Setting Up Integration Server

This article describes the operational setup of Rillsoft Integration Server for administrators and IT owners. It complements the conceptual article Integration Server.

The main goal is not only to make the server technically available. The setup must create a reliable structure for tenants, resource pools, directories, users, permissions, projects, and optional modules such as DMS.

Administration area of Rillsoft Integration Server

Prepare The Operating Model

Clarify these decisions before creating productive data:

  • which business unit, site, or company is represented by each tenant

  • who owns and maintains the central resource pool

  • how projects should be grouped in directories

  • which planners, resource managers, PMO users, and employees need access

  • which functions belong to Rillsoft Project and which belong to the web modules

  • whether DMS, time recording, vacation planning, or project import are part of the rollout

A poor initial structure is difficult to repair later because projects, permissions, and documents start to depend on it.

Create Tenants

A tenant is the base unit for resource pool, project directories, permissions, and documents.

Create a separate tenant when different organisational units need clearly separate resource pools or project data, for example separate companies, major sites, or business units with independent planning.

Tenant list in Rillsoft Integration Server

Each user needs explicit tenant access. Tenant access alone is not sufficient for productive work; users also need the required user roles and directory roles.

Design Directories

Directories organise projects and portfolios. They are virtual structures in the server database and should follow planning responsibility, not local file habits.

Useful directory structures include:

  • department or site

  • customer or project category

  • project phase

  • active, planned, archived, or template areas

  • PMO responsibility area

Directory structure for projects and portfolios

Keep the structure simple enough that users can predict where a project belongs. Too many levels increase permission errors and make portfolio work harder.

Set Up Roles And Permissions

Separate general rights from directory access:

User roles

Define system-wide capabilities such as reading the resource pool, administering users, editing DMS documents, or using additional modules.

Directory roles

Define what a user may do in a specific project directory, for example read, edit, delete, or manage projects.

Start with role groups that match real work:

  • project planner

  • resource manager

  • PMO

  • management read-only

  • employee feedback user

  • IT administrator

Avoid giving broad administrator rights to normal planning users. If everyone can edit everything, the server becomes a shared file store instead of a controlled planning system.

Prepare The Resource Pool

The resource pool is the most important data foundation for Rillsoft Project. Before productive migration, clean up:

  • employees and teams

  • roles and professional qualifications

  • calendars, working times, and non-working days

  • machines, machine types, material, and other shared resources

  • naming conventions for roles and teams

Capacity balancing is only meaningful when resource supply is current and resource demand is planned consistently. In many organisations, this means planning activities first by role or qualification and assigning named employees later.

Migrate Projects Gradually

Do not move all local project files to the server in one step. A controlled migration usually works better:

  1. Clean up the resource pool and roles.

  2. Create tenants, directories, and permissions.

  3. Migrate a small pilot set of projects.

  4. Check opening, saving, locking, versions, and portfolio views.

  5. Validate capacity balancing and project controlling.

  6. Migrate further projects in batches.

Keep the parallel phase short. If the same project exists both as a local file and as a server project, users can easily work on the wrong version.

Configure DMS If Required

If project documents are managed in Rillsoft Integration Server, define the DMS folder structure before users start adding files.

DMS folder structure in Integration Server

Decide:

  • which document folders exist for a tenant

  • who may read, create, update, delete, and restore documents

  • how document versions are handled

  • whether file size limits are required

  • which documents belong to projects, subprojects, or activities

Operational Checklist

Before go-live, verify:

  • users can log in and see only their authorised tenants

  • the resource pool opens and can be edited by responsible users

  • project planners can create, open, save, and lock projects

  • read-only users cannot modify project data

  • project versions can be recovered

  • DMS permissions match the intended document process

  • backup and restore procedures are defined

  • users know when to use server projects instead of local files