Cost Management Permissions

Cost Management offers various permission levels that allow you to control access to sensitive financial data. Understanding these permission levels is crucial for securely managing your organization's finances and enabling collaboration with external parties.

In this article:

Permission Levels Overview

Cost Management has five permission levels. The available levels vary by module, as shown in the table below.

Level Project Settings Budget, Cost Item, and PCO Main Contract, Budget Payment Application, Contract Expense Cost Payment Applications, RFQ, COR, OCO, SCO
No Access - Use this for suppliers or others who need to work with your company but shouldn't see all financial details about the project.
View All View-only access to settings View all information in the budget and contract tabs, including tables and charts, but cannot add or import data. View expense items and subitems Read-only access to all information
View All (without subitems) - - - View expense items only (no subitems) -
Collaborate - - View and respond to assigned items - View and respond to assigned items
Full Control Edit settings Add, import, and edit items on Budget and Contract tabs Create expenses and expense items Create and manage cost items, change orders, and RFQs
Note: A "-" indicates the permission level is not available for that module.

Understanding Each Level

Assign Permissions

Cost Management permissions can be set up and modified by project administrators.

  1. Select the Settings tool from the left navigation.
  2. Select the Permissions tab.
  3. Use the drop-down list to find the relevant member, company, or role.
  4. Click Add.
  5. Use the drop-down list in each column to select the permission level.

Permissions Per Each Table

Tip: You can assign permissions to individual members, entire companies, or roles. Project administrators automatically have full control.

Collaborate Permission

The Collaborate permission enables external parties (owners, architects, suppliers, and consultants) to participate in workflows that require agreement between multiple parties. A Autodesk® Build license is required.

Where Collaborate is Available

Collaborate is designed for agreement-based workflows where parties need to work together on items such as contracts, change orders, and payment applications. It is not available for internal tracking modules.

Available Not Available
Main Contract Budget
Budget Payment Application Cost Item
Contract PCO
Cost Payment Application Expense
RFQ
COR, OCO, SCO
Note: For modules without Collaborate permission, use View All for read-only access or Full Control for editing capabilities.

What Collaborate Enables

Users with Collaborate permission can:

Collaborators as Reviewers

For OCO (Owner Change Order) and Budget Payment Application workflows, users with Collaborate permission can be added as reviewers. This enables architects, consultants, and other external stakeholders to participate in the approval workflow. As reviewers, collaborators can:

Note: For other workflow types (SCO, Contract, Cost Payment Application, Expense), reviewers must have Full Control or Admin permission.
Note: Collaborators may also need file permissions in Autodesk Docs to upload attachments and documents. See File Permissions for Collaboration for details.

Learn more: Collaborate in Cost Management | Set Up Approval Workflows

Project Settings Control

The Project Settings permission controls whether project admins can view or edit Cost Management settings. This helps prevent accidental changes to defined cost configurations.

Level Access
View All View settings only. The "Edit" option is dimmed.
Full Control View and edit all Cost Management settings.

To configure:

  1. In the Permissions tab, find the member.
  2. In the Project Settings column, select View All or Full Control.

Project Settings Permission

Project Process Dimmed

Learn more: Project Process

Parent page: Manage Cost Management Settings