Site Manager permissions explained

When you’re ticking boxes on the Permissions tab, it helps to know exactly what each one hands over. This is the plain-English reference for the Site Manager permissions, set by set. For the click-by-click on granting them, see How to give someone Site Manager permissions.

Site Content

These cover the public-facing website, without touching anyone’s personal data. They’re the right fit for volunteers who just keep pages up to date.

• Documents and media: create articles and adverts, and upload images, audio, video and downloadable documents.
• Events: add new events to the calendar.
• Forums: moderate forum content, and create or remove forums.
• Group Structure: rename the group, edit its properties and create sub-groups.
• Event Plans: work on the plans attached to events. This one only appears once Planner is switched on for your site.

Member Info

These open up people’s data, so hand them out thoughtfully.

• Membership Manager: add people to the group and remove them from it.
• Edit members’ details: change someone’s contact information and turn their website access on or off. This one only appears on your contact database and other independent groups.
• Custom Field Editor: see and edit the custom fields recorded against members of the group.
• Sensitive Fields: see and edit custom fields that have been marked as sensitive. Only fields you’ve individually marked sensitive are restricted this way; an ordinary custom field is visible to anyone with ‘Custom Field Editor’. So if you’re storing something like emergency contacts, mark that field sensitive and keep this permission to the few people who genuinely need it.
• Database manager: add new custom fields to the database itself.
• Directory Admin: administer directory groups.

Church Administration

These run the week-by-week life of the church.

• Rotas: create and publish rotas.
• Messaging: send messages out to the members of this group.
• Attendance: record who came to events, and see existing attendance records.
• Resource Booking: book rooms and equipment from the resources centre on behalf of the group.
• SMS: send text messages. This one only appears once SMS is switched on for your site.

Payment Groups

Payment groups are the advanced feature for taking money online, for donations or event bookings. This set is split into five separate permissions, so you can let someone run a payment group without giving them the ability to move money.

• Payment Group: Manager: set up and manage the payment group itself.
• Payment Group: Add Receipts: record payments received, such as a cheque or cash handed in.
• Payment Group: Issue Refunds: refund money back to someone’s card.
• Payment Group: Issue Write Offs: write off an amount someone owes.
• Payment Group: Change Receivables: change what someone has been asked to pay.

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Good to know

• Every permission applies to the group it’s granted on and everything beneath it, so the same tick means much more at the top of your group tree than further down.
• Not every permission shows on every site. Some only appear once the feature behind them is switched on, and a few (such as ‘Edit members’ details’) only appear on certain kinds of group, so your screen may be shorter than this list.
• The ones to be most careful with are ‘Sensitive Fields’ and the money-moving payment group permissions: personal data and money deserve the shortest lists of names.
• You’ll also see an ‘Info’ icon under each permission in the web office itself, which gives you the same descriptions in place.