Project Server 2013 changed a lot when it comes to both security and reporting and I’ve had a few customers asking about configuring user access to OData both for reporting and apps (such as Bulk Edit), fortunately Microsoft has some good guidance available on MSDN covering this topic;

When Project Server 2013 or Project Online is in Project permission mode, you can explicitly grant or deny access to the OData feed for specified Project Web App users. For example, on the Edit User page in Project Web App, expand the Global Permissions section, and then in the General section, select the Access Project Server Reporting Service check box in the Allow column.

In the default SharePoint permission mode, not all Project Web App users have access to the OData feed. Only users in the following groups have access: Portfolio Viewers, Portfolio Managers, and Administrators

Source: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/office/jj163015.aspx

So basically if using Project Permission mode then this is what you’re after (preferably from Edit Group, not edit user as MSDN suggests):

perms

Unfortunately as above article goes on to mention there is no granularity to the access, it is all or nothing so if you’re looking for the kind of flexibility that the cubes previously gave then unfortunately you’re out of luck!

What has this got to do with Apps?

OData and the REST Api’s used in CSOM / JSOM are closely related, and in the case of Project Apps that need to work with project data such as Bulk Edit, then we need to also grant access to “Use Remote Interfaces” in SharePoint, to do that you will need to check the Permission Levels configuration: Site Settings -> Site Permissions -> Permission Levels -> Edit

perms2

By default the Project Managers SharePoint Group has this already, so if for example you want to grant all Project Managers in PWA permissions to run Bulk Edit, then all you need to do is add the Project Server Global reporting permission above, and combined with the SharePoint permissions they will be able to edit all project information.

What if I want Granularity?

I’m not good a saying “no it can’t be done” :) so if you require reporting granularity then the solution would be to use the SSIS reporting to create your own local SQL replica where your DBAs can apply whatever permissions are required. Reason 999 why that SSIS solution is key to any deployment in the future!

How about Apps? The picture is a little better but at the same time less simple, REST is security trimmed, so a PM will by default only be able to update / modify the project to which he / she has permissions, great. However as Apps can leverage both OData and REST endpoints which work differently it may result in inconsistencies depending on how the App was designed, for example:

Bulk Edit (at the time of writing) will allow Read Access to all Projects as a minimum, BUT will only allow updates to projects that to which the user has the rights.

If you’re wondering about any other app, then these simple rules apply:

  • Writing data always requires REST – allows security trimmed granularity.
  • Reading sometimes requires OData – does not allow granularity.

 

I expect in the future this to change, from experience project server security has been a moving target since the very beginning, so perhaps we’ll see more granularity in the future.

Hope that helps someone out there..

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