How Permissions Work
This page explains the mental model. Once you have it, the role descriptions and the matrix make sense at a glance.
There are two ideas to learn:
- Two flavors of access: access to everything in the org, or access to only the projects and loads assigned to you, decided by your role and how you were granted access.
- Seven things you can do: read, update, create, delete, manage, request, export. Doing the bigger thing implies you can do the smaller things.
Users in your organization
A user belongs to your organization. They log in with their email, see your company's data, and have a role. You add a user from Settings → Users → Invite User (see Invite Users & Download the App).
The org-wide roles cover the people who run your business: Org Admin, Ops Manager, Dispatcher, Permit Coordinator, Viewer. The field roles, Driver, Rigger/Operator Supervisor, Crane Operator, and Escort, cover the people doing the work on assigned loads. Project Manager is a per-project assignment rather than an org-wide role: you give it to someone on a specific project.
Org-wide vs. assigned access
A role doesn't just say "you can edit loads." It says "you can edit which loads."
There are two flavors of access:
- Org-wide access (everything in the org). "You can edit any load." A dispatcher has org-wide access to loads, so they see and run every load in the company.
- Assigned access (only what's assigned to you). "You can edit loads assigned to you." A driver has assigned access to loads, so they only see the ones dispatch assigned to them.
Which flavor you get is decided by your role and by how you were granted access:
- Your role (org-wide tiers like Org Admin, Dispatcher, Permit Coordinator, Viewer) reaches across the whole company.
- Field roles (Driver, Rigger/Operator Supervisor, Crane Operator, Escort) reach only the loads assigned to you.
- A grant ties a person to a specific project, load, or share. Project Manager is the clearest case: it isn't an org-wide tier at all, it's an assignment. You give someone Project Manager on a project, and that grant is what lets them run it.
When you read the role descriptions, watch for the word "assigned." That always means access limited to a specific grant. Anything else is org-wide.
Grants: access is per-resource and can be time-bounded
Under the hood, every bit of access is a grant: a person (or an outside org) holds a role on a scope (the whole org, one project, or one load). Three things follow from that:
- Per-resource. A share gives a carrier exactly one load, not your whole project. A Project Manager grant covers one project's work, not every project.
- Additive. Grants only add access. There's no "deny" grant. To take access away, change the role or end the grant (remove the assignment, revoke the share).
- Time-bounded. A grant records when it started and, when it ends, when it ended. Revoking a share or unassigning a driver closes their grant; they lose the access on their next page load.
A note on saved views
Saved Views (a premium feature) governs access a little differently. Instead of splitting by role, it splits by the view's tier, under the Organization.SavedViews capability. Personal views are self-managed by their owner (anyone can make their own). Workspace views are shared with the whole org and follow a creator-or-manage rule: the creator, or someone with Manage on saved views (usually an admin), can edit them. See Who can see a view for the full picture.
The seven actions
These are the verbs of the permission system. They're the same across every screen.
| Action | What it means |
|---|---|
| Read | See the thing. View the page, see it in a list, click into the detail. |
| Update | Change the thing. Edit fields, change the schedule, modify the route. |
| Create | Add a new one. Make a new load, add a new permit, upload a new document. |
| Delete | Remove the thing. |
| Manage | All of the above on this and everything inside it. The strongest grant. |
| Request | Propose a change without applying it directly. The change goes into a "pending" state until someone with manage approves it. Drivers requesting a schedule change use this. |
| Export | Download or print. Generate a PDF, send to ELD, etc. Separate from reading on screen. |
Bigger actions imply smaller actions
This is the rule that makes the matrix readable.
- Update implies Read. If you can change it, you can see it.
- Create implies Update + Read. If you can make new ones, you can change and see them.
- Manage implies Read + Update + Create + Delete. The full lifecycle.
- Request implies Read. If you can propose a change, you can see what you're proposing on.
- Export is a separate axis. Having Manage doesn't grant Export; it's granted on its own.
So if a role description says "manage on Permits," that means read, update, create, and delete permits. We don't have to spell all four out.
Recap
- Org-wide = the role applies to everything of that kind in the org.
- Assigned = access applies only to the specific project, load, or share granted to the user.
- Grants are per-resource, additive, and time-bounded. Revoking one ends the access.
- Seven actions, with bigger ones implying smaller ones, and Export sitting on its own axis.
Next: read User Roles to see what each one does in plain English.