Manage space users

When starting your project in ALM Octane, add users to spaces and workspaces.

After you create users, assign roles and permissions to them. For details, see Roles and permissions.

About managing users

This section provides an overview of user-related tasks and who can perform them.

To manage users:

  1. In Settings , depending on your permissions, click Site or Spaces.

  2. Select the Users tab.

    To filter users by roles and workspaces:

    1. In the Users tab, show the Filter pane , and click Add Filter. Select Roles and Workspaces > Role, and select the roles by which you want to filter.
    2. To further narrow down your results by workspaces, click Add Filter again, select Roles and Workspaces > Workspace, and select the workspaces by which you want to filter.
  3. Add or edit users, depending on your role.

    Note: Most roles can be customized. Roles and their permissions might be different for your organization.

    User management capability Site admin (on-premises) Space admin
    Workspace admin
    Add users to the current context (site, space, or workspace). For details, see Add a user.

    Note: A site admin can only add users with REST API. See the row below.

    Add users to the current context (site, space, or workspace) using the REST API. For details, see POST: Create a user.
    Import LDAP users to a space. For details, see Add LDAP users in ALM Octane .
    Import IdP users for SSO authentication. For details, see Import IdP users for SSO authentication into a workspace (on-premises).
    Add existing users from the site into the space. For details, see Add a user.
    Add existing users from the space into the workspace. For details, see Add space users to a workspace.
    Remove roles from a workspace user. For details, see Assign and unassign roles.

    Choose the fields to display in the user list, sort the list, and export the list to Microsoft Excel.

    Set user passwords.

    Assign additional roles to users. For details, see Assign to, or unassign roles from, existing users.

    Site admin can only assign the space admin role.

    Assign the site admin role to other users. For details, see Assign the site admin role to existing users (on-premises).
    Activate and deactivate users. For details, see Roles and permissions. SaaS: SaaS:
    Delete a user. For details, see Manage the site.

Back to top

Ways to add users

Add users to ALM Octane in the following ways: 

Method for adding users Instructions
With ALM Octane's native user management system

Add a user

Include existing users from the site to a space (on-premises only) Add site users to a space
Include existing users from a space into a workspace Add space users to a workspace
Import users from an LDAP server (on-premises)

Set up LDAP

Add space users to a workspace

Import SSO users from an Identity Provider (IdP) (on-premises)

Note: The users must exist in ALM Octane, but login authentication is done by the IdP.

Set up SSO authentication (on-premises)

Import IdP users for SSO authentication into a workspace (on-premises)

Use the REST API POST: Create a user

Note: Version 12.60 CP10 and later: The ALLOW_WORKSPACE_USERS_CREATION configuration parameter is deprecated. This parameter used to be available for enabling or preventing the admin from adding and including users at the workspace level. Use Settings > Permissions instead.

Back to top

Sharing users between spaces (Enterprise Edition)

Users can be defined:

  • At the space level by the space admin.

  • At the workspace level by the admin for the workspace.

The admin designates in which workspaces the user exists by explicitly defining the workspace when adding or modifying the user.

Note: Across all workspaces and spaces, log-in names and emails must be unique.

Add a user

Add users to your spaces and workspaces.

To add a user:

  1. In Settings > Spaces or Settings > Site, choose a space or a workspace in the tree on the left.

  2. On the Users tab, click +.

    If you use LDAP user management, the + button is disabled. In this case, perform user management tasks in your LDAP server. For details, see Set up LDAP.

    Note: If you use LDAP authentication, you cannot use ALM Octane native user management.

  3. Enter the user information.

    If you specify a Login name, the user uses this name to log into ALM Octane. If no login name is specified, the email address is used.

    You or the user can change the password at a later time. For details, see Change passwords.

  4. Assign roles to users.

    • Space admins assign roles to the user by workspace.

    • Admins for a workspace can assign roles to the user for that workspace only.

    For details, see Roles and permissions.

  5. Click Add.

  6. If you are a site admin, in the Site area, you can assign a user to be a site admin. Click the user's ID and change the Site admin value to Yes.

Back to top

Edit a user

An admin can click the ID of a user in the Users grid to modify an existing user's details, including his own.

You cannot change your own Login name, but another admin can change that for you.

For details on assigning roles, see Roles and permissions.

For details on changing passwords, see Change passwords.

Back to top

Add site users to a space

You can add existing ALM Octane site users to a space (supported for on-premises only).

To add site users to a space:

  1. In Settings > Spaces, select a space in the tree on the left.
  2. On the Users tab, click Include site users.
  3. Select the users to include.
  4. Click Add.

Note: You can disable adding site users to a space in the ENABLE_INCLUDE_SITE_USERS parameter. For details, see Configuration parameters.

Back to top

Add space users to a workspace

You can add existing ALM Octane space users to a workspace.

To add space users to a workspace:

  1. In Settings > Spaces, select a workspace in the tree on the left.

  2. On the Users tab, click Include space users.

  3. Select the users to include.

  4. Click Add.

Back to top

Import IdP users for SSO authentication into a workspace (on-premises)

Import users that are already defined in an Identity Provider (IdP) to a workspace without having to reenter user details.

Prerequisite: Your ALM Octane server is configured for SSO authentication. For details, see Set up SSO authentication (on-premises).

To import IdP users for SSO authentication into a workspace:

  1. In Settings > Spaces, choose a space in the tree on the left.

  2. In the Users tab, click .

  3. If you have not yet created an import (.csv) file for defining the IdP users, click View Import File Example to download a template. The default name for the template file is import_users.csv.

  4. Modify the import (.csv) file that you created for defining IdP users as necessary.

  5. Navigate to the import file using the Browse button.

  6. Select the workspace to which you want to import the users.

  7. Select the role you want to assign to the users.

    Tip: We recommend that you select the Viewer role now, and have the admin update roles later.

  8. Click Import.

After the import

  • If any users were not imported successfully, review the details, make corrections, and re-import.

    You can re-import the entire import file. Users that were already imported successfully are not duplicated. However if you re-import with a different role, these users retain their original role. You can update their roles later using bulk update.

  • You can edit only users' languages and roles.

  • Non-SSO users are still listed in the user list. However, they cannot log into ALM Octane because the login will fail SSO authentication.

  • User activation works as it does for any other type of user. If the user is not active, the user is listed but cannot log in. For details, see Activate or deactivate a user.

Back to top

Activate or deactivate a user

Activating and deactivating a user controls whether that user can access ALM Octane and how others interact with that user.

Activate a user The user can log into ALM Octane.
Deactivate a user
  • The user cannot log into ALM Octane if they are not activated in at least one workspace.

  • Other cannot assign items to a deactivated user.
  • ALM Octane cannot send emails to a deactivated user.

Deactivated users still exist in ALM Octane. In addition, references to these users are retained.

We recommend that before you deactivate a user, check what entities assigned to the user and update them as necessary.

Note: When a user is deactivated, it does not consume a license. This is especially relevant for the Named License type.

If you reactivate a user, ALM Octane restores all existing settings for the user.

The Status column in the grid shows you the activation status of the users.

The user is activated.

The user is deactivated.

The user can be activated from the current space or workspace.

Red The user is deactivated. The user can be activated from the site, or the space in which it was originally deactivated.

To activate or deactivate a user:

  1. In Settings > Site > Users or Settings Spaces > space/workspace > Users.

  2. Right-click one or more users, and choose either Activate or Deactivate.

    The Activate option is available on the level in which a user was deactivated. For example, if a user was deactivated at the space level, the user cannot be activated at the workspace level.

  3. Click Yes to confirm.

Back to top

Delete a user

Deleting a user removes the user from ALM Octane.

  • Site admins can delete a user. For details, see Manage the site.

  • SaaS: Make sure to perform the following: 

    1. First, the SaaS account administrator either deletes the user from MyAccount or, if enabled, removes ValueEdge and ALM Octane from the user's list of allowed services.

    2. Then, the ALM Octane space admin opens a support ticket to SaaS requesting that the user be deleted in ValueEdge and ALM Octane.

Back to top

Customize user details display

When you hover over a user's avatar, by default only the email address and chat button are displayed.

  • To modify which contact details to display, enter any of the following values in the USER_DETAILS_BOX_OPTIONS site parameter: email, phone, chat, teams, team_leaders. Use commas to separate between values. For example, to display email address and phone number only, enter email,phone.

  • To disable contact details display, set the USER_DETAILS_BOX_ENABLED site parameter to false.

Back to top

View workspace user history

You can view a history of user administration actions of a workspace user, such as CUD actions, deactivation, and role assignments.

To view workspace user history:

  1. Select Settings > Spaces and choose a workspace in the tree on the left.

  2. In the Users tab, select a user. Click the ID link or choose View Details, and then open the History tab.

Back to top

Map ALM Octane users to SCM users

For analysis of SCM commits, identify which users perform the commits and map their ALM Octane user to their SCM user. This enables you to analyze the commit information with ALM Octane tools such as widgets and filters.

If you set up ALM Octane to integrate with a CI server that works with a Source Control Management (SCM) system, ALM Octane tracks changes committed to the SCM system. For details, see Track changes committed to your Source Control Management system.

If the email address defined for an SCM user is identical to the one defined for an ALM Octane user, the users are mapped automatically when changes they commit are discovered.

Make sure that your SCM system is configured to share commit authors with your CI server. For example, in the Jenkins GIT plugin, set the option User commit author in changelog.

Otherwise, map the users manually.

ALM Octane users can also map themselves to unmapped SCM users listed in the Commits tab. This does not require admin permissions. For details, see Use the Commits tab to track committed changes.

To map an ALM Octane user to an SCM user:

  1. In Settings > Spaces, select the space.

  2. In the Users tab, click in the SCM users cell of a specific ALM Octane user.

    Do one of the following:

    • Select from the list of SCM users known to ALM Octane from previous commits.

    • Click Add New to add an SCM user. Provide the SCM user's username and email address for identification.

Back to top

SaaS user management

This section discusses ALM Octane user management in a SaaS environment.

Tip: When adding users to ALM Octane, make sure to add them through the ALM Octane interface as described in Add a user.

In a SaaS environment, you can add users in the following ways:

  1. Recommended: Within the administration area of the ALM Octane user interface. For details, see Manage space users. You can also customize user roles from the ALM Octane administration area. For details, see Roles and permissions.

  2. From the MyAccount > Users area, if your permissions allow you to add users. This method is not recommended, due to the following behavior:

    • If you add users in the MyAccount > Users area, they are not automatically added to the ALM Octane users.
    • If the configuration allows MyAccount users to launch an ALM Octane tenant, they will automatically be assigned to the default workspace with a Viewer role. The roles you set in the MyAccount area are unrelated to the roles assigned in ALM Octane. Therefore, to allow users to perform actions, ALM Octane admins will need to reassign roles and workspaces.
    • If you remove a user from the MyAccount > Users area, the user will continue to exist in the space.

Removing users

Space admins can deactivate a user temporarily, but not delete them. When a user is deactivated, the user no longer consumes a license. This is especially relevant for the Named License type. For details, see Activate or deactivate a user.

To permanently delete a user, submit a request through ALM Octane support.

Back to top

See also: