Table of content:
1. Introduction to User 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 User Roles, Status, and Privileges
The user who has registered the Kanbanize account automatically becomes an Account Owner.
The 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.
Other Roles
Every Kanbanize user should be granted a role: either the default one or a custom one. You can grant the role individually to 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 roles, you can 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 :
- 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 Kanbanize:
- Default role (1)
- Custom role (2)
Img. 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.
Img. 2
Note: The system allows you to edit the Default role — just select/deselect the actions you want to grant/restrict and save your changes.
Custom Roles
Create your Custom user roles prior to sending your account invitations to the users that will collaborate in Kanbanize. Check out this short video or follow the instructions below:
To create a new role, select the Add New Role button to open the Role Configuration Panel.
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From the Role Configuration panel, Account Owners (and users with the “Manage Roles” admin privilege) can assign the Card Permissions, Allowed Actions, and Board Permissions that 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 not allow them to create/move/edit cards or perform any other system activities.
All Role Permissions Explained
The table below contains a brief explanation of each permission:
| Permission | Description | Notes |
| Create Card | Grants the ability to create cards. | |
| Block Card | Grants the ability to set a blocker on cards. | |
| Clone Card | Grants the ability to clone a card. | If a user attempts to clone two cards on board A and they would like to create the cloned cards on board B, they will need to have the 'Create Cards' permission on board B. |
| Archive Card | Grants the ability to permanently archive a card. | |
| Discard Card | Grants the ability to discard a card. | |
| Delete Card | Grants the ability to permanently delete discarded cards. | |
| Move Card | Grants the ability to move cards within the board. | If a user needs to move cards between boards, they will need to have the 'move cards from/to board' permission in combination with this one, in order to do so. |
| Log time | Grants the ability to log time on cards. | |
| Card Details | Grants the ability to see the card details such as Title, Description, Owner, etc. | |
| Edit Card Details | Grants the ability to modify the card details e.g. change the Owner, update the Deadline, etc. | |
| Subtasks | Grants the ability to access a card’s subtasks tab. | |
| Create Subtask | Grants the ability to create new subtasks on cards. | |
| Modify Subtask | Grants the ability to modify* already created subtasks. | Modifying subtasks refers to changing the subtask title or its state (completed/unfinished). |
| Delete Subtask | Grants the ability to delete subtasks. | |
| Convert Subtask | Grants the ability to convert a subtask to a card. | This would also require the ‘create card’ permission for the board, on which the subtask is to be converted to a card. |
| Move Subtask | Grants the ability to reorder subtasks inside a card. | |
| Comments | Grants the ability to see a card’s comments tab. | |
| Add Comment | Grants the ability to add a comment inside a card. | |
| Delete Comment | Grants the ability to delete existing comments. | |
| History | Grants the ability to see the card’s history tab. | |
| Metrics | Grants the ability to see the card’s metrics tab. | |
| Card Links | Grants the ability to see the card links. | |
| Create Links | Grants the ability to create links between cards. | |
| Reorder Links | Grants the ability to reorder links inside a card. | |
| Delete Links | Grants the ability to delete a link between cards. | |
| Card Attachments | Grants the ability to see, add, and delete a card's attachments. |
This applies to attachments in the card's Attachments section, custom fields of type File, subtasks, and comments. Inline images added to a card's description, comments, or subtasks are not considered attachments. |
| Add Attachment | Grants the ability to add attachments. | |
| Delete Attachment | Grants the ability to delete attachments. | |
| Edit Workflow | Grants the ability to access the workflow editor menu. | |
| Notifications | Grants the ability to receive notifications and access the board activities menu. | |
| View Archive | Grants the ability to access the permanent archive of a workflow and un-archive archived cards. | |
| View Discarded | Grants the ability to restore discarded cards. | |
| Move cards from/to board | Grants the ability to move cards to another board. | |
| Export | Grants the ability to export information from the system (i.e. via the Search or the Board Activities menu). | Even if the 'export' permission is enabled for a given board role, the user would also need to have the 'card details' permission enabled in order to view the card details inside the downloaded file. |
| Analytics | Grants the ability to access the board’s analytics module. | |
| Access API v1 | Grants the ability to use the endpoints from v1 of the API. | For API v2 endpoints, the access is controlled using the user's board roles and permissions i.e. if they do not have the 'Create Card' permission, they will not be able to create cards via the API. |
| Add users to board | Grants the ability to add users to the board via the board sidebar menu. | This does not give the user access to the main User Administration panel. |
| Manage board filters | Grants the ability to create and manage board-level filters. |
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 in our guide on how to invite users in Kanbanize). 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 also be 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.
When you select a user from the Non-members of the Board panel (1) and click the Assign Users button (2), the system will prompt you to select a role (3). If the user is already granted a Workspace Manager status, this panel will not appear.
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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.
Img. 6
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.
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Option 2: Using the Registration member settings (the three dots icon) of the selected user in the Users tab of the Administration (Img. 6).
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 and will have full control (all permissions available in a board role).
In addition to that, Workspace Managers can also assign/remove existing users to/from boards and 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, refer to p.2 from our guide on how to invite users in Kanbanize.
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 you want them to manage in the selected Workspace. If not, you would have to assign the user to the boards.
Img. 8
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.
Img. 9
6. How to Grant Users with Admin Privileges?
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 16 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.
Please, select any of the available privileges.
- Account Owner - this privilege overrides any board-level role or a Workspace Manager status.
- Create Workspaces
- Make Payments
- Manage Business Rules
- Manage Integrations
- Invite Users
- Enable/Disable Users
- Delete Users
- Manage Teams
- Manage User WIP Limits
- Manage Roles
- Manage Card Elements
- Manage Security Settings
- Manage Dashboards
- Manage Logged Time
- Access Audit Logs
You can learn more about the available privileges in Kanbanize in our dedicated article about admin privileges.