How to manage Extranet

Last updated: 2022-03-02
Was this article helpful?
21 of total 24 found this helpful.

This article is for administrators.

What is the purpose of extranet

The extranet allows you to make selected information available to people from outside your company, most often your customers, partners, suppliers, and others. You can invite a guest to a specific item in your Organizers (for example, a project or a contract), where you can make available only the information you want.

  • Guest access (extranet) can be enabled or disabled for each Organizer separately
  • You can also choose what guests can do in the Organizer settings

Activate extranet 

You must have a Company pricing plan or higher to activate.

As a company, you control and decide which Organizers you allow access to and which you do not. This is important from a security perspective. It allows you as a company to protect the data in important Organizers and ensure that no one outside of your company can access them. 

Conversely, for Organizers, where you need to share information and tasks with people outside the company, you allow it. 

In the Organizers administration, you allow (or disallow) who can invite guests and how. In addition, in each Organizer, you can see what items are available to guests in that Organizer and who invited which guest.

By default, access to all Organizers is disabled for guests. If you want to allow access to an Organizer, you must enable guest invitations. This and other settings regarding guests are available in the administration. Under the "Datasheets" (Organizers) tab, click on the Organizer for which you want to allow inviting guests and then open the "Manage extranet" option.

How to set up an extranet and what you can set up

Unlike your office and intranet users, who are invited only by you as administrator, ordinary office users can also invite guests.  

If you want to allow access to an organizer, you must first enable guest invitations.

This and other settings regarding guests are available in "Administration", then under the "Datasheets" (organizers) tab, click on the organizer for which you want to allow inviting guests and then open the "Manage extranet" option.

You will see a menu for guests' settings. Here you need to enable inviting guests (partners, suppliers, or customers) in the organizer. It is important to mention that you can share details of the item (project), attachments stored with the project, tasks, and notes with guests. Now you can allow guests to add tasks, but don't forget to specify the responsible and monitoring person(s). Otherwise, the guest will not be able to create any task (request). For tasks, you can also enable the ability to upload attachments to tasks. This is especially useful in situations where a guest sends you an attachment (for example, a document, a photo) in addition to the task you created.

Set what guests can see and do in the extranet

You can also allow a guest to create notes that only the guest can see and cannot share with anyone else. Another option is to allow attachments to be added to an item in the "Attachments" tab, the guest can also delete the attachments uploaded by the guest.

If you need the guest (your partner, customer, or supplier) to be alerted every time the status of a task changes from "New" to "Doing" or to be alerted whenever the employee in charge of the task adds a new comment, check the alerts in the settings. Alerts are displayed to the guest on their dashboard in the overview and on the dashboard for each item they have access to, and they also receive a notification in their email.

The last section in the settings is to display selected details. You keep information for the selected item that is for internal use only restricted, but at the same time, there is a whole lot of information that the guest should see as well. For example, if you invite your subcontractor as a guest on a project. In this case, it's a good idea to share with them, for example, the name and description of the project, the completion date of each stage, etc. Here you have the option to tick selected details that you need the guest (partner, customer, or supplier) to see for the items in the record.

how to setup extranet

Extranet settings

Tasks in extranet

Allow guests to add tasks. It is necessary to set the responsible and following person(s), otherwise the guest will not be able to create any task (request). These are the people to whom tasks created by the guest will automatically go.

You can also enable the ability to upload attachments for tasks. This is especially useful in situations where a guest sends you an attachment (for example, a document, a photo) in addition to the created task.

Notes

Whether you set and enable the guest to create his private notes that only the guest can see. 

Attachments

Here you set and enable adding attachments to an item to the "Attachments" tab, the guest can also delete the attachments uploaded by him.

Dashboard and notifications

Here you set what the guest can see on the dashboard.

If you need the guest (your partner, customer or supplier) to be alerted every time the status of a task changes from "New" to "Doing", for example, or to be alerted whenever the employee in charge of the task adds a new comment, tick the alerts in the settings. The alerts are displayed to the guest on their dashboard in the overview and on the dashboard for each item they have access to, and they will also receive a notification in their email.

Details

Here you set which details should be made available and visible to guests.

For example, when you invite your subcontractor as a guest on a project. In this case, it is advisable to share with them, for example, the name and description of the project, the completion date of each stage, etc. Here you have the option to tick selected details that you need the guest (partner, customer or supplier) to see for the items in the organizer.