Roles determine what each staff member can see, which records they can access, what they can change, and whether pricing is visible. Powerlily includes five built-in roles, and Standard and Pro companies can create additional roles for the way their own teams operate.
This guide focuses on what a person is allowed to see and change. For the separate question of how branches, workflows, ownership, and assignments combine, see Branches, Workflows, and Record Visibility.
How access is decided
A role combines several separate controls. A person must pass every applicable control before they can open or change a record.
- Module access controls what they can do in areas such as Quotes, Leads, Clients, Documents, Equipment, Workflows, Systems, Schedule, Canvassing, Site Safety, Automations, Branches, Company settings, and Team.
- Record access controls whether they can work with all accessible leads and quotes or only records assigned to them.
- Workflow access can restrict quotes to workflows assigned to that person.
- Branch access keeps records inside the person's home branch unless their role can manage branches.
- Pricing visibility independently controls prices, margins, invoice figures, and other financial information.
These controls combine. Giving someone Edit access to Quotes does not automatically give them every quote in the company.
The five built-in roles
Every company begins with five roles. They provide sensible starting points and can be renamed. Their permissions can also be adjusted, except for the Admin role, which remains locked at full access so the company cannot remove its last path into administration.
- Admin has full company access, including roles, company settings, branches, and automations.
- Team Member is a broad operational role for trusted office staff. It can work across most day-to-day areas without administering the company.
- Sales Agent is designed for sales staff working inside assigned records and workflows while retaining pricing access.
- Installer is a field-focused role with view access to assigned projects, documents, systems, and schedules. Pricing is hidden by default.
- Canvasser is designed for door-to-door lead capture. It can work with canvassing and assigned leads without opening the wider project and financial areas.
These defaults are starting points, not hard-coded job titles. Except for Admin's locked full-access permissions, you can edit a built-in role to match how your company operates.
Creating custom roles
Standard and Pro companies can create additional roles from Settings → Team → Roles & permissions. A custom role is useful when the built-in choices are too broad, for example Sales Manager, Project Coordinator, Service Technician, or Bookkeeper.
Choose a clear role name, set its visibility controls, then choose the access level for each module. Changes apply immediately to everyone assigned to that role.
Module access levels
Each module offers the levels that make sense for that part of Powerlily:
- No access hides the module.
- View allows the person to read records they are otherwise permitted to see.
- Edit allows normal day-to-day work in that module.
- Manage adds administrative actions for modules that have their own configuration, such as Leads, Knowledge Base, Canvassing, Site Safety, Branches, Company settings, and Team.
Not every module uses all four levels. The role editor only offers valid choices for each area.
Lead and quote record scopes
Leads and Quotes each have a separate Records setting:
- All accessible records allows every record that also passes the person's branch and workflow rules.
- Assigned to this user limits the person to records assigned to them.
For leads, assignment includes either the current setter or the current assignee. This lets a canvasser retain access to a lead after it is routed to a closer. For quotes, assignment follows the current quote owner.
Quote access can also be limited to Assigned workflows only. When that is selected, the quote's current stage must belong to a workflow assigned to the person. An ownership assignment does not bypass the workflow restriction.
Branches and related access
A staff member with a home branch normally sees that branch and records with no branch. A role with Branches Manage can work across every branch, but workflow and record restrictions still apply.
The Expand related access switch widens selected supporting areas where the role already has permission. Depending on the module, this can affect related clients, standalone tasks, canvassing administration, calendar search, Site Safety controls, dashboard presence, and assignment choices. It does not widen the Leads or Quotes record settings.
Pricing visibility
Sees pricing & financials is separate from module access. Turn it off for roles that need project details without prices, margins, incentives, or invoice figures. This is enabled for the built-in Sales Agent role and disabled for Installer and Canvasser by default.
Assigning people, branches, and workflows
Open the Team page to invite a staff member or change an existing member. Assign their role, home branch, workflows, default workflow, and default stage there.
A restricted role with no assigned workflows or records may correctly see very little. If a new team member cannot find expected work, check the person's role, branch, workflow assignments, and record ownership together.
Previewing a permission change
When editing an existing role, use Preview lead & quote access before saving. Powerlily shows how many leads and quotes each current role member can access before and after the proposed change, including how many records they would lose.
The preview covers leads and quotes. Other module changes still apply immediately when the role is saved.
Pericles follows the same permissions
On eligible plans, Pericles is available to staff roles and works inside each person's existing access. It does not provide a way around module permissions, branch boundaries, workflow restrictions, record scopes, or hidden pricing.
A salesperson asking Pericles about a project can only reach projects their role already permits. A field role with pricing hidden cannot use Pericles to reveal financial information.
Clients and Powerlily staff
Clients are customer identities, not company roles. Their portal access is limited to the projects, systems, documents, and conversations shared with them. Powerlily support staff are also handled separately from your company's role list.
Practical starting points
- Owner or operations manager: Admin.
- Office staff managing most daily work: Team Member, adjusted if necessary.
- Salesperson working their own pipeline: Sales Agent with assigned leads, quotes, and workflows.
- Installation crew member: Installer with the appropriate workflows and branch.
- Door-to-door setter: Canvasser with territory and closer routing configured.
- Specialized position: Create a custom role with only the modules and records required.
Related guides
- Company Setup and Account Configuration. Set the company-wide foundations before inviting the full team.
- Workflows, Clients, and Quotes: How the CRM Fits Together. See how records move through the CRM.
- Pericles, Your AI Assistant. Learn how the assistant follows each person's permissions.
