
schedules of rates, including ones made for a single project;
workpacks;
your account's settings, including the milestone alert settings for the whole account.

Adding and moving records

Creating an asset, project, order or worker needs access to the location it goes in. Moving one needs access to both its current and its new location, and so does moving a location to sit under a different one. A member limited by Business Unit must give a new project one of their Business Units. A new order needs one of their Business Units too, either its own or its project's.

Allocating a worker needs the worker to be based at your locations and in your Business Units, or shared with your location. Allocating an asset needs Allocate assets, and the asset must be inside that permission's locations, Business Units and asset classes, or shared with your location to see and allocate.

Reports, exports and dashboards

Exports, PDFs and imports use the access of the person running them. An invoice, purchase order or supplier invoice is included only when every project and order on it is at their locations.

A scheduled report refresh, a scheduled dashboard email and a shared dashboard link show only what one person can see: whoever last edited the report, last saved the schedule, or shared the link. A recipient whose own access doesn't cover that person's locations doesn't receive the email. See Refresh on a schedule and Share a dashboard.

How locations and Business Units are matched

A location includes everything under it. Give someone a Branch and they get every depot under it, including depots you add there later. Archived locations never count.
A record with no location of its own counts as being at your default location.
A record needs a Business Unit to show for a member limited by Business Unit. A project or asset with no Business Unit is hidden from them, even if its location's default Business Unit matches, and so are the timesheets, leave and pay of a worker with none. An order with no Business Unit of its own uses its project's. Give your projects and assets a Business Unit before you switch Access by location on.
An asset needs an asset class to show for a member limited by asset class.

Who is limited

Owners are never limited.
Admins with no access preset are never limited.
Field, customer, supplier and visitor users aren't limited by location.
Everyone else is limited by their access preset or, with no preset, by the locations and Business Units set on their own access. A Manager with no preset needs both: with no locations or no Business Units of their own, they see none of the records above except their own timesheets and their own safety and quality items, and can't create assets, projects or orders.

Set a preset's locations and Business Units

Open the preset from Settings → Access presets (see Set up access presets). Its Access by location section, between the templates and Kept permissions, has a Location list and a Business Units list. Each offers three choices:

Choice	Members with this preset see
All locations / All Business Units	Records at every location, or in every Business Unit
Fixed locations / Fixed Business Units	Only the locations or Business Units you choose here
Assigned to each member	Only the locations or Business Units set on each member's own access

Use Fixed when everyone on the preset works in the same place, for example a Brisbane Supervisor preset. Use Assigned to each member when one preset suits people in different places, and set each person's locations on their access.

The presets list shows each preset's choice under Location and Business Units, for example Fixed (3 locations).

Limit one asset permission

Asset permissions can be limited on their own, for example so a supervisor can view every crane but edit only the ones at their depot. Asset permissions are in the Payroll & Rates group of Kept permissions.

Under a kept asset permission, select Limit.
Under Location, choose Preset default, or a different location choice for this permission.
To limit it to some asset classes, tick Only these asset classes and choose them.
Save the preset.

A limit replaces the preset's location choice for that permission only; its Business Units stay as the preset sets them. Remove limit puts the permission back on the preset's choice.

A permission that changes assets must stay within the one that views them. For example, the locations of Update assets must sit inside the locations of View assets.

Choose locations for one member

In the sidebar, select Resources, then Users.
Select the person's row to open their access panel.
Under Access by location, choose their Locations and Business Units.
Select Save.

The section appears only when the person's preset uses Fixed or Assigned to each member, or when they are below Admin and have no preset. Each list is marked with where it comes from:

From the preset: the preset's fixed list. You can't change it here.
Assigned to the member: this person's own list. With a Fixed preset, it narrows the preset's list further for this person; leave it empty to give them the whole preset list. With Assigned to each member, it is all they get.

When the person's locations or Business Units come only from their own list, which is the case on an Assigned to each member preset or with no preset, an empty list shows a warning:

"No locations assigned. Once Access by location is on, this member sees only their designated rows."
"No Business Units assigned. Once Access by location is on, this member sees no Business Unit records."

Choose at least one location and at least one Business Unit, or the person sees none of the limited records once Access by location is on.

Their Access preview counts what they will see, so you can check it before it applies. See Check what they'll see by location.

An invitation can carry the new member's locations and Business Units. Inviting someone from a depot puts that depot in their list. Once Access by location is on, that happens only if you have the Manage roles & permissions permission. Without it, the invitation shows no location or Business Unit fields and goes out with none, and an owner or admin sets them later. A member reached through a Branch or Division above a depot shows as that depot's manager, but you change it on their access, not on the depot.

You can set all of this before Access by location is on. Nothing changes for anyone until you switch it on.

Switch Access by location on or off

The Access by location switch is at the top of Settings → Access presets. Only an Owner can change it. Everyone else sees "Only the account owner can switch Access by location on or off."

Turn on Access by location.
Read the dialog, Switch on Access by location?. It counts the Managers who have no preset and no locations or no Business Units of their own, for example "2 members have no preset and no locations or Business Units of their own. They will see only their designated rows." They are listed under Members who will see only their designated rows.
If someone on the list needs to keep their access, select Cancel and give them a preset, or their own locations and Business Units, first. Field, customer, supplier and visitor users aren't limited by location, so they aren't on the list.
Tick I have reviewed these members, then select Switch on. "Access by location is on" confirms it.

When no one is affected, the dialog says "Every member has a preset or their own locations and Business Units." and you can select Switch on straight away.

Turning it off restores access at once. It asks nothing first: everyone goes back to what their role and preset allow at every location. The locations and Business Units on presets and members are kept, so switching it on again brings the same limits back.

Sometimes one location needs to see another's equipment, for example cranes that every branch hires out. A sharing grant lets a giving location share with a receiving location, without widening anyone's own locations.

Assets can be shared to see, or to see and allocate. A grant can cover only some asset classes, or only assets within a distance of their home branch, and can apply only to members on one preset.
Workers can be shared to allocate.
A grant only shows the shared record itself. It never shows timesheets, pay, pay rates, rates or costs.
A member's own Business Unit and asset class limits still apply to what is shared with them, and a shared asset can't be edited from the receiving location. On the assets list, Quick edit and Delete are greyed out for it, with "Shared by Brisbane. You can see this asset but you cannot change it.", and its page has no Edit asset button.

You create and delete grants in Settings → Sharing grants. See Share assets and workers between locations.

Find out why someone can or can't see a record

Once Access by location is on, anyone can select Why can I see this? on an asset, project, order, timesheet, docket, invoice, purchase order, supplier invoice or allocation. It names the rule that gives them access. See Find out why you can see a record.
To check a record for someone else, open their access panel and use Check a record. It says whether they can see it and, if not, which location, Business Unit or permission is missing. See Check why they can or can't see a record.

If something goes wrong

Saving a preset or a member's access:

"Choose at least one location, or pick another location mode" (or the Business Unit version): a Fixed choice needs at least one location or Business Unit.
"A limited permission needs at least one location, or another location mode" and "Choose at least one asset class, or untick Only these asset classes": finish or remove the permission's Limit.
"The locations of … must sit inside the locations of …, which it depends on. You cannot change what you cannot view.": widen the viewing permission, or narrow the one that depends on it.
"A chosen location, Business Unit or asset class is archived or no longer exists. Remove it and try again": lists mark archived entries; remove them before you save.

When your own access is limited, you can only hand out what you have:

"You cannot give access outside your own locations (…)", and the Business Unit and asset class versions.
"You cannot give … access to all locations, because your own access is limited": choose Fixed instead.
"You cannot clear this member's locations, because your own access is limited".
"You cannot change the location access of the preset you are on": ask an Owner or an Admin with no preset.

Deleting a preset: "This preset limits access by location or Business Unit and members or invitations still use it. Move them to another preset first". Deleting it would widen their access, so it is refused until nobody uses it.

The switch:

"Only the account owner can change Access by location": ask an Owner.
"Access by location isn't available for this account yet. Contact Assignar to join the pilot.": see Before you start.
"Could not load Access by location. Refresh the page and try again.": the switch stays unavailable until it loads.