---
title: "Projects as Organizational Containers"
slug: "ideation-projects-as-containers"
updated: 2026-09-24T08:49:14Z
published: 2026-09-24T08:49:14Z
canonical: "docs.discngine.com/ideation-projects-as-containers"
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.discngine.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Projects as Organizational Containers

## Projects as Organizational Containers

Projects are the top-level organizational unit in Ideation. Every dataset and SAR report belongs to exactly one project, and the project's access control determines who can see and work with its contents.

### What Is a Project?

A project groups related datasets and SAR reports together. It has:

- A **name** (label) and a unique **code**.
- An optional **description**.
- A **visibility** setting (public or private).
- Three **project groups** (Owners, Members, Visitors) that control who can access the project and its contents.

### Personal Project vs Regular Projects

#### Personal Project ("My Workspace")

Every user gets a personal project called "My Workspace" automatically.

| Property | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Name | "My Workspace" |
| Visibility | Always private |
| Deletable | No |
| Group management | Disabled (single user only) |

The personal project is private, for individual work. You can import datasets, create SAR reports, and share individual objects with colleagues without giving them access to the project itself. Said differently, only direct sharing is available for your private project. See [Sharing your work](/public/docs/ideation-sharing-your-work) for more details.

#### Regular Project

Regular projects are created by users for team collaboration. They support:

- Public or private visibility.
- Full group management (add/remove Owners, Members, Visitors).
- Per-object permission overrides.
- Project deletion.

**Private Project**

- Only users explicitly added to a project group can see the project.
- Ideal for sensitive or team-specific work.
- All three groups (Owners, Members, Visitors) are managed by adding individual users.

**Public Project**

- All authenticated users in the organization can see the project.
- Non-member users are automatically treated as **Visitors** (Viewer access).
- You can still add users to **Owners** or **Members** for elevated access.
- Useful for organization-wide reference datasets or shared resources.

### Datasets and SAR Reports as Children

Every dataset and SAR report belongs to exactly one project. When created, an object is associated with the current project and inherits its access control.

```
Project
├── Dataset A
│   └── SAR Report 1 (based on Dataset A)
├── Dataset B
│   └── SAR Report 2 (based on Dataset B)
│   └── SAR Report 3 (based on Dataset B)
└── Dataset C
```

#### Permission Inheritance

By default, a dataset or SAR report inherits permissions from its project:

- Project Owners → Admin on all objects.
- Project Members → Editor on all objects.
- Project Visitors → Viewer on all objects.

This default can be overridden per object (see [Access Control Model — Per-Object Role Overrides](/public/docs/ideation-access-control-model#perobject-role-overrides)).

#### Moving Datasets Between Projects

A dataset can be moved from one project to another. When this happens:

- The dataset starts inheriting the **target** project's group permissions.
- Direct access grants (per-user roles) are preserved.
- Users who had access through the **source** project's groups may lose access if they are not members of the target project.

### Direct Access Without Project Access

A common pattern in Ideation is sharing an object with someone who does not have access to the parent project:

- **Sharing from a personal workspace**: You share a dataset from "My Workspace" with a colleague. They can open the dataset but cannot see your personal workspace or its other contents.
- **Sharing from a private project**: A project Owner shares one specific SAR report with an external reviewer. The reviewer sees only that report and its underlying dataset — not the project or other objects.

In these cases, the recipient's experience is:

- The shared object opens normally with full functionality for their role.
- The project is **not clickable**. Instead, the user sees the message "No access to the project".
- They cannot navigate to the project or discover other objects within it.
- They can only access objects that have been explicitly shared with them.

This design allows fine-grained sharing without compromising the privacy of the broader project.