Roles & permissions
On this page
A role decides what someone can do. You pick one each time you invite a person. This page helps you choose, and shows exactly what each role can and can’t do.
Inviting someone? Pick the role#
| You want them to… | Give them |
|---|---|
| Run sessions and analyse the results - the everyday job | member |
| Do all that and manage people, settings and billing | admin |
| Have the final say over everything | owner |
| See spend and invoices, but not the conversations | billing |
| Collaborate from outside your organisation (edit, chat, build reports) | external |
| Only view results, nothing else, for free | observer |
Most teams need just two: member for people who run and analyse sessions, admin for the one or two people who also look after the workspace.
Note
observer is free. Every other role uses a seat, which counts towards your bill. Inviting is never blocked, though - you’re billed for seats, not stopped from adding people.
What each role can do#
This is the full picture for a workspace. A tick means yes.
| Action | owner | admin | member | billing | external | observer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View projects | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | – | ✓ | ✓ |
| Create projects | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | – | – | – |
| Edit projects | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | – | ✓ | – |
| Delete projects | ✓ | ✓ | – | – | – | – |
| Read conversations | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | – | ✓ | ✓ |
| Delete conversations | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | – | – | – |
| Ask (chat) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | – | ✓ | – |
| View reports | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | – | ✓ | ✓ |
| Build reports | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | – | ✓ | – |
| Invite & manage people | ✓ | ✓ | – | – | – | – |
| Change settings | ✓ | ✓ | – | – | – | – |
| See usage & invoices | ✓ | ✓ | usage only | ✓ | – | – |
The shape to remember: member does the work, admin runs the place, billing sees only money, external is a paid helper from outside, observer just watches.
Two outside-the-team roles#
external and observer are for people who aren’t part of your organisation - a client, a consultant, a partner’s contact.
- external is a paid collaborator. They can edit projects, ask questions of the data, and build reports - but they can’t create or delete projects, or invite anyone.
- observer is free and read-only. They can open projects, read conversations, and view reports. Nothing else. It’s the role for a client who should be able to see the work without touching it. Observers only exist in external-client workspaces (the ones a partner runs for someone else), and the data owner is added as one automatically.
To turn an observer into a paid external collaborator, an admin just changes their role. Turning an outside collaborator into a full team member is a bigger step (it brings them into your organisation), so it’s done deliberately: remove them, add them to the organisation, then re-invite as a member.
Organisation vs workspace#
dembrane has two levels, and roles exist at both:
- An organisation is your company’s account. Organisation roles decide who can create new workspaces and who sees billing across all of them.
- A workspace is where projects live. Workspace roles (the table above) decide who can do what with the actual work.
Most people only ever need a workspace role. You can belong to a workspace without being in the organisation at all - that’s what external and observer are. See organisations & workspaces for how the levels fit together.
The organisation roles mirror the workspace ones: owner (full control), admin (manage people, settings, billing, and create workspaces), member (belongs to the org, does their work in workspaces), and billing (sees spend across every workspace, touches no content).
Two rules worth knowing#
- You can’t give someone a role above your own. An admin can invite members and other admins, but not an owner. See invites & access.
- dembrane staff have separate powers (changing your tier, moving a workspace) that aren’t part of these roles. If you’re staff, see the staff guides.
Related#
- Invites & access - how you actually add people and set roles.
- Tiers & billing - what a seat costs and what each plan includes.
- Organisations & workspaces - the two levels roles live in.
- The partner program - where external and observer collaborators fit.
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