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A Partner manages role definitions in Settings → Roles. Open a role and select Edit, or select New role to create one. For a worked example, follow Create a Senior role.
Role details
| Field | What to enter |
|---|
| Role name | The name colleagues see when selecting a role. Built-in role names are locked. |
| Description | An optional explanation of who should use the role and what they are responsible for. |
Changing an existing role changes access for everyone who uses it. Check the change summary and the number of affected colleagues and invitations before Save changes. A new role has no members until you assign it.
Understand access types
Each permission offers one of these sets of choices:
- No access / View / Manage: hide the relevant screen, allow reading, or allow reading and ordinary changes.
- Not allowed / Allowed: withhold or permit a particular action, such as inviting a colleague or deleting a Service.
- No access / View: used by View usage, which has no editing option.
Manage does not include separate delete permissions or other Sensitive powers. A separate action set to Allowed can still work when its parent screen is set to View. For example, someone with Services → View and Delete services → Allowed can delete Services without editing them.
Grant reference
The sections and permissions below follow the order in the Role editor, including its Sensitive powers groups. Expand a permission for its screens, choices, and limits. Some controls appear only when the corresponding feature is enabled for your firm.
Which clients
Choose who the role can work on before choosing what it can do.
| Choice | What it means |
|---|
| No client access | Client and Entity permissions have nobody to apply to. Firm-wide Settings access can still be granted separately. |
| Only clients they are assigned to | Work on assigned Contacts and Entities. Even with Clients → Manage and Entities → Manage, the colleague cannot create new ones. |
| Every client in the firm | Work across the firm’s Contacts and Entities. Creating a Contact or Entity also needs Manage for that permission. |
This scope also limits Assign team members to clients, Delete client contacts, and Terminate entities. It does not limit firm-wide permissions, such as editing Services or viewing Billing, to assigned clients.
Clients & entities
Clients
Where: the client list and Contact records. A Contact is the person you communicate with.
- No access: no access to Contact records.
- View: read Contacts within the selected client scope.
- Manage: edit those Contacts. Creating a new Contact also needs Every client in the firm.
Sending a proposal also needs Fees and financial data → View or Manage. Without Fees access, a colleague who can create clients can save the Contact, Entity, and Services, but cannot complete the proposal send step.
Entities
Where: the businesses and individuals receiving Services, opened from the client list or a Contact’s record. See Contacts and Entities.
- No access: no access to Entity records.
- View: read Entities within the selected client scope.
- Manage: edit those Entities. Creating a new Entity also needs Every client in the firm.
Editing an Entity does not by itself allow editing its fees, assigning colleagues, or terminating it. Those actions have separate permissions below.
Assign team members to clients
Where: team assignment controls on a Contact or Entity.
Allowed lets the colleague assign team members to records within their client scope. Not allowed hides those assignment controls.
The role also needs access to Clients or Entities so the colleague can open the relevant record. No client access leaves this permission with nobody to act on. Assigning someone to a client is different from changing their firm role in Team.
Sensitive powers
Delete client contacts
Where: the delete action on Contact records.
Allowed permits deletion of a Contact within the role’s client scope, once every business under that Contact is Terminated. Not allowed withholds the delete action.
This requires access to Clients. Clients → View is enough to open the record; the separate Allowed choice can still permit deletion. This action removes the Contact. To close a business, use Terminate entities instead.
Terminate entities
Where: the termination action on an Entity.
Allowed permits termination within the role’s client scope. This moves the Entity to Terminated, stops its recurring work, and archives its folders. Termination cannot be undone from the Entity screen.
The role must have Entities → Manage. Until then, Allowed is disabled. Reducing Entities access resets this permission to Not allowed. The editor explains that change in its summary.
Tasks & deadlines
Firm deadline templates
Where: Settings → Firm Deadlines and the Firm Deadlines list. This guide calls these Job Templates.
- No access: the template lists cannot be opened.
- View: read the templates without adding or editing them.
- Manage: create and edit templates, including their submission requirements and dates.
This controls the reusable templates. It is not a separate permission for each individual Job. Deleting a template requires the permission below.
Sensitive powers
Delete firm deadline templates
Where: the delete action in the Firm Deadlines list.
Allowed permits removing a Job Template and stopping future Jobs from that template. Not allowed hides the delete action.
The role also needs Firm deadline templates → View or Manage. With View, deletion can still be allowed even though ordinary template editing is unavailable.
Document filing rules
Where: Settings → Document Filing, when Document Filing is enabled for the firm.
- No access: the settings screen cannot be opened.
- View: see filing folders and naming rules.
- Manage: change filing locations and document name templates.
This controls the firm’s filing rules, rather than permission to review a particular client’s document.
Firm email templates
Where: Settings → Email templates.
Allowed opens the screen and permits adding and editing the firm’s email wording, including acceptance, rejection, engagement continuity, and deadline messages. Not allowed hides the screen.
This is separate from Firm settings, Automations, and Job Template access. See Email templates.
Fees & financial data
Sensitive powers
Fees and financial data
Where: client Service fees, proposal amounts, and the firm’s financial figures.
- No access: fee amounts are hidden, and the colleague cannot finish sending a proposal.
- View: see fees and send proposals where the colleague has the necessary client access.
- Manage: see and edit fee amounts where the colleague has access to the record.
Editing Service defaults also needs the relevant Services access. This permission is separate from Billing: access to fees does not itself allow issuing invoices.
Billing
Where: Billing, invoice records, and Settings → Billing. This permission appears when Billing is enabled for the firm.
- No access: no access to Billing.
- View: read invoices without billing actions.
- Manage: change billing setup and use invoice actions, including preparing and issuing invoices.
Billing is firm-wide, rather than limited by Which clients. Check this separately from Fees and financial data. See Set up Billing and Create and issue bills.
Firm setup, integrations & storage
Custom fields
Where: Settings → Custom fields.
- No access: the definitions list cannot be opened.
- View: read the optional field definitions.
- Manage: add and edit definitions, including the Client Types and companies they apply to.
This controls the firm’s field definitions, rather than granting access to the clients where their values appear.
Services
Where: Settings → Services.
- No access: the Services settings list cannot be opened.
- View: read Service settings without adding or editing Services.
- Manage: create and edit Services. Fee controls also depend on Fees and financial data, and billing controls on Billing access.
Changes to the Service catalogue are firm-wide. Deleting a Service has its own permission below.
Firm settings
Where: Settings → General and Settings → Automations.
- No access: those two screens cannot be opened.
- View: read the firm’s details and automation settings.
- Manage: edit those details and settings.
Other Settings sections follow their own permissions. For example, someone can have Firm settings → No access and still open Firm Deadlines with Firm deadline templates → View. See General and Automations.
Registered companies
Where: the Registered Companies section in Settings → General.
Allowed permits adding and editing the legal identities the firm uses on generated documents. Not allowed withholds those changes.
The role also needs Firm settings → View or Manage to open General. With View, the colleague can read the page and use this separately allowed action. See Registered Companies.
Sensitive powers
Delete services
Where: the delete action in Settings → Services.
Allowed permits removing a Service from the firm’s catalogue. Not allowed hides the delete action.
The role also needs Services → View or Manage. View with deletion Allowed permits deleting without editing the Service. Check this choice separately from ordinary Service management.
Connected storage
Where: the storage section in Settings → Integrations.
Allowed permits connecting, reconnecting, or disconnecting the firm’s document storage. Not allowed hides that section.
This permission can open Integrations without Accounting integrations. It affects the firm’s storage connection, not just the colleague’s assigned clients. See Connect integrations and storage.
Accounting integrations
Where: the accounting section in Settings → Integrations.
Allowed permits connecting accounting software and synchronising its organisations. Not allowed hides that section.
Integrations is hidden when both this permission and Connected storage are Not allowed. Granting either one opens its own section. See Connect integrations and storage.
Team & roles
Team list
Where: Settings → Team.
- No access: the Team list cannot be opened.
- View: see colleagues and their firm roles without changing those roles.
- Manage: assign non-Partner roles to colleagues, including changing your own non-Partner role.
Only a Partner can assign Partner or change a Partner’s role. Inviting someone requires Team invitations as well. See Manage your team.
Team invitations
Where: the invitation controls in Settings → Team.
Allowed permits sending invitations. Not allowed hides that action; it does not hide the Team list by itself.
The role also needs Team list → View or Manage. View with invitations Allowed lets the colleague invite without gaining ordinary role-changing access on the Team list. Partner assignments remain restricted to Partners.
Reports & analytics
Shared saved views
Where: saving views in the Tasks list, called Jobs views in this guide.
Allowed permits creating and editing views that everyone in the firm can use. Not allowed still permits personal views and opening shared views created by others, but not creating or editing shared ones.
Sharing a view does not grant access to the clients shown by its filters.
Sensitive powers
View usage
Where: Settings → Usage.
View permits reading the firm’s platform usage and allowance comparisons. No access hides the screen. There is no Manage option.
This is firm-wide information. See Check Usage.
Check client scope and commercial access
Read the warnings beside permissions and in the change summary. A permission can be saved but do nothing if its screen is unavailable or its client scope is No client access. For example, allowing invitations without access to the Team list does not make invitations usable.
Terminate entities is stricter: the editor will not allow it without Entities → Manage.
Role definitions are managed by Partners. Roles and permissions is therefore not an editable permission on this form, and Partner access is fixed. The firm must keep at least one active Partner.
When the role is ready, follow Manage your team to assign it. Then check client assignments separately; assigning a firm role does not assign clients.