# Role Concept

## Key Terms

| ### Privileges Privileges represent functions that need to be protected and which are bound to specific objects (masks, fields, selections) within Agile e6. Examples of such privileges include the Read document, Insert document, or Delete item types of functions. Privileges can be integrated at all points (events) of the object definition that permit userexit links such as functions which enable or disable masks, enter or leave fields, or selection functions. Prior to the definition of privileges, you need to answer the following questions: Which objects (items, documents, projects, ...) contain information that must be protected? Which are the related functions (= userexits) to which access restrictions should apply? What are the events that trigger these userexits?
| ### Positions (jobs) Positions are the system-specific link between the objects Role, the users, and Organization or Project. You may for instance define, that a user can only perform a specific role in the scope of one specific project. Furthermore, you can initially (e.g. in the project planning phase) define the relationship between a project and a role without assigning a specific user to the role. Positions can be limited in time. This functionality enables you to integrate replacement roles, e.g. for the duration of a vacation.
| ### Organizational Units and Projects Organizational Units define the static structure of a company such as the business fields, company sites, departments, and groups. Projects are structures which are limited in time and which are not modeled after other organizational units. Therefore, the application of these two element classes is alternative.
| ### Roles The Role concept represents a number of additional functions which a user can execute within Agile e6 and which do not fall under the unrestricted functions group. Roles can form structures; the corresponding number of permitted functions is combined to a group. Example: All design engineers and the chief design engineer perform tasks which are consistent with their function (role) within the company. To perform those tasks in Agile e6, they need specific access privileges. Due to the role structure of the aggregation mechanism, a superior inherits all access privileges of his subordinates.