Configuring Permissions – Simplified & Advanced Builder V2

When you create or edit a role in Parent, you decide exactly what staff in that role can access and do. The permissions you set determine everything — from whether someone can view a report to whether they can manage billing or edit child settings.

Parent offers two permission experiences: a Simplified Permissions model that works for most organizations, and an Advanced Permissions Builder for organizations that need precise, action-level control across multiple locations.

This article explains both, so you can configure the right level of access for every role in your organization.

📌 Important Note: All organizations start with Simplified Permissions by default. The Advanced Permissions Builder is available as an upgrade. Once upgraded, all roles in your organization use the Advanced builder — you cannot mix the two.

Simplified Permissions is designed to make role setup fast, clear, and low-effort. Permissions are organized into sections that map directly to the parts of the platform they control — so there's no guessing what a toggle does.

📌 How to configure Simplified Permissions:

1️⃣ Open or create a role (Settings → Staff → Roles → + Create Role or select an existing role)

2️⃣ Browse the permission sections in the left panel (e.g., Newsfeed, Communications, Finance, Reporting & Insights)

3️⃣ Toggle on the sections and permissions this role needs

4️⃣ Use Search Permissions at the top to quickly locate a specific permission without scrolling

5️⃣ Click Create Role (or Save) when finished

📌 Key improvements over the previous model:

✅ Feature-aligned groupings: Each permission section maps to a real product area (e.g., "Children Management," "Finance," "Planning") — not a broad, hard-to-interpret category.

✅ Clearer permission names: Names now describe actual operational tasks. "Manage Staff Break Settings" tells you exactly what it controls.

✅ Reduced overlap: Related actions are bundled together so there's less confusion about which permission covers which scenario.

✅ Section-level Select All: Toggle an entire section on at once, then deselect what's not needed — saving time on common role configurations.

📌 Example: You're setting up a "Newsfeed Coordinator" role. Go to the Newsfeed section, toggle on the ability to post and share observations, and leave billing and reporting off. Done in under two minutes — and anyone reviewing the role can clearly see what it allows.

The Advanced Permissions Builder gives organizations the ability to define permissions at the action level and control where those permissions apply — ideal for large organizations with varied operational structures across locations.

📌 To upgrade: From the Roles list, click Get Full Permission Control → Upgrade.

🚨 Before upgrading: Note that once you switch to the Advanced Permissions Builder, all roles in your organization will use the advanced model. Existing roles are migrated automatically — review them after upgrading to confirm the migration reflects your intended access structure.

📌 What the Advanced Permissions Builder adds:

✅ Action-based permissions: Instead of toggling a whole feature area on or off, you control individual actions (View, Add/Edit, Delete, Share Public, Download) for each permission group.

✅ Access scope control: Define where each permission applies — not just whether it's on or off (see Understanding Access Scopes below).

✅ Greater precision: Staff get exactly the access they need — no more, no less.

📌 Example: Your Finance Manager role needs to be able to view billing reports but not download them, and access integrations but not manage the connected accounts. In the Advanced builder, set Finance Reports → View (✅), Download (❌) and Integrations → View (✅), Manage (❌). This level of control is not possible in Simplified Permissions.

In the Advanced Permissions Builder, each permission can be assigned a scope — which controls where the access applies, not just whether it's enabled.

📌 The three access scopes:

✅ General

🔹 Definition: Organization-wide access that is not tied to specific rooms.

🔹 Use: For administrative tasks and settings that apply across the whole location — such as managing billing, viewing staff lists, or accessing organization-level reports.

🔹 Example: A Finance Manager needs to view all billing transactions across the location. Set Billing → View to General scope.

✅ Assigned & Managed Rooms

🔹 Definition: Access limited to the rooms the staff member is directly assigned to or responsible for.

🔹 Use: For operational roles where staff should only see and act on data related to their rooms — protecting child and family privacy in other rooms.

🔹 Example: A Room Leader should only be able to view and manage daily activities for the children in their room. Set Children Management → View/Edit to Assigned & Managed Rooms.

✅ All Rooms

🔹 Definition: Full access across all rooms in the location, regardless of room assignment.

🔹 Use: For senior operational roles (e.g., Center Director, Deputy Manager) who oversee all rooms and need a full view of location activity.

🔹 Example: A Center Director needs to view daily status across all rooms. Set Daily Status Management → View to All Rooms.

📌 Why scopes matter:

Without scopes, permission control is binary — a staff member either has access to a feature or they don't. Scopes let you give access to a feature while limiting it to the context where it's operationally appropriate. This is especially important for multi-room locations where staff shouldn't see data from rooms they don't manage.

In the Advanced Permissions Builder, every permission group is broken down into specific actions. You control each action independently.

📌 Common actions across permission groups:

✅ View — The staff member can see this content but cannot change it

✅ Add/Edit — The staff member can create new records and modify existing ones

✅ Delete — The staff member can remove records permanently

✅ Share Public — The staff member can publish or broadcast content

✅ Download — The staff member can export data to a file

📌 Example — Activities Permission Group:

🎯 Result: This staff member can view all activities, manage their own, and delete their own — but cannot delete others' activities or share anything publicly.

Both Simplified and Advanced experiences include a Search Permissions field at the top of the permission panel.

🔍 Using Search Permissions:

📌 Tip: If you're not sure which section a permission lives in, search for the feature name or task you're looking for. For example, searching "download" will surface all permissions that include a download action.

Before finalizing a new or updated role, use Compare Roles to review how its permissions stack up against similar existing roles.

📌 To compare:

1️⃣ Click Compare Roles from the Roles list

2️⃣ Select the roles you want to view side by side

3️⃣ Review the permission matrix — permissions are displayed row by row with ✅ (enabled) and ✗ (disabled) for each role

🔹 Use: Catch over-permissioned or under-permissioned roles before they go live

🔹 Use: Confirm consistency between roles that should have similar access

1️⃣ Configuring a Standard Role with Simplified Permissions

Scenario: You need a "Communications Coordinator" role for staff who handle parent messaging but have no billing or reporting access.

✅ Solution:

🎯 Benefit: The role is configured clearly, correctly scoped, and took under 3 minutes to set up.

2️⃣ Using Advanced Permissions for a Finance Role

Scenario: Your Finance Manager needs to view all billing reports and transactions but must not be able to download or export them.

✅ Solution:

🎯 Benefit: Finance Managers have full visibility for day-to-day oversight without the ability to extract sensitive financial data.

3️⃣ Scoping a Room Leader Role Appropriately

Scenario: Room Leaders at your centers need to manage daily activities, children's check-ins, and observations — but only for children in their own rooms.

✅ Solution:

🎯 Benefit: Room Leaders have full operational access for their rooms — and no visibility into rooms they don't manage, maintaining appropriate privacy and clarity.

4️⃣ Performing a Permissions Audit Before a New Term

Scenario: At the start of each new term, your organization reviews all roles to ensure access is appropriate and up to date.

✅ Solution:

🎯 Benefit: A structured, visual audit process that takes minutes instead of hours and ensures your organization's access controls remain tight and intentional.

✔ Know exactly what each permission controls — no ambiguity

✔ Give staff the right access for their responsibilities, not blanket permissions

✔ Separate room-level operational access from broader administrative access

✔ Maintain cleaner, more auditable permission structures as you grow

✔ Reduce risk of over-permissioning with action-based and scope-based controls

Q: Can I switch from Simplified to Advanced Permissions later?

A: Yes. You can upgrade to the Advanced Permissions Builder at any time. Existing roles are migrated automatically. However, you cannot revert back to Simplified Permissions once you have upgraded.

Q: Can different roles use different permission modes — some Simplified, some Advanced?

A: No. Once you upgrade to the Advanced Permissions Builder, all roles in your organization use the advanced model. You cannot mix the two experiences.

Q: What happens to my existing roles after upgrading to Advanced?

A: Existing roles are automatically migrated to the Advanced builder. We recommend reviewing each role after upgrading to confirm permissions are correctly reflected before making any changes.

Q: If I update a role's permissions, when does the change take effect?

A: Changes take effect immediately across all locations where the role is shared. All staff assigned to the role will have their access updated automatically.

Q: What does the "Role Brief" field do?

A: The Role Brief is an optional description that helps admins understand the purpose of the role. It appears in the role setup screen and is useful for organizations managing many roles.