User Roles in Cascade

In Cascade, we've enabled four different types of roles. This'll define the groupings of permissions that can be granted to a user.

By definition,

Admin: A role that defines this user has access to all organization settings, inclusive of adding/removing users and workspace configuration.
Manager: A role that has the ability to configure plans and assign users to teams within the workspace, in addition to other standard edit privileges
Contributor: A role that can contribute to things that they're given access to, in the organization.
Update Only: A role that can update progress on Measures and Actions and add narrative updates, without changing anything else on the plan itself, the objectives, measures or actions.
Viewer: A role that has been granted access to view and comment on specific things in the organization and is unable to edit any of the characteristics of plans/objectives.

Depending on the Role assigned, your access permissions and the pages displayed will vary. For example,

Admin, have full access to all workspace features, settings, and pages without restriction.
Manager, have limited administrative capabilities.
- You can create teams and add members outside of a workspace to a team by inviting them into the workspace.
- You can edit the team details, remove team members or delete a team only if you're the owner of that team.
- Based on the permissions that you're assigned, you'll have view or edit access to the plans, reports and dashboards.
- By default, if you create a report or a dashboard, you'll be its owner thereby having all edit permissions on it.

Contributor, focus on day-to-day work and execution rather than system administration. You can add existing users, create/assign teams with existing users, but cannot add or invite new users.
- You do not have access to administrative features. You cannot Invite Users. Your Home page will not show the Invite Team or Create Team area.
- If you're owner of a team, then from the Plans and Teams > All Teams page, you'll be able to edit the team details, remove team members or delete the team. You'll be able to add users already part of the workspace (invited or enabled) to the team.
- Based on the permissions that you're assigned, you'll have view or edit access to the plans, reports and dashboards.
- By default, if you create a report or a dashboard, you'll be its owner thereby having all edit permissions on it.

Update Only, you do not have access to administrative features or strategy creation activities. You can update Measures' progress and actual values, update Actions' progress, complete checklists and milestones, and add narrative updates to share context on progress.
- This means, you'll be able to keep progress up to date and report back on the objectives, actions and measures you're responsible for, while their structure and details, such as dates, owner or custom fields, stay as agreed.
- Based on the permissions that you're assigned, you'll be able to browse the plans and add comments, wherever the "option to comment" is available.
- This role is useful when a large number of people contribute to execution and you want the strategy to stay aligned with what was agreed at the leadership level.
Viewer, you'll not have access to anything at all, except for just browsing and adding comments, wherever possible.

Viewers cannot add plans, goals, users, teams, reports, dashboards, nor can they make any progress updates or team updates. All they can do is just browse through and add comments, wherever the "option to comment" is available.

For your easy reference:

	Admin	Manager	Contributor	Update Only	Viewer
Manage Billing or subscriptions	Yes	No	No	No	No
Rename components of strategy model	Yes	No	No	No	No
Create custom fields	Yes	No	No	No	No
Add or remove users to workspace	Yes	No	No	No	No
Create team	Yes	Yes	No	No	No
Add team members	Yes	Yes	Partial (However, they can add existing members within workspace.)	No	No
Remove team members	Yes	Yes, only if they're the team owner.	Yes, only if they're the team owner.	No	No
Delete team	Yes	Yes, only if they're the team owner.	Yes, only if they're the team owner.	No	No
Create plans	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No
Edit plans	Yes	Yes, only if they've edit permissions on the plan.	Yes, only if they've edit permissions on the plan.	No	No
Add/manage plans, success criteria	Yes	Yes, only if they've edit permissions on the plan.	Yes, only if they've edit permissions on the plan.	No	No
Edit details of objectives, actions and measures (e.g. dates, owner, custom fields)	Yes	Yes, only if they've edit permissions on the plan.	Yes, only if they own the objectives, actions or measures.	No	No
Update Measures' progress and actual values	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Update Actions' progress, complete checklists and milestones	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Add narrative updates	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Generate reports	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No
Edit or delete reports	Yes	Yes, only if they've edit permissions on the report.	Yes, only if they've edit permissions on the report.	No	No
Browse plans, add comments	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes

If you're invited as a "Collaborator" on a plan, then you'll automatically be assigned a "Contributor" role. You can add existing members in the workspace to the plan or the team. You can create a team with existing members. However, you cannot add or invite new members i.e., members outside your workspace.

How to change a User's Role

Admins can change a user's role at any time from the Administration page:

Click your profile picture/initials in the top right corner, then select Admin under Settings
The Administration page opens on the Users tab. Scroll down to the Users list.
Find the user. You can search by name or job title, or order by Role.
Click the three dots (⋮) at the end of the user's row, then select Edit.
In the User Profile window, open the Role dropdown and select the new role: Admin, Manager, Contributor, Update Only or Viewer.
Save your changes.
Ask the user to log out and log back in to see their new access.

To give a role to someone new, choose it from the Role dropdown next to their email address in the Invite teammates section of the same Users tab.

Now that you have understood the layout and what is expected of each role, lets see how permissions provide more granularity to access control in Access and Permissions article.

Frequently Asked Questions

What's the difference between Update Only and Contributor?
Contributors can create or edit characteristics of objectives, actions, measures in plans they have edit access to (i.e. time horizon, owner, targets). Contributors can always edit details on objectives, actions, measures that they own. Update Only users focus on keeping progress up to date: they update the progress of Measures and Actions, complete checklists and milestones, and add narrative updates, while the plan itself stays as agreed.

What's the difference between Update Only and Viewer?
Viewers can browse and add comments, but cannot make progress updates. Update Only users can do both: browse and comment, and keep progress up to date.

Can Update Only users change dates, owners or custom fields?
No. The details of objectives, actions and measures are managed by strategy owners, such as Admins, and Managers or Contributors with edit permissions on the plan.

I changed someone's role, but their access hasn't changed. Why?
Role changes take effect after the user logs out and logs back in.

Can I always change users to another role?
Yes. An Admin can change a user's role at any time by following the steps above.

Which roles count towards my available contributor seats?
All roles except the viewer role count towards the number of contributor seats available in the contract. There is no difference between Admin, Manager, Contributor, or Update only roles when it comes to license usage. Each of these roles uses one contributor seat.