Managing Users and
Permissions
Learn how to add, manage, and remove team members, and how to use roles and permissions to control what each user can see and do within Upbuoy.
Duration
25 minutes
Category
Settings & Administration
Part 1: Building Your Team in Upbuoy
As your business grows, you'll need to give your team access to Upbuoy. The Users & Permissions settings provide a secure and flexible way to manage who has access to your company's data and what they are allowed to do.
🔑 Key Concepts
👤 User
Any individual with a login to your Upbuoy account.
🎭 Role
A collection of permissions that defines a user's capabilities (e.g., "Administrator," "Technician," "Office Manager").
🔐 Permission
A specific action a user is allowed to take (e.g., "Create Invoices," "Edit Customer Profiles").
Why This Matters: Properly managing users and roles is essential for security, data integrity, and operational efficiency.
Part 2: Managing Your Team Members (/settings/users)
This is your central list of everyone who has access to your Upbuoy account.
A. Adding a New Team Member
Navigate to Settings > Users & Permissions.
Click the "Add Team Member" button. This opens the team member creation form.
Enter Basic Information
Fill in their First Name, Last Name, and Email address.
Choose an Invitation Method
Send Email Invitation (Recommended):
This is the most secure method. The user will receive an email with a unique link to set their own password and log in.
Create Account with Password:
Use this if you need to set a temporary password for the user. They will be able to log in immediately with the password you create.
Assign a Role
Select the appropriate role from the dropdown menu (e.g., "Technician"). This will automatically determine their permissions. You can also define whether they are an Administrator or Technician using the checkboxes.
Click "Add Team Member"
The user is created, and if you chose the email method, their invitation is sent.
B. Managing Existing Users
From the user list, you can perform several key actions for each team member:
✏️ Edit User
Click the Edit icon to open the modal and update their name, email, or role.
⏸️ Deactivate User
If an employee leaves, you should deactivate their account instead of deleting it. This immediately revokes their access but preserves all their historical data (e.g., which service stops they completed). This is crucial for accurate reporting.
▶️ Reactivate User
If a seasonal employee returns, you can reactivate their account with a single click.
🔑 Send Password Reset
If a user forgets their password, you can trigger a password reset email to be sent to them.
🗑️ Delete User
This should be used with extreme caution. Deleting a user permanently removes their account and can break links to historical data. It is almost always better to deactivate a user.
Part 3: Roles & Permissions: Controlling Access (/settings/roles)
Roles are what make Upbuoy's permission system so powerful. Instead of managing permissions for each user individually, you assign them a role.
A. System Roles (Default)
Upbuoy comes with two built-in System Roles that you cannot delete:
👑 Administrator
Has full access to everything in the system, including all settings, billing information, and user management. This role should be reserved for owners and trusted managers.
🔧 Technician
Has limited access focused on field operations. They can see their own assigned routes and complete service stops, but they cannot see sensitive financial data or change company-wide settings.
B. Creating a Custom Role
What if you have an office manager who needs to handle billing but shouldn't be able to change system settings? This is where custom roles come in.
Navigate to Settings > Roles & Permissions.
Click "Create Role".
Name and Description
Give the role a clear name (e.g., "Office Manager") and a description of its purpose.
Assign Permissions
This is the most important step. You'll see a detailed list of every possible action in Upbuoy, grouped by module (Customers, Billing, Routes, etc.).
Go through each section and check the box for every permission this role should have. For an Office Manager, you might grant all permissions under "Billing" and "Customers," but none under "Settings."
Save the Role
The new role will now be available to assign to any user.
C. Managing Roles
✏️ Edit
You can change the name, description, or permissions of any custom role at any time.
📋 Duplicate
If you need a role that is similar to an existing one, you can duplicate it and then make your modifications.
🗑️ Delete
You can delete any custom role, but only if no users are currently assigned to it.
Key Takeaways
Deactivate, Don't Delete: Always deactivate users who have left your company to preserve their historical data. Only delete a user if their account was created in error.
Principle of Least Privilege: When creating custom roles, grant only the permissions that are absolutely necessary for that person to do their job. This enhances security.
Role-Based Access is Efficient: By using roles, if you ever need to change what a group of users can do, you only need to edit the role once, and the change will apply to every user assigned to that role.
Next Steps
You now have full control over who can access your Upbuoy account and what they can do. The next step is to customize the tools your technicians use every day in the field.
Ready to customize service checklists?
Proceed to Module 23: Customizing Service Checklists