INFO
The default Provider and Client team names can be customized globally in General Settings or individually for each project in Project Settings.
In Kantata, Providers (designers, contractors, or consultants—to name a few) can invite external Clients (such as customers) to collaborate on projects without compromising sensitive information. This article will examine how privacy, access, and data visibility differs between Clients and Providers. Keep in mind that a client’s ability to access certain functionality or information in Kantata OX may depend on a few of the following factors:
- Account and Project-level permissions
- individual Additional Access settings
- if the project is financial or non-financial
- if the client is a member of your account
- if the client has been invited from an external Kantata account
For example, a client with Edit Tasks project permissions may not have access to the same areas as a client with Edit Financials or Project Administrator project permissions. You can adjust Provider and Client permissions on a project-by-project basis on the Project Permissions page, which can be easily accessed via the Team tab of the Project Admin box.
In the following examples, Lesley Ward will be our Project Administrator on the Provider-side of the project and Michael Lee will be our Project Administrator on the Client-side of the project. For the reasons stated above, the client experience reflected in the following examples may differ from your own or that of your members.
Project Activity Feed (Public and Private Posts)
Similar to participants on the Provider-side of a project, a client can post to a project's Activity Feed.
Note: Project posts can be set to Private or Public by default; either on a project-by-project basis in Project Settings or globally in General Settings.
- If the post is Public, it will be visible to everyone in the project and all participants will receive a notification.
- If the post is Private, you can choose who will see your post and receive a notification.
Any Private posts shared by participants on the Provider team will not be visible to the client; in addition, any files that are privately shared with the Provider team will not be visible to clients.
You can also use @mentions to alert specific people of your post and if you want to add some flair, use emojis.
Files
All the files uploaded to a project can be found in the Files tab. Here, you can Preview, Download, or Delete
Project Schedule
A client can view a project's Schedule (start and due dates), as well as propose new dates. If Project Settings require that changes to the schedule be approved, a team member must first submit a date change proposal. These requests will appear in the project's Activity feed and under the Schedule tab of the Project Admin box. From here, a client can either Approve or Decline the request. If there are no clients with the appropriate permissions, a Project Administrator on the Provider-side of the project can approve schedule changes.
A client can request a schedule change for a project by clicking Propose New Date in the Schedule tab of the Project Admin box. The Schedule tab also provides clients with a history of submitted and accepted date changes.
Project Budget
Clients with View Financials permissions (or higher) have access to the Budget and Payment tabs in the Project Admin box. However, Edit Financials or higher is required to make specific changes to financial information. Clients can see the total budget, the original budget, and any deviations resulting from proposed budget changes. However, an external client cannot see burn against the budget anywhere in the project.
Lesley Ward, our Project Administrator on the Provider-side of the project, has access to different information than Michael Lee, our external client who is a Project Administrator on the Client-side of the project—as illustrated in the Budget tab of the Project Admin box (above) and the Project List tab (below).
Invoices and Payments
All invoices submitted by a provider will appear in the Activity Feed. A client can view the invoice, which includes the statement of services rendered and the dates, hours, and rates. A client can pay an invoice by clicking Pay this invoice from the post in the Activity Feed.
The Payment tab in the Project Admin box will show the total budget for the project, amount invoiced, amount paid, and budget remaining.
Task Tracker / Task Details Side Panel
Clients can view general task details from the Task Details side panel. They can also change the task type to an Issue to monitor it using the Issue Tracking view in the Task Tracker or the global Tasks list.
Note: Access to the global Tasks list may depend on the external client's subscription plan.
When viewing the Task Details side panel, clients can see task Details, linked Activity posts, and Files; however, they cannot see the Scheduling or Custom fields sections. Clients also aren't allowed to see the Time & Fees section since it includes task financial information, such as the task budget or whether the task is billable/non-billable.
Note: An individual task's Status is visible to a client, but the overall Project Status is not.
Local Gantt Chart
Clients are limited in terms of what they can see in the Local Gantt Chart. Unlike the Provider team, a client cannot see the Gantt's baselines or progress against the budget.
If you haven't invited a client to work with you in Kantata OX, you should try it out! If you have any questions or would like additional information, please contact our Support team.
Related Articles
- The Kantata Client Experience
- New Client Walkthrough
Comments
0 comments
Please sign in to leave a comment.