How roles and permissions work

6 min readUpdated 3 Nov 2026Basics

A permission allows a specific action or access to particular information, such as viewing costs or editing quotes. A role groups permissions for a job, such as Salesperson or Operations.

Assigning a role gives staff the access intended for that job. Their assigned locations and the role’s record-access rules also determine which records they can work with.

Each person has one role. Roles are always on, and the store owner always has full access and cannot be changed or suspended.

How it works

1PersonIdentify the staff member using OrderPilot.
2RoleApply their permissions and allowed app surfaces.
3Locations and recordsLimit work to the places and records they can reach.
4ActionCheck whether the requested change is allowed now.

Starter roles are Store administrator, Salesperson and Operations. A conflicting role name gains “(starter)”; deleting a starter role does not recreate it.

Store administrator has full permissions regardless of individual ticks, except Appear in the salesperson picker. Commission permissions are otherwise held back from the starter-role defaults.

People without a role receive the Access rules default, initially Salesperson, or no access if that is selected. Existing users were given Store administrator when roles were introduced.

A role applies store-wide, with locations assigned per person. Sales credit and assignment are separate: credit does not grant record access.

Where you'll see it

Open Staff & roles in Settings.

Tab	What it contains
Staff	Search staff; All, Needs a role, Suspended and Pre-assigned filters; role, locations, uses and last activity
Roles	Starter and custom role cards, permission counts, record scope, surfaces, Duplicate and Delete role
Activity	Staff and role filters, access changes and optional blocked attempts
Access rules	People without a role, Point of sale and who can change access

Staff appear after opening OrderPilot in Shopify admin or POS. Pre-assign access using their Shopify email through staff setup. The list holds up to 500 people.

A person's page shows Role, Commission, Locations, read-only Permissions, Which records and Suspend access. Its summary and Access history explain the effective access.

The owner's row is not clickable.

Access changes are kept while the shop uses OrderPilot. Blocked attempts are retained for 30 days.

The starter roles and their summaries — Role cards summarize permissions, record access and app access.

Screen reference

Permissions with sensitive-action labels — Review dependencies and sensitive choices in the role editor.

Staff access and a Needs a role banner — Staff records show their role and working locations.

Sam's role and location access — The person inherits permissions from one role.

Defaults for new staff and register access — Access rules set what people without a role get and whose role applies on POS.

The choices you have

The editor groups 48 permissions into 12 areas. Sensitive highlights permissions with wider consequences; Can’t be undone identifies irreversible actions. Also enables explains required permissions added with a choice.

Quotes and orders

Field	What it does
View quotes and orders	Read allowed records, PDFs, history and comments.
Create and edit quotes and orders	Edit products, customer details, delivery, notes, fields and tags; restore versions and change registered locations.
Convert quotes to orders	Place quotes; POS payment on a quote needs this.
Change order status	Change statuses and mark items collected or delivered.
Reassign quotes and orders	Hand a record to someone else; on an order, that means making a different person the primary salesperson.
Change sales credit	Change credited salespeople without changing record access.
Appear in the salesperson picker	Allow new selection; turning it off preserves existing credit.
Delete quotes and draft orders	Remove these records. Cannot be undone.

Pricing and terms

Field	What it does
Override prices and give discounts	Change prices, discounts and custom fees or shipping. Saved fees at their set price need editing access.
Set payment terms and deposits	Set payment timing and deposit requirements.

Approvals and exceptions

Field	What it does
Approve, reject or request changes	Decide reviews and move records out of review.
Force Edit locked orders	Edit status-locked orders while other restrictions remain. Sensitive.
Override warranty coverage	Override or manually start coverage. Sensitive.
Bypass signature and deposit requirements	Make recorded exceptions to required approval conditions. Sensitive.

Payments

Field	What it does
Request payment	Enable payment, send requests and cancel them.
Record payment and Mark as paid	Record money already received; it does not collect payment. Sensitive.
Refund payments	Issue refunds and warranty-claim store credit. Sensitive.

Customer communication

Field	What it does
Email customers	Send and schedule quote, order and signature emails.
Handle customer messages and change requests	Reply and manage requests; completing a request does not itself cancel or refund an order.

Warranty claims

Field	What it does
View warranty claims	Read claims, coverage checks and history within record access.
Manage warranty claims	Start claims, arrange repairs, parts and replacements, record costs and communicate.
Approve and decline warranty claims	Decide coverage, paid repair or decline; goodwill also needs warranty override. Sensitive.

Purchasing

Field	What it does
View purchase orders	Read POs and history within the chosen scope.
Prepare purchase orders	Prepare POs and choose vendor-document price visibility.
Send and cancel purchase orders	Email, mark sent, resend or cancel.
Finalize and reopen purchase orders	Close costs or reopen them.
Manage vendors	Maintain contacts, email addresses and minimums; sync or archive vendors.

Receiving

Field	What it does
Receive items	Record arrivals and customer or stock allocation; cost visibility is separate.
Correct receipts	Correct quantities with a reason.
Add to stock or write off	Decide goods freed by a cancelled order. Sensitive.
Add and edit serial numbers	Maintain unit serial information.

Costs

Field	What it does
View costs	Read vendor and landed costs, including allowed documents and exports. Sensitive.
Enter costs and charges	Enter vendor amounts, allocate charges and finalize estimates. Sensitive.
Correct received costs	Adjust posted receipt costs separately from planned costs. Sensitive.

Without View costs, cost figures are withheld and Costs hidden explains why. Order-page visibility also depends on Costing settings. Costs are always hidden on POS.

Catalog

Field	What it does
Manage the catalog	Maintain templates, options, bundles and categories, including imports and stock settings.
Change catalog selling prices	Change template and option prices and new stock-product retail prices.

Catalog management does not itself grant selling-price or cost editing.

Reports

Field	What it does
View Home and Analytics totals	Read store-wide values; record counts follow the person's record access.
View own commission	Read personal sales credit and commission.
View all commission and profit	Read allowed records' team credit and Analytics Commission, Profit and Configurations. Sensitive; also enables own commission and cost viewing.

Administration

Field	What it does
Manage order and quote settings	Manage quote defaults, statuses, fields, fees, discounts and online-store choices.
Manage purchasing settings	Manage PO defaults, numbering, costing, QuickBooks and vendor wording.
Manage shop settings	Manage business, locations, customers, branding, messages and warranty setup.
Assign roles and locations	Assign permitted access, pre-assign, suspend or restore people. Sensitive.
Create and edit roles	Maintain roles within your own access. Sensitive.
Manage billing	Change billing. Sensitive.
Download customer data requests	Download requested customer data. Sensitive.
Export and hold signature records	Export evidence, manage legal holds and retention. Sensitive.
Reset settings and remove app data	Perform destructive data actions. Sensitive; cannot be undone.

Which permission opens a Settings area?

Business details, locations, Branding, Customers, Messages and warranty setup use Manage shop settings.

Quotes & orders and Commissions use Manage order and quote settings. PO defaults, Costing and QuickBooks use Manage purchasing settings.

Vendors needs Manage vendors; Options and Categories need Manage the catalog. Subscription needs Manage billing.

Example: a showroom and warehouse

Nora Ellis manages the store's setup. Sam Ortiz has Salesperson access at Showroom and the selected assigned-record scope.

Jo Park has Operations access at Warehouse for purchasing and receiving. Giving Sam sales credit does not give Jo access to the customer's order.

Do it

Give staff access, then create custom roles where the starter roles do not fit. Set up POS separately for shared registers.

Changes apply on the person's next page load or POS opening. A permanently disallowed action is hidden; a temporary blocker leaves it greyed with a reason.

A Settings panel without editing permission opens View only. Hover over its lock to see the required permission.