Custom Roles
A custom role is an extra badge of capability you define yourself — for example Class Representative, Exam Committee, or Librarian Assistant — that carries its own set of permissions. Unlike a position, which only applies to staff, a custom role can be assigned to anyone: a staff member, a student, or a parent.
Custom roles are always additive. Assigning one never takes away any permission someone already has from their staff position or their student/parent/user defaults — it only adds on top.
How custom roles differ from positions
Section titled “How custom roles differ from positions”| Position | Custom role | |
|---|---|---|
| Who can hold it | Staff only | Staff, students, or parents |
| How many at once | Exactly one per staff member | As many as you like, on anyone |
| Effect on permissions | Defines the person’s base permission set | Adds extra permissions on top of the base set |
| Can it revoke a permission? | Yes — positions can grant or revoke | No — custom roles only ever grant |
How to create a custom role
Section titled “How to create a custom role”-
Open Settings
Section titled “Open Settings”From your school dashboard, click Settings in the left sidebar, then choose Roles & Permissions from the settings navigation.
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Click “Create role”
Section titled “Click “Create role””This opens the create-role dialog.
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Enter a name and description
Section titled “Enter a name and description”Give the role a clear name — Class Representative, Exam Committee — and an optional description explaining what it’s for.
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Click Create role. The new role appears in the list with zero permissions and zero members — you add both next.
Granting permissions
Section titled “Granting permissions”Open the role’s detail view to see the same permission grid used for positions, grouped by area (Students, Attendance, Grades, Fees, and so on). Click any permission to grant it; click it again to remove the grant.
Because custom roles are additive-only, there’s no “default” state to compare against here — every permission starts off, and whatever you turn on is exactly what the role contributes.
Assigning a role to someone
Section titled “Assigning a role to someone”From the same detail view, use the Members search to look up anyone in the school — staff, student, or parent — by name. Selecting a result assigns the role to them immediately.
A person can hold multiple custom roles at once, alongside their normal position or student/parent permissions. To remove someone, find them in the members list and remove them from the role.
What the assignee sees
Section titled “What the assignee sees”When someone is given a custom role, they receive a notification — in-app and as a push notification — letting them know. Tapping it refreshes their permissions immediately, so newly-granted access (like a new sidebar item) shows up right away instead of waiting for their next page reload.
Deleting a role
Section titled “Deleting a role”Open the role’s detail view and click the trash icon. This permanently removes the role and its assignment from everyone who held it — those people immediately lose whatever extra permissions the role granted them. This cannot be undone.
Who can manage custom roles?
Section titled “Who can manage custom roles?”Only users with the Roles — edit permission can create, modify, assign, or delete custom roles. By default this is limited to the school owner and administrators. Staff with Roles — view only can see roles but cannot make changes.