Setting User Roles and Permissions

Empower’s “unlimited users” feature makes it incredibly useful for your team.  As you begin to implement Empower in your church, think through the different Roles that you will want to set up.  These are always editable and customizable, but thinking through them on the front end will unlock all of the software’s possibilities.  

Before we walk through the setup, let’s think through some examples of how Roles can benefit you.  Roles are different levels of permissions to access the data in your system.  For example, your Pastor and Staff might not want to see individual contributions.  By setting up a “Staff” role, you can provide them their log-in and limit their permissions not to access those contributions.  Because of the unlimited accounts equalling unlimited possibilities, you can essentially offer your entire congregation access.  Member access is typically done through the Member Portal.  That access can be limited to the Church Directory, their household contributions, etcetera.  

Your Admin user will be established during account creation.  This user will have full access to everything in your Empower system.  You can still edit their name and permissions, but this will be the Master user for the Account.

Let’s look at how to create a new user.  Before we do, though, (if you haven’t already) think through some of the leadership Roles you’re looking to create and what permissions they will need.  For help, here’s an example Roles list that might help.

Adding a New User

To add a new User, hover and click on Utilities in the top navigation bar.  Then click on Security in the drop-down menu.  

Once you’re on the security page, you will see a navigation panel on the left side of the page. Click on the Users tab.  

At the top of the workspace (under the navigation bar), You will see the +Add button.  Click to begin adding a new user.  

 

The Create Security Identity window opens. Enter the person's name and email address. You can check one or more roles here, or leave them blank and set permissions after. Empower emails the new user a link to set their password.

Once you have created the user, you will need to assign their permissions.  You can do this manually or by selecting a pre-defined Role.  The most efficient process is to create Roles for groups of users.

By clicking the User name on the left menu, you will see each user’s permissions.  

To assign permissions using a Role, scroll down to the Roles block and click the pencil

icon in the top right corner of the block to edit.  

 

You can select multiple roles for each User to assure that they have just the right permissions to use Empower for their ministry effectively.

Adding and Editing Roles

To edit a user Role (on the Security page) click on an existing user role in the navigation on the left side of the page (i.e., Administrator).  You will then see all of the permissions for that specific Role.  Changing these permissions will change permissions for all Users assigned that Role is assigned to.  

To Add a New Role, click Add at the top of the page.

Choose a name for the new Role and click Save Changes.

You will notice the new Role in the left menu.  Select it and edit the permissions desired.

Remember that you cannot set a User’s permissions lower than the Role assigned to them.  So if you have multiple staff members assigned to the same Role, that role needs to be set to the lowest permission level of each User.  Users’ permissions can go above but not below that Role.

Deleting Users

Empower allows you two different options if a user no longer needs access.  

Deactivation will not remove a user from the system.  It will reset all permissions to ‘No Access.’

This could be used for users that temporarily need to change permissions.  

If a user needs to be removed from the system permanently, the Delete User option can be used.  This will erase access and activity forever.

Each option can be found at the top of the workspace when you click on User and the specific user’s name.

Clicking these buttons, you will be prompted to confirm your decision.  You cannot reverse these actions.  You can reactivate users by reassigning their Roles.  

To give a new user the same access as someone else, open the new user, click Copy Permissions, and choose the user to copy from. Empower copies that person's permissions and adds their roles.

User Permissions, Security, and Settings

To best explain organizing and editing user/role permissions, see our practical examples of Roles.  Empower is created to be customizable for your ministry.  If you have any questions about how to best utilize the User Roles, reach out to us via our Contact Support page.  Also, keep an eye on our Blog page for continuous ideas on how to use Empower for your ministry.