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Background Information

The Resource Breakdown Structure field (aka Enterprise Resource Outline Code 30 in Project Server 2002 and 2003 only) is a hierarchical structure used for Project Server security. Ideally, the contents of the RBS field should model your company's "org chart" and should show "who reports to whom" in the organization. By modeling your company's "org chart" in the RBS field, you can represent the reporting structures in your organization and base Project Server security around these relationships. Each level you define in the RBS outline code structure indicates a manager/resource relationship. Anyone assigned to a node at a level above another person is assumed by Project Server to be that person's manager.

Although the RBS field can be used for grouping and filtering in Project Server views, its most powerful purpose is to control which projects and resources a user can see in Project Server. The RBS field controls security by working in conjunction with the default and custom Categories defined in Project Server. What does this mean to you? It means that if you define an RBS outline code structure and set an RBS value for every resource in the Enterprise Resource Pool, you can automatically control access to projects and resources for every user in Project Server.

Resolution for Project Server 2002 and 2003

The following permissions in the Projects section of any Category control which projects a user can view anywhere in Project Server:

• Allow users in this category to view all projects managed by resources that they manage.
• Allow users in this category to view all projects assigned to resources that they manage.

The following permissions in the Resources section of any Category control which resources a user can view anywhere in Project Server:

• Allow users in this category to view information for all resources that they manage.
• Allow users in this category to view information for all resources that they manage directly.

The following permissions in the Project Center Views section of any Category control which models a user can view in the Portfolio Modeler in Project Server:

• Allow users in this category to view models created by resources that they manage.

Resolution for Project Server 2007 and 2010

The following permissions in the Projects section of any Category control which projects a user can view anywhere in Project Server:

• The Project Owner is a descendant of the User via RBS.
• A resource on the project's Project Team is a descendant of the User via RBS.
• The Project Owner has the same RBS value as the User.

The following permissions in the Resources section of any Category control which resources a user can view anywhere in Project Server:

• They are descendants of the User via RBS.
• They are direct descendants of the User via RBS.
• They have the same RBS value as the User.