How to Add People to Projects on Procore

Understanding Procore Directory System

Before diving into the step-by-step process, it is important to understand that Procore uses a directory system to manage user accounts. In Procore, a user is defined as a person with a profile in the Procore Directory. A unique login email identifies each user, meaning the same email address cannot be used for two profiles in a company's Directory.

Procore's directory management revolves around two primary tools that serve different purposes but work together seamlessly. The Company Level Directory maintains user information across your entire organization, making it ideal for team members who need access to multiple projects. This centralized approach simplifies user management and ensures consistency across your company's Procore environment.

The Project Level Directory, on the other hand, focuses specifically on individual projects. When you add someone here, they're automatically included in the Company Directory as well, creating a unified user profile. This dual-directory system provides flexibility while maintaining organizational structure.

Each directory offers distinct functionalities and permission options tailored to different needs. The Company Directory gives you broad control over user access across your organization, while the Project Directory allows for project-specific customization. Understanding when to use each directory will significantly improve your efficiency in managing project teams.

Adding Users Through Project Directory

The most common method to add people to projects on Procore is through the Project Directory. This approach is straightforward and perfect for adding team members who need access to specific projects rather than your entire Procore environment.

To begin, navigate to your desired project and locate the Directory tool in the main navigation menu. Once there, look for the "Add a User Account to the Project Directory" button, which will open a form where you'll enter all necessary information. This form collects essential details like name, job title, email address, and contact information that will identify this user in the system.

When adding contact details, you can either copy information from the company profile or enter custom details for this specific user. This flexibility is particularly useful when dealing with subcontractors or consultants who may have different office locations than your main company. Remember that the email address serves as the unique identifier in Procore, so accuracy here is crucial.

Next, assign the appropriate project role from available options such as architect, project manager, or subcontractor. Adding relevant keywords or tags (like "BVSS" for Best Value Source Selection) will make finding this user easier later. These organizational elements might seem minor, but they become invaluable as your project team grows.

Setting User Permissions

Permissions determine what actions users can perform within Procore. After adding someone to your project, you'll need to decide what level of access they should have to various tools and information.

Procore offers several permission template options to streamline this process. Global Permission Templates apply consistent access rights across all projects, making them ideal for standardized roles like executives or company-wide managers. Project Specific Permission Templates, meanwhile, allow for customized access for a single project, perfect for consultants or specialists who need unique privileges.

For situations requiring highly customized access, you can select "Do Not Apply a Permission Template" and manually configure permissions for each tool. This granular control ensures users have exactly the access they need—no more, no less. Remember that future modifications to a user's permissions will require editing their permission template through Procore's permissions tool.

The right permission settings balance security with accessibility. Too much access creates potential security risks, while too little can hamper productivity and create bottlenecks. Take time to consider each user's actual needs before assigning permissions.

Bulk Adding Users to Multiple Projects

Construction professionals often manage multiple projects simultaneously, making the process of adding the same users to several projects a potentially time-consuming task. Thankfully, Procore's bulk-add feature significantly streamlines this process.

To use this feature, you'll need to access the Company Level Directory with administrator permissions. Look for the "Bulk Add from Var. Directory" option, which allows you to add users or companies to multiple projects at once. This powerful tool presents you with a list of available projects where you can select individual projects or, if available, use an "add to all projects" button for maximum efficiency.

After selecting your projects, review the selection table carefully to ensure accuracy. The interface typically includes options to clear individual selections or use a "clear all" function if you need to start over. This verification step helps prevent accidentally adding users to the wrong projects, which could create unnecessary access or confusion.

Once you've confirmed your selections, you'll need to assign appropriate permission templates and project roles for each new project. While this might take some time initially, it's significantly faster than adding users to each project individually. The bulk-add feature not only saves valuable time but also reduces the potential for human error that comes with repetitive manual entry.

Inviting Users to Participate

Adding users to Procore doesn't automatically grant them active access. To complete the process, you must send an invitation that allows them to set up their account and begin participating in your projects.

For new users, locate them in the Project Directory and click the "Invite" button. Procore will automatically send a welcome email to their address with instructions for getting started. When adding first-time users, the "Save and Send Invitation" option streamlines this process by creating their record and sending the invitation simultaneously.

If a user has been previously invited but hasn't yet accessed Procore, a "Re-invite" button will appear next to their name. This feature is particularly useful when dealing with busy stakeholders who might have missed the initial invitation. Clicking this button sends another invitation, ensuring they receive the necessary login information.

Procore's automated follow-up system sends reminder emails at three, seven, and 14 days if users don't log in after receiving an invitation. This persistent but unobtrusive approach helps ensure all team members get properly onboarded without requiring manual follow-up from administrators. The system strikes a balance between encouraging participation and avoiding excessive notifications.

Managing Notification Settings

Effective communication is essential for successful project management, and Procore's notification system plays a crucial role in keeping everyone informed. When adding users, you can configure their notification preferences to ensure they receive relevant updates without being overwhelmed by unnecessary alerts.

Default email notifications cover a wide range of project activities that might require attention. These notifications can be customized based on the user's role and responsibilities within the project. A project manager might need comprehensive notifications about all aspects of the project, while a subcontractor might only need updates related to their specific scope of work.

The notification options available include:

• RFI Updates – Alerts about new requests for information and responses
• Submittal Notifications – Information about document submissions and approvals
• Punch List Items – Updates on outstanding items needing completion
• Weather Delays – Notifications about weather-related schedule impacts
• Observations and Incidents – Reports on site conditions and safety issues

For projects utilizing Procore's scheduling features, additional notification options become available. Schedule notifications alert users about task assignments, timeline changes, and critical path updates. These notifications help keep the project on track by ensuring all team members are aware of their responsibilities and deadlines.

Finding the right balance with notifications is important. Too many notifications can lead to alert fatigue, causing users to ignore important updates. Too few notifications might leave team members uninformed about critical developments. Consider each user's role carefully when configuring their notification settings to create an effective communication flow.

Handling Inactive Projects

Project statuses change throughout their lifecycle, and knowing how to manage user access during these transitions is important. Inactive projects present unique considerations when it comes to user management in Procore.

Inactive projects typically have restricted functionality, but certain users may still need access to historical data or documentation. Full company administrators and users with read-only permissions can often view or edit details on these projects, depending on your organization's settings. This selective access ensures project information remains available to authorized personnel while limiting unnecessary changes.

Before transitioning a project to inactive status, consider changing user permission templates to "None" to prevent modifications. This approach maintains the user's association with the project for audit purposes while restricting their ability to make changes. For larger teams, removing users as a bulk action might be more efficient than individually adjusting permissions.

Access control becomes particularly important for inactive projects containing sensitive information or financial data. Limiting full administrative access to essential personnel helps protect this information while still making it available to those who need it. Regular reviews of user access for inactive projects should be part of your Procore maintenance routine to ensure permissions remain appropriate as organizational roles change.

Resource Planning and User Types

Procore's Resource Planning and Resource Tracking tools add another dimension to user management. These features help allocate personnel effectively across projects, but they require specific user configurations to function properly.

When adding users for resource planning, you'll encounter three distinct user types that determine how people interact with the system. Understanding these types is crucial for effective resource management:

• User – Can log into Procore but cannot be assigned as a resource unless combined with assignable privileges
• Assignable – Cannot log in but can be given resource assignments within the system
• Both – Can both log in and be assigned as a resource for planning purposes

People added through Resource Planning are initially added to a separate People List. Depending on your data synchronization settings, they may be automatically added to the Company Directory. This integration ensures consistency across your Procore environment while maintaining the specialized functionality needed for resource planning.

After synchronization occurs, these users still need to be invited from the Company Directory to fully activate their Procore accounts. This multi-step process might seem complex, but it ensures that resource planning integrates smoothly with the rest of your Procore environment. The result is a cohesive system that manages both project information and resource allocation effectively.

Submittal Workflow Configuration

The submittal process is critical in construction projects, ensuring that materials and work meet specifications before implementation. Procore's submittal workflow allows for sophisticated approval processes that can be configured to match your organization's needs.

When adding people to submittal workflows, you'll need to decide between sequential and parallel approval processes. Sequential approval requires only one user per line item in the workflow, with each approval step triggered only after the previous user has responded. This linear approach works well for straightforward approvals where each reviewer builds on the previous assessment.

Parallel approval, by contrast, involves adding multiple users to the same line item. All users marked as required must submit their responses before the workflow progresses to the next stage. This approach is valuable when multiple perspectives are needed simultaneously, such as when both architectural and engineering approvals are required for a material selection.

These workflow configurations provide the flexibility to match your actual approval processes rather than forcing your organization to adapt to the software. The right configuration depends on your project's complexity, team structure, and approval requirements. For projects with rigorous documentation needs or regulatory compliance concerns, more complex workflows with multiple approval stages might be necessary.

Best Practices for User Management

Effective user management in Procore requires more than just technical knowledge. These best practices will help you maintain an organized, secure, and efficient project environment:

When managing users across multiple projects, consistency becomes your greatest ally. Use standardized naming conventions, role assignments, and permission templates whenever possible to create predictability across your Procore environment. This consistency makes it easier for administrators to manage users and for users to understand their access rights.

Consider implementing these proven strategies for optimal user management:

• Verify user permissions before sending invitations to prevent unauthorized access
• Utilize tags and keywords consistently to simplify searching and filtering
• Document all bulk user actions for future reference and troubleshooting
• Regularly audit user access, especially for sensitive or inactive projects
• Develop standard onboarding procedures for different user types

Training your administrative team on proper user management techniques pays dividends in efficiency and security. Regular training sessions ensure that everyone handling user administration understands both the technical process and the organizational implications of their actions. This shared knowledge creates consistency even when multiple administrators manage different aspects of your Procore environment.

Integration with other construction management tools requires careful attention to user management. When Procore connects with applications like Egnyte for file syncing or One-Key for tool tracking, user information often flows between systems. Following integration guides carefully ensures that this information remains consistent and accurate across all platforms.

Troubleshooting Common Issues

Even with careful planning, you may encounter challenges when adding people to Procore projects. Understanding common issues and their solutions will help you resolve problems quickly and maintain project momentum.

The duplicate email error is perhaps the most frequent issue administrators face. Since Procore identifies users by their email address, attempting to create a new account with an existing email will trigger this error. When this happens, check whether the user already exists in your Company Directory and add them to the project from there instead of creating a new profile.

Permission template limitations can also cause confusion when certain fields appear locked or unavailable. Some user settings can only be modified in the Company Directory, not at the project level. If you're unable to edit specific fields for an existing user, check whether these changes need to be made in the Company Directory instead.

Notification problems typically stem from incorrect configuration rather than system errors. When users report missing notifications, verify that the appropriate notification checkboxes are selected in their profile. Also confirm that their email address is correct and that company email filters aren't blocking Procore communications.

For bulk add functionality issues with inactive projects, remember that this feature is generally limited to active projects. If you need to add users to inactive projects, you may need to temporarily change the project status, add the users, and then return it to inactive status. Alternatively, adding users individually might be necessary for inactive projects.

Streamline Your Procore User Management Today

Managing your construction team effectively starts with proper user setup in Procore. The techniques and best practices outlined in this guide provide a comprehensive framework for adding and managing people across your projects efficiently.

Successful user management in Procore balances security, accessibility, and administrative efficiency. By understanding the directory structure, permission options, and invitation process, you can create a seamless experience for your team members while maintaining appropriate access controls. Remember that well-organized user management saves time not just during setup but throughout the entire project lifecycle.

The most valuable takeaway is that thoughtful user management directly impacts project success. When team members have appropriate access to the tools and information they need, communication improves, delays decrease, and projects run more smoothly. Take time to establish clear user management procedures tailored to your organization's needs, and you'll build a foundation for successful project delivery. Start implementing these strategies on your next project, and you'll quickly see the benefits of streamlined user management in Procore.