User Roles and staff member access

A user role is a security feature that controls staff member, rental owner, and vendor access to menus and reports. An administrator is able to limit what a user is able to view, edit or delete in Buildium based on their role.

Buildium provides a number of default user roles, which can be edited to reflect what areas of the software you would like staff members to have access to. If you need to revert an edited role back to it's original settings, you can do that with the click of a button. You can also add a new user role if none of the default options fit your needs for a certain staff member.

You can also limit a user's access to certain properties and bank accounts, too. 

Click here to learn how to add users and staff members to Buildium

In this article, you'll learn:

1. How to add a new user role
2. How to edit an existing user role
   
3. How to revert an edited user role back to default permissions
4. How to apply a user role to a user
5. How to limit property access to users
6. How to limit bank account access to users

1. How to add a new user role

 To add a new user role:

1. Navigate to Settings > User roles.
   
2. To create a new user role with another role as a template, click the user role and select Copy role.
   
3. To create a brand new user role, click Add user role.
   
4. Name the user role and enter a description.
5. Select each menu you want to enable for this type of user.
   
   Menus have three access levels:
   
   
   • View access - allows users a view only mode of the menu items.
   • Edit access - allows users to add and edit menu items.
   • Delete access - allows users to add, edit, and delete menu items.
   
   If none of the access levels are selected for a menu item, the item will be hidden from the user’s view.
   
   
6. Select the desired access level for each item on an enabled menu with a check.
   
7. Click Save user role.

2. Edit a user role

To edit an existing user role:

1. Navigate to Settings > User roles.
   
2. Click into a user role, then click Edit on the menu or report area you want to update. 
   
3. Select the desired access level for each item on an enabled menu with a check.
4. Click Save.

3. How to revert a user role back to default permissions

You can easily see which user roles have been edited on the user role grid. 

To revert an edited user role back to default permissions:

1. Navigate to Settings > User roles.
2. Click into a user role that has the word Edited next to the role name
3. Click Revert role.

4. How to apply a user role to a user

Once your user roles have been set up to fit your needs, you can apply them to your staff members and users.

To apply a user role:

1. Navigate to Settings > Users.
   
2. If you're adding a new staff member into Buildium, click Add user.
   If you're changing the role of an existing user, click on the user's name, then Account settings.
3. In the Role section, select the user role from the drop down menu.
4. When you complete the form, click Save.

5. How to limit property access to users

Some Buildium users may not need access to all properties. For example, if there are multiple property manager users in Buildium who each manage different properties in a rental portfolio, they wouldn't need access to any properties but the ones they manage. 

Limiting property access is different from limiting access with a user role. It can be done when adding a new staff member, or after a user has been added into the system.

To limit property access for a user:

1. Navigate to Settings > Users.
2. Click on the name of the user you want to limit property access for.
3. From the user summary page, select Account settings.
4. In the Property access section, select This user can only view the following properties.
   This option will not appear if the user's role is set as an administrator.
   
5. Select the checkboxes next to the properties you want the user to have access to.
6. Then, click Save.

6. How to limit bank account access to users

If a user role is set so a user can see the banking page, Buildium limits access to bank accounts based on the user's property access.

For example, This means that a user with who has access to Whispering Pines and 15 Main Street will be able to see the default bank account(s) that was set for both those properties when they were entered into Buildium.

If this user does not have access to 39 Franklin Street, and that property has its own default bank account that is different from the accounts Whispering Pines and 15 Main Street use, the user will not be able to see that account.

Only bank accounts that have been set up as the default account for a property or association in Buildium can be limited in this way.

If you have any additional bank accounts entered that are not being used as the property default (such as a separate security deposit or escrow account), any user with access to banking in their user role will be able to view those accounts.

In this type of situation, our recommendation is to add a fictitious "dummy" property with a single unit, and choose the additional bank account as it's default operating account.

If you do not want to use the above option, or if you are using trust accounting and keep the money for all the properties you manage in one account, the only way to limit bank account access for a user or staff member is to remove the banking page completely from their user role.