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 every Site Manager permission, 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.

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.
• Group notes editor: see and edit the custom information recorded against members of the group.
• Sensitive group notes: see and edit custom information that’s been marked as sensitive. Reserve this for the few people who genuinely need it.
• Database manager: add new custom information 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.
• Mail: use the Mailing feature to email members.
• 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.

Payment Groups

Payment groups are the advanced feature for taking money online, for donations or event bookings. Their permissions control who can manage those payments, so treat them with the same care as anything else involving money.

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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.
• The two to be most careful with are ‘Sensitive group notes’ and anything under Payment Groups: 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.