What an administrator sees and what a specialist sees
How to separate access to the client list, the money and the appointments without getting in people's way
Permissions group users or staff by a criterion and set their level of access to specific fields and actions. There are four levels: no access, partial view, view without editing, and full access. This is not about distrust. It is that unnecessary access is unnecessary responsibility.
What people usually close off
| What | From whom | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Client contact details | Staff | The client list is a company asset, not one person's |
| Editing appointments | Staff | So past times are not rewritten after a shift |
| Cash register and financial reports | Everyone but the owner and the accountant | Self-evident |
| Pay rules | Everyone but the owner | Otherwise the pay scheme stops being an agreement |
| Other branches | A branch administrator | So a chain is not one shared space |
Partial view is the most useful level. It shows part of the data: for example only the last three digits of a phone number. A specialist recognizes the client but cannot export the list.
Where to start
Do not start from a list of prohibitions. Start from roles:
- Owner - full access.
- Administrator - appointments, clients, cash register for their branch; no pay rules.
- Specialist - their own schedule and appointments; contacts partially; no cash register.
- Accountant - finance and reports; no editing appointments.
Four groups cover most companies. Per-person permission sets do not scale and get forgotten when someone leaves.
What to check afterwards
Log in as a test user from each group and walk their daily scenario. The usual findings point in opposite directions:
- a specialist cannot see something they need and asks the administrator every time
- a specialist can see company financial totals nobody intended
Both take five minutes to find under a test user and go unnoticed for months without one.
When someone leaves
Permissions can be updated at any time, and this is a first-day job rather than a last-day one. The order is: close access, reassign their appointments, then deal with everything else.
Common questions
Can I hide only part of a phone number?
Yes, that is the partial view level.
Can a specialist see other people's appointments?
That is a setting. By default a specialist sees their own schedule.
Can I grant view access without the right to change anything?
Yes, that is its own level: view without editing.
Do permissions apply to the staff mobile app?
Yes, the app runs as the same user with the same level of access.