Cross Project Shared Assets

Modified on Tue, 20 Jan at 3:10 PM

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Cross-Project Shared Assets
Further Support

Cross-Project Shared Assets

Cross-Project Shared Assets allows a project to share its assets, such as a list of users, with multiple other projects without incurring additional licence costs. These shared assets can be managed using per-project workflows and Deployment Units.

Shared vs Non-Shared Elements

Shared:
The base asset and its core properties are shared between projects. For example, when sharing Applications, fields such as AppId, Vendor, Name, and Version are common to both projects. Changes made in one project will be applied to all other projects where the asset is shared.
- History is also shared. To view project-specific changes, enable the Project column on the History toolbar.
Not Shared:
- Process / Sub Process values are not shared. The asset is added to the workflow for the project it is shared with.
- Dropdown fields are not shared. In the receiving project, these appear as read-only text boxes.
- Detail tabs such as Discovery, Links, Contacts, Tests, Tasks, Defects, Dependencies, and Attachments are not shared.
- Deployment Units are not shared between projects, but a shared asset may exist in multiple Deployment Units (one per project).

Cross Project Settings

To manage shared asset configuration:

Navigate to Administration → Cross Project Settings.
The Cross Project Settings option is visible only if you have the Cross Project Configuration role.
Add or adjust shared asset rules:
- Select Add Shared Asset to add a rule.

Field	Description
`Share From`	The project holding the primary assets (e.g., list of users).
`Share To`	The project receiving the shared assets.
`Module to Share`	The type of asset to share (e.g., Applications, Users, Devices).
`What to Share`	Options: `All To`: Share all assets from Project A to Project B; changes in Project B do not sync back to Project A. `All To & Back`: Share all assets both ways. `Specific To`: Share selected assets from Project A to Project B; does not allow assets created in Project B to be shared back. `Specific To & Back`: Share selected assets both ways. `Ignore`: Disable this sharing rule without deleting it.
`Remove`	Delete this sharing rule. Note: Deleting a rule does not undo previous sharing. Set the rule to `Specific To`, remove shared assets via the UI, then delete the rule to fully undo sharing.

Supported Modules

The following modules support cross-project asset sharing. This is commonly used to share large user lists across multiple projects without duplicating users or licences.

Supported

Applications
User Migrations
Devices
Mailboxes
Bespoke

Not Supported

Deployment Units
Defects
Tasks

Permissions

Setup

To configure asset sharing between two or more projects, a user must have the Cross Project Configuration role in each relevant project.

To use the Share option in the grid context menu, the user must have the Cross Project Share Asset role for both projects.

Remove From

To use the Remove Shared Asset option in the grid context menu, the user must have the Cross Project Remove Asset role for both projects.

Notes and Recommendations

Applications

Sharing applications may result in complex rationalisation scenarios, such as rationalising an app to another that does not exist in the current project. To prevent this, it is recommended to share all applications in both directions (parent-to-child and child-to-parent).

When sharing "All" assets, sharing occurs at asset creation. A housekeeping task runs nightly to resynchronise any missed shared assets. The configuration panel in the Administration section provides a button to synchronise shared assets immediately, useful when configuration options change.

History

Shared asset history can be updated by multiple projects. The History tab displays aggregated changes across all projects. Use the Column Chooser in the History toolbar to add the hidden Project column, identifying which project made each change.

Licence

Shared assets do not consume additional licences in projects where they are shared.

Delete vs Remove

If an asset is deleted from a project, it is permanently deleted from ManagementStudio and all shared projects.
To safely remove a shared asset from a single project, use the grid context menu if you have the necessary permissions (see Permissions).
An asset must remain in at least one project. The system prevents asset removal if it is the sole project containing that asset.

Further Support

For additional assistance, visit the ManagementStudio Service Desk to search the knowledge base or create a support ticket.