Set Up Roles

Choose from default roles or build custom ones so each person gets only the access their job needs.

Oct 21, 20268 min read

What roles do

A role decides what someone can see and do in DishBooks. Your GM doesn’t need to manage your bank accounts, and your investor doesn’t need to approve bills. Roles let you give everyone exactly the access their job calls for, and nothing more.

Two settings work together when you add someone to your team:

Their role decides what they can do, like view reports, upload invoices or approve bills.
Their location access decides where they can do it: one store, a few or all of them. You set this when you invite each user.

So a GM at Sunny Side Diner gets a manager-level role with access to just that location. You and your accountant see everything.

Your starting lineup: the default roles

Every DishBooks account comes with six roles ready to go. You can’t delete any of them.

Role	Usually for	Good to know
Owner	You. Whoever created the DishBooks account	Full access to everything, at every location. Can’t be edited and doesn’t appear in the Roles list. Only an Owner can give someone this role
Admin	A partner, operations lead or office manager who helps run the account	Everything except Billing out of the box, including setting up entities, locations, calendars, users and roles
Accountant	Your bookkeeper or CPA	Works across sales, bills, banking, journal entries, reports and closing dates. Out of the box, doesn’t manage users or billing
Manager	Your GMs and store managers	Runs sales and bills, with view-only settings and no banking. Pair with location access so they only see their own store
Uploader	Team members who snap and send invoices	Can only upload bills, and only sees the ones they uploaded
Viewer	An investor, partner or anyone who just needs to look	View-only across sales, bills, GL accounts, reports and budgets. No banking, no Dashboard

Want to see exactly what a role can do? Go to Settings → Roles and click the role’s name. You’ll see every permission it has.

How permissions work

Every role is built from permissions, grouped into six areas that match how restaurant accounting operates: Sales, Expenses, Banking, Accounting, Budgeting & Forecasting and Settings. Each item in an area, like Bills or Daily Sales Report, gets its own access level.

Access level	What it means
None	Can’t see it at all
View	Can look, but can’t change anything
Upload	Can add documents, like invoices (available on Bills and Credit memos)
Manage	Can create, update and delete. On Bills, only until a bill is approved
Approve	Can approve and unapprove, plus everything Manage can do

Not every item offers every level. For example, Dashboard is simply None or View, and the Profit & Loss report also has Limited, which shows only the P&L templates a person is named on.

A few things to know:

Some permissions go together. Managing or approving bills requires managing your item catalog, for example. When one permission depends on another, DishBooks locks the options that don’t fit (they look grayed out).
Limit to own records: a toggle at the top of the permissions. Turn it on so someone only reaches the records they created, like the invoices they uploaded themselves. It’s handy for staff who send in paperwork.
Reports: set a general level, then expand Reports to set each report on its own: Profit & Loss, Balance Sheet, Trial Balance, AP Aging, AR Aging, Cashflow, General Ledger, Target Budget, Actual vs Budget and Forecast P&L. Custom reports also have their own access settings.
Don’t forget to save. After you change a permission, Save and Cancel appear at the top right of the permissions. As soon as you save, everyone with that role gets the new access.

Before you start

Check the defaults first. If one of the six roles fits, use it as is. You only need a custom role when a job doesn’t fit the defaults, like a bar manager who approves bills but shouldn’t see your full financials, or a head chef who manages the item catalog.

Jot down what the job needs. For each person, ask: What do they need to see? What do they need to change? What do they need to approve? Then match those answers to the access levels above.

Create a custom role, step by step

Head to Roles. In the left menu, click Settings, then Roles. You’ll see every role, how many users have it and how many permissions it includes.
Click + Create new in the top-right corner.
Name it and describe it. Use the job title your team already uses (for example, Assistant GM) as the Role name, and add a one-line Description of what the role is for. Then click Create.
Open your new role. It starts with no access at all. Every permission is set to None, so someone with this role would log in to an empty screen.
Set each permission. Work through each area (Sales, Expenses, Banking, Accounting and Settings) and click the access level you want for each item. When you’re done, click Save at the top right of the permissions.
Assign it to your team. Once the role is ready, assign it when you invite someone or edit their profile. See Set up users.

Edit or rename a role

You can adjust any default or custom role except Owner, whenever your team changes.

Change what it can do: Go to Settings → Roles, click the role, pick new access levels and click Save. Changes apply right away to everyone who has that role.
Rename it or update the description: Click the pencil icon next to the role’s name, make your changes and click Save.

The Edit role panel with name and description fields

Example: an Assistant GM role

Here’s a starting recipe for an Assistant GM who sends in invoices and keeps an eye on daily sales, without touching banking or your books.

Area	Item	Access level
Sales	Daily Sales Report	View
Expenses	Bills	Upload, with Limit to own records on
Expenses	Credit memos	Upload
Accounting	Dashboard	View
Accounting	Reports	View
Everything else		None

Then, when you invite your Assistant GM, give them access to just their location. That way they only see numbers for the store they help run.

Want them to sign off on the day’s sales too? Change Daily Sales Report to Approve. See Daily Sales Report.

Tips and common questions

I created a role, but my team member can’t see anything.: New roles start with every permission set to None. Open the role and give it the access it needs.
If I change a role, does it affect everyone who has it?: Yes, as soon as you save. If you only want to change access for one person, change their permissions on their own page in Settings → Users instead. Their role then shows as Custom.
How do I keep my GM to just their store?: That’s location access, not the role. Give them a manager role, then limit their location access when you invite them.
Who can create and edit roles?: Anyone whose role has Users & Roles set to Manage. Set it to View if you want someone to see roles without changing them, or None to hide roles completely.

The Users & Roles permission with None, View and Manage options

Can I keep someone out of billing?: Yes. Set Billing to None in the Settings area of their role.
Can I delete a role I don’t need?: No, but you can rename it and change its access anytime.
Can I copy a role?: There’s no copy button. To start from an existing role, give someone that role, change their permissions on their page in Settings → Users and click Save as new role. That creates the new role and moves that person onto it.
Can someone have two roles?: No. Each person has one role, or Custom permissions set on their own page.
What happens when DishBooks adds a new feature?: New permissions start at None on every custom role. DishBooks grants them to the default roles where it makes sense.

What’s next

Your roles are ready. Now bring your team on board and give each person the right role and locations.

Next upSet Up UsersInvite your team, pick their role and locations, and manage their access.