Resource Assignment
Managing resource assignment is a powerful tool for implementing usage policies within an organization and ensuring accurate resource allocation. This central feature can be accessed through the “Resources” menu item of the left sidebar.
The main concepts to be taken into account are the following attributes that a resource might possess, including the associated Ownership and Pool. Once a resource (instance, volume, network, security group) is discovered by DigiUsher or created by a user, it is regarded as unassigned, which means that the resource is generally linked to the organization but currently has neither Owner nor Pool. The assignment flow depends highly on the current user role and available permissions. Essentially, there are 4 types of resources:
- unassigned
- user-owned
- manageable - the current user has manager permissions for the Pool group where the resource is located, although the owner is someone else
- restricted - the current user doesn’t have permissions for the resource, it belongs to someone else
The following image shows an example of a newly added instance. Note that the corresponding fields are empty. The first step is to select an appropriate resource item and click the “Assign” button.
By default, a new “Assign resources” panel will open at the “To me” section, allowing the user to become the Owner of the unassigned resource once a desired Pool group has been selected in the the drop-down “Pool name” menu for billing purposes. To finalize the process, click the “Assign” button. The system will immediately create a direct resource assignment to the user.
Another option for the unappointed items, is to directly assign them to another user. A designated Pool can be pre-selected at this step as well. Users with manager permissions will always have access to this tab and will be able to manipulate any earlier assigned resources at will.
To facilitate the flow when managing resources, the recent selections of Pool and Owner values will be retained and carried over as default when issuing a consecutive assignment.
Alternatively, if the current user without manager permissions wants to reassign an acquired resource to someone else, a request can be sent to a fellow employee for them to decide whether to acknowledge the ownership or to decline it.
Thus, if the current user doesn’t have manager permissions and still wants to assign a resource to another user, an assignment request is created. In this case, the target user will decide the Pool used for this item at their own discretion. When an assignment is created (by the manager) or a request is accepted (from another user), a reference point in time can be specified for a resource in order to maintain correct expense records and ownership history. A request from another user can, however, be declined by the recipient or canceled by the initial sender. No further action are required in that case.
A resource that is subject to an active transfer request receives a label to notify the user of its pending status until approved or reassigned manually.
DigiUsher allows to use bulk operations for creating assignments and assignment requests. When selected, several assignments/requests will be created simultaneously.
This feature may use common parameters (applied for every item in bulk) as well as individual parameters.
Please make note of the following restrictions that apply when operating with resource assignments.
In order to create an assignment request, the user must have authority over the target resource. The user must either be the resource Owner or have the manager role in the Pool group where this resource is located.
In order to create a direct resource assignment, the user must have:
- Permissions for the target resource (as in assignment request)
- Permissions for the target Pool:
- If the current user is the Owner, they should have the manager role (Own resources) for the Pool group.
- If the Owner is another user, the current user should have the manager role (All resources) for Pool group.
- In case of a personal Pool, the target owner should have access to the target personal Pool.
Assignment Rules
Resources found in the connected data sources can be organized in DigiUsher by means of defining custom rules that they will be checked against upon discovery. Navigate to the “Assignment Rules” subsection of the Resources page and click the Add button to create a new one.
After being redirected to the corresponding view, the user will be prompted to input a Name for the new automatic resource assignment rule as well as the Conditions that have to be fulfilled in order for the rule to become applicable. As the result, a matching resource will be included into the selected Target Pool and assigned to an Owner.
Condition types are as follows:
- Name starts with
- Name ends with
- Name is
- Name contains
- Tag is
and - Tag exists
- Tag value starts with
and - Source is
DigiUsher offers a system of Priority ranks for existing Assignment Rules. A newly created rule is always prioritized across the organization and is put in the top of the list for the discovered resources to be checked against its conditions first. If these are not satisfied, a resource will be checked against the remaining rules in descending order until one is found applicable. Failing to find a match, a resource will end up in the Unassigned resources tab of the My Tasks section without being included into a Pool or assigned to a specific Owner.
Available actions:
- Prioritize
sets rule priority to 1. Priority of other rules will be overwritten. A older rule that was previously priority 1 will be shifted to the second position, second will become third and so on. - Promote
increases rule priority by 1. If a rule had priority 3, it will be changed to 2, consequently moving a rule which had priority 2 to the third rank. - Demote
decreases rule priority by 1. If a rule had priority 2, it will be changed to 3, and a rule which had priority 3 will become second. - Deprioritize
assigns a rule with the lowest priority across the given organization. All other affected rules will be updated. - Edit
allows modification of an existing rule. A rule can be enabled/disabled by ticking the Active checkbox. Active rules are marked with green dots next to their names, inactive ones are marked with grey dots. - Delete
removes the rule from the list. - Re-apply ruleset
initiates a new check of the already assigned resources in a given Pool against the current ruleset. Resources will be reorganized accordingly even if they were explicitly assigned otherwise before.
My Tasks
This section provides a user with a quick overview of tasks that might require solution for a more effective functionality.
The Show all button expands the related brief menu section to introduce a detailed presentation of all unassigned resources available to the user in a new tab.
When browsing through all unassigned resources, the user may perform a bulk operation for all listed items by clicking Assign all resources in the top right corner. This will open a new window, where a target Pool group and Owner can be selected for all items at once.
Here is a general description of the possible actions according to the resource type.
My Resources
These are the resources that the current user owns. Available actions:
- to me - assign a resource to myself. Changing of the current Pool for the resource is available.
- to someone else - direct assignment to another employee of the organization.
- send request - the user is willing to assign the resource to someone else but doesn’t have the appropriate permissions for a direct action.
Manageable Resources
These resources belong to another employee, but the user has manager permissions in the Pool group where the resources are located. Available actions (similar to My resources):
- to me - assign a resource to myself. Changing of the current Pool for the resource is available.
- to someone else - direct assignment to another employee of the organization.
- send request - the user is willing to assign the resource to someone else but doesn’t have the appropriate permissions for a direct action.
Unassigned
These are the resources that don’t have an owner or a Pool yet. Available actions:
- to me - acquire ownership of the resource.
- to someone else - direct assignment to another employee of the organization.
Restricted
These are the resources that the current user doesn’t have any permissions for. No actions are available.