Add staff and set up roles

Every person who uses AutoShop POS should have their own login. That way the register report shows who took each payment, the service staff report shows who did each job, and you can switch off access the day someone leaves. Roles are the templates of permissions; users are the people you assign to them.

Before you start

• Finish business settings so your first location exists.
• List the people who will use the system and what each one does: owner, service advisor, technician, parts person, cashier, bookkeeper.
• Decide which location each person works at if you have more than one.
• Have each person’s name and a username for them. They can change their own password after first login.

Steps

1. Open Roles. Go to User management → Roles (the menu may be labelled slightly differently on your account). You will see the built-in admin role.
2. Create a “Service advisor” role. Click Add, name the role and tick the permissions it needs: create and edit contacts, create quotations, create and edit job sheets, create sales, view and take payments. Leave settings, user management and purchase prices unticked unless you want advisors to see them.
3. Create a “Technician” role. Give it only what technicians need: view job sheets assigned to them, update job sheet status and, if you use HRM, clock in and out. Tick the option that marks the role as service staff if one is shown, so technicians appear in the technician picker on repair lines.
4. Create a “Cashier” role if needed. Allow the sell/POS screen, opening and closing the cash register and taking payments. Leave discounts, price editing and refunds off if you want those approved by someone else.
5. Restrict by location. On each role, or on each user, choose which business locations they can access. A technician at your north shop should not see the south shop’s register.
6. Add the users. Go to User management → Users → Add. Enter the person’s name, username and a temporary password, pick their role and their location.
7. Mark service staff. For each technician, make sure they are set as service staff so they can be assigned to labour lines. This is what feeds the technician reports described in track technician time and commission.
8. Fill in HRM details (Shop and Fleet plans). If you use attendance and payroll, add the employee’s pay details in the HRM section of their user profile.
9. Hand over logins. Give each person their username and temporary password and ask them to change it after the first login.

Check it worked

• Sign in as a test technician in a private browser window. Settings and reports you did not allow should be missing from the menu.
• Open a new job sheet as yourself and check the technician list shows every person you marked as service staff.
• Open a sale and confirm the service staff picker on a labour line lists your technicians.

Common problems

• A technician does not appear in the picker. They are not marked as service staff, or their role does not include the location you are selling from. Fix it on the user or role.
• A cashier can see cost prices. The role has “view purchase price” or a similar permission ticked. Untick it and save; the change applies at their next page load.
• Someone left and you deleted their user. Their historic records may show without a name. In future, deactivate users instead of deleting them. If records already look wrong, ask support.
• You are near the technician limit of your plan. Each plan sets a technician limit, while users themselves are unlimited. Check the current limits on the pricing page, and ask support if you are unsure how a particular person is counted.