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Project Governance Settings

The Project Governance Settings page lets superusers configure how ownership, participants, and workflow status are enforced across all projects and tasks in the tenant. Changes take effect immediately for all subsequent project and task operations.

Open Projects from the sidebar and navigate to Settings → Project Settings. This page is visible only to users with superuser access.

Project Settings page

SettingDefaultDescription
Require project ownerOnWhen enabled, a project cannot be saved without an owner assigned. Applies to both Create and Edit Project dialogs.
SettingDefaultDescription
Enable project participantsOnEnables the Participants panel on project detail pages and makes participant management available. When disabled, all participant settings below are inactive.
Require participants before activationOffWhen enabled, a project must have at least one participant before it can be moved from Draft to Active. New projects default to Draft status when this setting is active.
Show role managementOnControls whether the Project Roles section appears in the sidebar and whether the role selector is shown on the Participants panel. Requires participants to be enabled.
SettingDefaultDescription
Require owner on createOffWhen enabled, every new task must have an assignee set before it can be saved.
Require owner when moving to To DoOffWhen enabled, moving a task to the To Do status requires an assignee.
Require owner when startingOnWhen enabled, moving a task to In Progress requires an assignee.
Require owner before review or doneOnWhen enabled, moving a task to Review or Done requires an assignee.
Default owner strategyNoneControls how the Assignee field is pre-filled when a new task is created. Options: None (field is empty), Creator (the user creating the task is auto-assigned), Project owner (the project’s owner is auto-assigned).
SettingDefaultDescription
Enforce ownership by statusOnMaster switch for status-based ownership enforcement. When disabled, the status-specific owner requirements above are not checked.
Blocked statuses without ownerIn Progress, Review, DoneStatuses that require an assignee. Only relevant when Enforce ownership by status is on. Choose from: To Do, In Progress, Review, Done.
SettingDefaultDescription
Allow unassigned backlog tasksOnWhen off, even Backlog tasks require an assignee.
Allow multiple assigneesOffWhen enabled, tasks can have more than one assignee.
SettingDefaultDescription
Task open modeSlide-overControls how task detail opens when you click a task row. Slide-over opens a side panel; Page navigates to the full task detail page.
Project open modePageControls how project detail opens when you click a project row. Slide-over opens a side panel; Page navigates to the full project detail page.

The page uses a dirty-state form. The Save button is enabled only when one or more settings have been changed. Click Save to apply changes, or Reset to discard edits and restore the last saved values.

When an owner requirement blocks a task action, the system shows a recovery dialog prompting the user to assign an owner before the status change can proceed. This dialog appears inline on Boards, Backlog, Task Detail, and My Tasks pages so users can resolve the requirement without leaving their current context.

RuleBehavior
Participants required on activationAttempting to activate a project with zero participants returns an error: “Project participants are required before activation.”
Task owner required for statusSaving or moving a task to a blocked status without an assignee returns an error: “Task owner is required for this status.”
Last participant removal blockedRemoving the last participant from an Active project is blocked if Require participants before activation is enabled.
Duplicate participantAdding a user who is already a participant on the project is blocked with a warning.

This page requires superuser access. Users without superuser permission see an access-denied message and cannot read or change any settings. Standard project-write users are not able to reach this page.

  • Project Roles — Manage the role labels used on the Participants panel
  • Project Participants — Add and manage participants on a specific project
  • Create Project — How governance settings affect project creation
  • Edit Project — How governance settings affect project editing
  • Create Task — How owner requirements affect task creation
  • Edit Task — How owner requirements affect task editing