How to Manage User Roles and Permissions?

Content:

1. Introduction to users' roles, status, and privileges 
2. User Roles in Kanbanize 
     - Default role
     - Custom roles
3. How and when to grant user roles? 
4. How to change the Role of a user? 
5. What is a Workspace manager status?
6. How to grant Users with Admin Privileges?

1. Introduction to users' roles, status, and privileges 

The user who has registered the Kanbanize account automatically becomes an Account Owner.
The Account Owner has full permissions in the account. Note that the Account Owner status is a privilege that can be granted to any user in the account. 
The Account Owner creates the initial account infrastructure: workspaces, boards, roles and invites the first users that will collaborate in the system. During the setup, the Account Owner also manages the global security controls in Kanbanize. 

Every Kanbanize user should be granted a role: either the default one or a custom one. You can grant the role individually for a user or to an entire team. 
The user role defines the users' board and card permissions as well as allowed actions in the system. With the role you define:  

• what card-related actions are allowed for the user having this role. For example: create a card, block a card, copy a card, delete a card, etc. 
• what part of the cards are allowed for the user. For example: create/delete subtasks, create/delete comments, etc.  
•  what board-level permissions are allowed for the user. For example, editing the workflow, viewing the archive, exporting data, etc. 

On top of this, users can be granted with: 

- > The Workspace Manager status: it overrides any previous user role.  The user granted this status has full permissions to manage Workspaces (respectively its belonging Boards) to which they are assigned (check p.5 below). 

->  Admin privileges: allow users to manage different account areas such as integrations, business rules (automation), and payments. Users with the respective admin privileges can create new workspaces and invite new users (check p.6 below). 
Note: every user may become an Account Owner or be granted any or all of the Admin privileges.  

2. User Roles in Kanbanize 

Regular users are all members of the account without Workspace Manager status or Admin privileges.
Each user can be granted a different user role that provides permissions or restricts certain actions in the system.
The Account Owners or Workspace Managers grant roles when assigning users to new boards. This also happens during the Kanbanize invitation process.  
All user roles are created and stored in the Roles tab of the Administration panel. 

There are two types of user roles in the Kanbanize Administration (check Img.1):

• Default role (1)
  
• Custom role (2)

Img.1

(1) The Default role

The default role cannot be deleted or renamed. Also, the system does not allow you to create another role with the same name: "default". 

To check the role setup, click on the Role name (default) to open the role configuration panel.

The Default system role is the collection of the following Card/Board Permissions and Allowed Actions in Kanbanize:
* Please, see the checkmarks under the column headers (Card Permissions, Allowed Actions, Board Permissions) in the image below.
Note: The system allows you to edit the Default role -> just select/deselect the actions you want to grant/restrict and save your changes. 

Img.2

(2) The Custom Roles 

Create your Custom user roles prior to sending your account invitations to the users that will collaborate in Kanbanize. 

Check out the following short video or follow the instructions below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTpeSdZdnxI 
To create a new role, select the Add New Role button to open the Role Configuration Panel. 

Using the Role configuration panel, Account Owners have a flexible choice about Card Permissions, Allowed Actions, and Board Permissions, which will define the new role they create. 

For example: if you checkmark the Card Details box only (under the Allowed Actions header) and save the Role with the name "Restricted," users granted this role will be able to see the Kanban cards on the board they are assigned to, but the system will neither allow them to create/move/edit cards nor performing any other system activities. 

The table below contains a brief explanation on each permission:

3. How and when to grant user roles?

• During the invitation process

The system prompts you to select a user role or a Workspace Manager status during the invitation process (please, check p. 2 of the dedicated article). This is why we recommend creating custom roles prior to sending the invites, even though you can always use the "default" role. 

• When assigning users to new Boards

When you assign users to a board, you will be also prompted to choose a role.
There are a few ways to assign users to new boards. 

Option 1:  You can assign users to new boards from the Board Members tab in the Administration panel (img.4).

When you select a user from the "Non-members of the Board" panel and click the Assign Users button, the system will prompt you to select a role. 
If the user is already granted a Workspace Manager status, this panel will not appear. 

(Img.4)

Option 2: You can assign users to new boards from the Users tab in the Administration panel (img.5).
Click the Registration member settings and select Assigned Boards. 

Img.5

Once you checkmark the board, you will be prompted to select a Role (default or custom).
You can also make the user a Workspace Manager. 

• Set a role to a team

You create a team to facilitate bulk user access to selected boards. This allows you to set different roles for a team to each board. To learn all about user management at a team level, please check the dedicated article. 

4. How to change the Role of a user? 

There are two ways to change the role that you have granted to a user.

Option 1: Using the Board members tab in the Administration panel.  

Go to the "Members of the Board" panel to the right side of the screen and select the pencil icon that belongs to every user to activate the edit mode. The role field becomes editable and you can change the role from there. 

Option 2: Using the Registration member settings (the three dots icon) of the selected user in the Users tab of the Administration. 

5. What is a Workspace Manager status?  

There are two security controls related to the Workspace manager status at a global account level.
The Security controls can be accessed from the Administration panel and managed by the Account Owners only. They control the Workspace Managers' ability to create new workspaces and boards as well as to delete them. The Account Owner can enable or disable the Security controls during the account setup process. 

By default, users with Workspace Managers status have full permissions to manage Workspaces and Boards to which they are assigned to. Once assigned to a Board, the Workspace Manager status will override any previous User role.
Workspace Managers are allowed to:  

• Edit Boards' workflows
• Create Custom Fields
• Create Card Types
• Create Card Templates 
• Create Card Tokens
• Assign/remove existing users to/from boards; change user roles. Limited to disable, enable or invite new users.  

There are several ways to grant users with the Workspace Manager status. 

Option 1: You can grant users Workspace Manager status during the Invitation process.
Please, check p.2 of the dedicated article.   

Option 2:  The easiest way to promote users who are already invited to the account and assigned to boards is to open the Administration panel and use the Workspace Managers tab (img.6).
Then choose the respective Workspace (1) and set a checkmark under Workspace Manager (2) for the selected user.
Make sure that the user is assigned to the Boards which you want them to manage in the respective Workspace. If not, you would have to assign the user to the boards.

Img.6

Option 3:  Another way is to access the Users tab in the Administration panel.
Click the Registration members settings and select Assigned Boards. In the "Assign users to boards" panel, you can checkmark the Workspace Manager status and also easily assign the users to any board in the account.  

6. How to grant users with Admin Privileges? 

The Admin Privileges are system-level permissions that allow users to access and manage different account areas. For example, only when granted the respective privilege, a user can make payments in the account, invite users or manage the integrations with other systems. 

There are 8 Admin privileges that can be granted to any user in your account. 

To grant a user with Admin privileges, open the Users tab of the Administration panel. Find the user in the users' list and select the value under the Admin Privileges column header (img.7).  

Please, select any of the available privileges.   

• Account Owner - this privilege overrides any board-level role or a Workspace Manager status. 
• Create Team Workspaces 
• Make Payments
• Manage Business Rules 
• Manage Integrations
• Invite Users
• Manage Teams
• Manage User WIP Limits

Img.7