Configure TaskRay External Sharing

Do you need to share project progress with someone who isn't on TaskRay or even Salesforce? You can!

Using Salesforce Sites, it is possible to provide read-only access to external stakeholders for designated projects. By setting this up, you will have the ability to generate a unique URL that can then be shared with any external stakeholder to provide read-only access to parts of TaskRay. The link will allow external stakeholders to view project progress without having to log in to Salesforce.

While initial setup for Salesforce Sites requires a System Administrator, selecting the projects for sharing can be done by any user who has access to the project. However, if you would like to add an extra level of security around the ability to share projects externally, you can use validation rules to do so. Out of the box, TaskRay comes with an inactive validation rule on the TaskRay Project object to restrict external sharing to the project owner, which you can turn on at any time if necessary.

Configuration Overview

This article will outline all the steps to configure this feature using our out-of-the-box External Sharing utility in Tools and Settings that allows to set up certain parts of the feature in a matter of a few clicks.

Below are the high-level steps for configuring and using this feature:

1. Register Salesforce Site Domain (through Setup)
2. Create New Salesforce Site (through Setup)
3. Complete External Sharing Links Utility (through TaskRay Tools and Settings); the utility will configure the following:
   1. Configure TaskRay Global Settings
   2. Assign a TaskRay Permission Set and License to the Site Guest User
   3. Create Sharing Rules on the TaskRay Objects for the Site Guest User
   4. Add Fields to Project (through Setup)

Additionally, there are a few optional configurations that might apply to your specific use case. Once the feature is fully configured, you could further customize it by editing field permissions, defining the default columns visible in the link, designating certain tasks as internal only, or enabling a validation rule to restrict the ability to share projects. Details on the optional configurations can be found in this article: TaskRay External Sharing Optional Configurations.

Step 1: Register Salesforce Site Domain [Admin]

The first thing that you will need to do for setting up Salesforce Sites is register a Salesforce domain. If you have already done this, you can skip to the next section of this article.

1. From Setup, navigate to:
   • Lightning: User Interface | Sites and Domains | Sites.
   • Classic: Build | Develop | Sites.
2. In the box at the bottom of the page, enter a domain name and click on Check Availability. If it is not available, enter a new domain name.
3. If it is available, select the I have read and accepted the Salesforce Sites Terms of Use checkbox.
4. Click on Register My Salesforce Site Domain.

Step 2: Create New Salesforce Site [Admin]

After your domain is deployed, the next thing that you need to do is create a new site for sharing TaskRay projects.

1. If you are not already on that page: from Setup, navigate to:
   • Lightning: User Interface | Sites and Domains | Sites.
   • Classic: Build | Develop | Sites.
2. In the Sites section at the bottom of the page, click New.
3. Enter a Site Label (i.e. "TaskRay External Sharing").
4. The Site Name should automatically generate based on the label that you enter.
5. [Optional] Enter a Site Description.
6. If necessary, change the Site Contact.
7. Enter Default Web Address (i.e. projectstatus).
8. Select Active Site Home Page by clicking on the lookup icon next to the field. In the window that comes up, select trtaskboard.
9. Make sure that the Require Secure Connections (HTTPS) checkbox is checked.
10. Click Save.
11. On the Site Details page, click Activate.

Step 3: External Sharing Links Utility [Admin]

The following steps can be completed directly in the TaskRay app. 

TaskRay offers an External Sharing Links Utility to simplify this process and guide an administrator through the process of deploying External Sharing feature. This utility can be accessed in TaskRay Tools and Settings once you complete registration and creation of the external sharing Salesforce Site.

To access the External Sharing Links Utility, navigate to the TaskRay app in your Salesforce org and open the Tools and Settings menu. Tools and Settings can be accessed from the TaskRay toolbar by clicking on the Gear icon in the upper right corner. 

Within Tools and Settings, under Admin, click on the External Sharing Links tab to open the utility.

This utility will walk you through the steps to configure the TaskRay External Sharing feature and it will consist of the following steps:

1. Register a Domain Name and Public Site

This section correlates with Step 1 (Register Salesforce Site Domain) and Step 2 (Create New Salesforce Site) of the article above. Set the Site Setup Complete? toggle to True if this has been completed.

If you still need to configure site settings, click on the Open Site Setup button and refer to the following sections of this article: Register Salesforce Site Domain [Admin] and Create New Salesforce Site [Admin].

2. Select Public Site for External Sharing

Using the dropdown, select the site that you would like to use for External Sharing (configured in the previous step). When selected, click on Apply Selection.

3. Assign a TaskRay Permission Set and License

Click Assign to automatically assign the TaskRay External - Read Only Access Permission Set and a TaskRay License to the Public Site Guest User.

4. Create Sharing Rules for the Public Site

Click on Create Sharing Rules to create Sharing Rules that grant the TaskRay External Sharing Site Guest user read-only access to the TaskRay Project, TaskRay Task, and TaskRay Checklist objects.

5. Update TaskRay Project Page Layouts

To make projects available for external sharing, you will need to add two fields to the TaskRay Project Page Layout: Available for External Sharing and External Sharing Link. These fields are necessary to control which projects are shared externally and to generate the link that can be shared with external users. This will need to be completed in Salesforce Setup.

To add the fields to the TaskRay Project Page Layout:

1. From Setup, navigate to:
   • Lightning: Objects and Fields | Object Manager | TaskRay Project
   • Classic: Create | Objects | TaskRay Project
2. Click Page Layouts.
3. Select the page layout where you'd like to add the fields.
4. Move the Available for External Sharing and External Sharing Link fields onto the page layout.
5. Click Save.

That's It!

When you are done, back in the External Sharing Utility in Tools and Settings, set the Complete? toggle to True.

This should complete the setup for the TaskRay External Sharing feature. Next, in order to share projects externally, you will need to mark the applicable projects as Available for External Sharing. Instructions on how to do this can be found in this article: Make Projects Available for External Sharing.

Lastly, you can also refer to this article for the additional optional configurations that can be made to the External Sharing Link: TaskRay External Sharing Optional Configurations.