System (Functional) Users in IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM)

Question & Answer

Question

How are the System (Functional) Users used in IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM)?

Cause

IBM® Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) applications use a set of system‑defined users, also known as functional users, to perform internal background operations.

These users are automatically created during the setup of:

Engineering Lifecycle Management applications
Jazz® Team Server (JTS)

They are essential for ensuring that system processes run correctly and consistently.

Answer

List of System Users

The following system users are created by default:

ccm_user – Engineering Workflow Management (EWM)
dcc_user – Data Collection Component
gc_user – Global Configuration
jrs_user – Jazz Reporting Service
jts_user – Jazz Team Server
lqe_user – Lifecycle Query Engine
qm_user – Engineering Test Management (ETM)
relm_user – Engineering Insights (ENI)
rm_user – Engineering Requirements Management (DOORS Next)
rpe_user – Publishing (PUB / RPE)

Purpose of System Users

Some ELM operations must run in the background, such as:

Data indexing and synchronization
Report generation
Metrics and data collection
Cross-application integrations

Since these tasks require a user context, the system executes them using these predefined functional users.

Authentication and Access

System users behave differently from regular users:

They cannot be used to log in to the application UI
They do not have passwords
They authenticate internally using a secure mechanism (e.g., OAuth secrets)
They are used strictly for system and background operations

Licensing Requirements

System users require a functional license assignment
✅ No purchased (billable) license is required

This ensures that background processes can run without consuming user licenses.

Related Information

System users

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