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Roles & Permissions

Roles let you control what different users can access within your ChurchApps account. You can create custom roles for staff, volunteers, and other team members, each with their own level of access to keep your data secure.

Training Video​

Roles, Permissions, and Inviting Your Team in B1 · Watch on YouTubeNext video: Setting Up Services and Attendance in B1

Before You Begin

  • You need Domain Admin access or a role with permission to manage roles
  • Have a list of team members and the areas they need access to
  • Review the available permission categories below to plan your roles

Accessing Roles​

  1. In B1 Admin, open the Jump menu (the search bar at the top-left) and expand Settings.
  2. Click Roles.
  3. The Roles page displays all currently defined roles for your church. The Members column shows how many users are in each role, and the (Everyone) row shows All users.

Creating a Role​

Click Add role at the top of the Roles page. The menu offers:

  • Add Custom Role -- Opens an Edit Role form above the list. Enter a Role Name and click Save. The new role starts with no permissions.
  • Add "Accounting" Role, Add "Church Staff" Role, Add "Content Admin" Role, and Add "Lessons Admin" Role -- Ready-made roles with a sensible set of permissions already checked. B1 asks you to confirm, then creates the role. You can change its permissions afterward like any other role.

Renaming or Deleting a Role​

Hover over a role's row and click Edit. In the Edit Role form, change the Role Name and click Save, or click Delete and confirm to remove the role. The Domain Admins role can't be deleted.

Understanding a Role's Page​

Click a role's name to open its page. It has two panels:

  • Members (left) -- The people in the role, with their name and email.
  • Edit Permissions (right) -- The permissions you can grant to the role.

The (Everyone) row opens a page for permissions that apply to every user of your church; it has no member list.

Adding Users to a Role​

  1. Open the role and click Add in the Members panel. An Add To form for that role opens.
  2. Type a name or email in the search box and click the search button.
  3. Click the add button next to the person. They're added to the role right away, and B1 offers to send them an invite email so they can sign in.
  4. If the person isn't in your church yet, click Create New User under the search results, enter their First Name, Last Name, and Email, and click Save.

To change a member's name or email, click the edit icon on their row.

Removing Users from a Role​

  1. Open the role containing the user you want to remove.
  2. Find the person in the Members list.
  3. Click the delete icon on their row and confirm.

Your church must always have at least one Domain Admin, so the last member of Domain Admins can't be removed.

Configuring Permissions​

Each role can be granted access to specific areas of B1 Admin. In the Edit Permissions panel, permissions are grouped into sections you can expand, such as Attendance, Content, Donations, Forms and Plans, Lessons, Messaging, People and Groups, and Tasks. Type in the Filter permissions box to show only the permissions that match.

Check or uncheck a permission to grant or remove it for the role. Each change saves right away; there is no Save button. Note that Edit Church Settings, which opens the Settings page, is in the Content section. Each section heading shows how many of its permissions the role has, such as 2 of 5, and the count updates as you check and uncheck boxes.

Donations Permissions​

The Donations section has these permissions:

  • View Donation Summaries -- see the Donations section, including the Summary, Batches, Funds, Campaigns, and Giving Statements pages.
  • View Donations -- see individual donations, such as the gifts inside a batch.
  • Edit Donations -- full control: add, edit, and delete donations and batches, and close and reopen batches.
  • Enter Donations -- add batches and enter, edit, or delete donations, but only in batches that are still open. People with only this permission cannot delete batches, close or reopen them, or change gifts that came in through online giving.
  • Edit Settings -- manage donation settings.

Someone with Enter Donations but not View Donation Summaries sees only the Batches page under Donations. Give a counting team role both Enter Donations and View Donations so they can open a batch and see the gifts they entered. See Who Can Change a Batch for details.

People Names Only​

The People and Groups section includes View People Names Only. Use it for volunteers who need to look people up by name -- for example, to pick someone in a search box -- without access to the full directory. With this permission alone, a person:

  • Can search for people by name and see the list of recently added people, but only sees each person's name, photo, and membership status
  • Cannot search by email, see contact details, or open the People directory

Pair View People Names Only with View Attendance or Edit Attendance for volunteers who take class attendance. People in their menu then opens Groups, where they can open the All groups list and see each class's member names and sessions. With Edit Attendance they can also record attendance and add visitors by searching their names. Names aren't links to person records, and confidential groups stay hidden unless the volunteer is a member.

B1 Admin hides links and buttons that need permissions a role doesn't have. For example, the All groups list is only available to people who can edit groups, view group members, or view people, or who have View People Names Only together with View Attendance or Edit Attendance (others are sent back to the Dashboard), attendance setup only appears with Edit Services, a group's Email button only appears for people with Edit Group Members (the permission needed to send group email), printing a group roster needs View Group Members or leading that group, and deleting a calendar event needs Edit Content (or withdrawing your own pending request).

Check-In Kiosk Accounts​

The account that signs in to a B1 Checkin kiosk needs the Checkin permission in the Attendance section (or Edit Attendance). With Checkin alone, the kiosk can look up families by name or phone, check them in and out, and show who may pick up a child, without access to the People directory.

Checkin is no longer granted through the (Everyone) row. Being in a role with other permissions does not let someone run the kiosk; add Checkin to a role such as "Check-In Volunteers" and put the kiosk accounts in it.

warning

Domain Admins have full access to all areas of your ChurchApps account. Their permissions cannot be modified or restricted. Use this role only for your most trusted administrators.

tip

Create specific roles like "Treasurer" with only Donations access, "Counting Team" with Enter Donations and View Donations, or "Check-In Volunteer" with only Attendance access. This follows the principle of least privilege and keeps your data secure. See Data Security for more on how ChurchApps protects your information.