Hi Nev,
Let's take the following scenario:
You have 2 projects, Project Alpha and Project Beta
- Project Alpha has 1 defects; DE1
- Project Beta has 2 defect; DE2 and DE3
You have two users, Adam and Brian. We'll say
- Adam has access to Alpha and Beta
- Brian only has access to Beta
So currently the rankings will be as follows
- Project Alpha DE1
- Project Beta DE2
- Project Beta DE3
Adam sees this ranking
- DE1
- DE2
- DE3
Brian sees this
- DE2
- DE3
Now, Adam moves DE3 above DE1 so Adam sees
- DE3
- DE1
- DE2
Brian, doesn't have access to Project Beta so what he sees is slightly different
- DE3
- DE2
Now, let's say that Brian wants to re-rank DE2 to be the highest ranked artifact he can see, so he moved DE2 above DE3. Now he sees this:
- DE2
- DE3
Since we're ranking above DE3 Adam sees this:
- DE2
- DE3
- DE1
So the ranking is set according to what the user sees on their screen at that time; whether that's by permissions or view. You could accomplish the same scenario above by setting up two Work Views for your account where you showed 3 defects on one and 2 on the other and ranked them while switching between the views.