Users & roles

Collector uses configurable role-based access control: you build roles from a catalog of granular permissions, then assign roles to staff users. Treasurers, secretaries, and data clerks each see exactly what their job needs — no more, no less.

How it fits together

• Permission — a single capability from a fixed catalog (e.g. view members, record payments, manage products, generate reports).
• Role — a named bundle of permissions that you create. Examples: Treasurer, Secretary, Data clerk, Auditor (view-only).
• User — a staff login, assigned one or more roles. A user's abilities are the union of all their roles' permissions.

A default Admin role with every permission, plus the initial admin user, are created when the system is first set up.

The permission catalog

Area	Permissions
Members	view, create, edit, delete
Products	manage products, manage payment rules
Payments	record, view
Obligations	view
Reports	generate, view
Notifications	configure, send
Administration	manage roles, manage users, organization settings

Creating a role

Under Admin → Roles:

1. New role, give it a name that matches the job (Treasurer).
2. Tick the permissions the job needs.
3. Save — the role is immediately assignable.

Suggested starting roles

Role	Permissions to include
Treasurer	Members view · Payments record/view · Obligations view · Reports generate/view
Secretary	Members view/create/edit · Obligations view
Data clerk	Members view · Payments record
Auditor	View-only: members, payments, obligations, reports

Creating a user

Under Admin → Users:

1. New user — username, name, email, initial password.
2. Assign one or more roles.
3. Share the credentials; the user should change their password at first sign-in (from their user page).

Deactivate users who leave rather than deleting them — their name stays attached to the payments they recorded, keeping the audit trail intact.

Everything is audited

Every payment records who recorded it; configuration changes record who made them and when. Combined with numbered receipts, this is your accountability story for the annual audit: any figure in a report can be traced to who entered it and when.

Least privilege

Resist giving everyone the Admin role for convenience. The audit trail is far more useful when record payments belongs to two named treasurers than when ten people share full access.