Polarion is installed with one default user account with user name "System Administrator" which has Global administration rights. The default log-in credentials for this account are:

The default System Administrator account provides access to all Polarion administration and configuration features for the Polarion system and all Projects in the Subversion repository, and access to the repository itself.

The main System Administrator may find it useful or necessary to grant administrative access to other Polarion users. For example, if the main administrator is absent for some reason, someone else in the organization should be able to perform system administration functions with Polarion. Another example: the manager of each Project might be given administrative rights for the Project(s) he/she manages. This enables the manager to add user accounts and assign user roles for the Project, among other things.

To define an additional administrator, first create a user account if one does not already exist. You can specify the new user's role(s) for the global system and/or per Project in the process of creating the account. For an existing user, you need to edit the user's account and specify his/her role(s) for the global installation and/or per Project.

For information on creating user accounts and defining user roles, see User Management.

Actually, all administration functions are accessible via Polarion's graphical user interface (GUI). However, not all configurations can be performed using graphical controls in the portal, though many can.

Administrative functions such as customizing feature configurations are mostly performed by editing the relevant XML configuration files in the Subversion repository. Some configurations can be performed directly in the portal using graphical controls. These configurations are noted on the documentation.

Where some configuration requires editing a configuration file, you generally have 2 options:

Figure 1.1. Accessing configuration files

Edit XML config files locally or online

Sometimes configuration or customization is possible not only globally, but also for projects or sometimes project groups . Initially, there will be no configuration file for the more granular scope. In this case, you can download the global configuration file, modify it for the scope in which it applies, and upload the modified file to the repository URL applicable for the scope, or, in some cases, to the same URL but with the file renamed in a way that Polarion recognizes as applying to the more granular scope. You will find help texts in the GUI screen where you access to the configuration file which indicate where you need to upload the modified file, and/or how the modified file must be named to apply in a narrower scope.

You can create some project-scope configurations online without having to download/upload the XML configuration file. Where this capability is available, you will see the Edit Project Configuration portlet and a button: Paste Global Configuration.. Clicking this button pastes the XML from the global configuration into the text box control where you can modify it as needed for the project, and save the project configuration.

Figure 1.2. Project configuration

Customizing global configuration for a project