SPIREX — Roles & Permissions Manual

A plain-language guide for non-technical users. It explains who can see what, who can create or change things, and how the screen looks different depending on a person's role.

1. The big idea: organisations, and three layers of access

SPIREX is multi-tenant: the platform can host many separate organisations (companies / workspaces), and each organisation's people, projects, and data are kept apart from every other organisation's.

Because of that, a person's access is decided at three levels:

1. Platform level — the Superadmin. A small number of people operate the platform itself. They create and manage organisations and look after the service. They are not part of any one organisation's day-to-day work.

2. Organisation level — your Organisation Role. Inside an organisation you have a role: Admin, Member, or External. It answers questions like "Can this person start a new project in this organisation?" or "Can this person manage the organisation's people and settings?"

3. Project level — your Project Role. Decided separately for each project you're added to: Lead, Developer, Reporter, or Viewer. The same person can be a Lead on Project A and only a Viewer on Project B.

Think of it like an office building shared by several companies:

• The Superadmin is the building's landlord — they decide which companies get space and keep the building running, but they don't sit in your meetings.
• Your Organisation Role is your standing inside your own company — whether you're a manager, regular staff, or a visiting guest.
• Your Project Role is which rooms on your company's floor you can enter, and what you may touch once inside.

Within the organisation you're currently working in, your final ability to do something is the combination of your organisation role and your project role. If either allows an action, you can do it.

2. One person, several organisations

A single account can belong to more than one organisation. You might be an Admin in your own company and just a Member (or External guest) in a client's organisation.

• An organisation switcher at the top of the sidebar lets you move between the organisations you belong to. The app reloads into that organisation's data, projects, and your role there.
• Your role, projects, and permissions are always relative to the organisation you're currently in. Switching organisations can change what you're allowed to do.
• You can be invited into another organisation. If you already have an account, the invite simply adds you to that organisation (you keep your same login); if you're brand new, you'll set a password when you accept.

Key point: "Admin", "Member", and "External" describe your role in one specific organisation — not across the whole platform. The only platform-wide role is Superadmin.

3. The Superadmin (platform operator)

The Superadmin looks after SPIREX the platform, not the work inside any single organisation. A Superadmin can:

• Create and manage organisations.
• Set up each organisation's first administrator.
• Manage other Superadmins.

A Superadmin works from a separate dashboard and does not see ordinary project screens (boards, backlogs, issues) — those belong to organisations. Likewise, organisation users never see the Superadmin dashboard. The two worlds are deliberately kept apart.

You will almost never need a Superadmin for everyday work — once your organisation exists and has its first Admin, the Admin runs everything inside it.

4. Organisation Roles

Inside any organisation, every person has one of three roles: Admin, Member, or External.

Admin (Organisation Admin)

The most powerful role within an organisation. An Admin can act in every project in that organisation, whether or not they were formally added to it — their organisation pass already covers it. An Admin also manages the organisation's people (adding and inviting members, setting their roles) and the organisation's settings (its name, web address, and logo).

An Admin's power stops at the edge of their organisation. They are not a Superadmin and cannot touch other organisations or the platform itself.

Member

The standard role for internal staff. A Member can start new projects and import data from Jira within the organisation. But inside any specific project, a Member can only do what their project role there allows. A Member with no project role on a project is essentially a spectator there.

External

The "client" role, for people outside your organisation. An External user cannot start new projects and cannot import from Jira. They can only see and work inside the specific projects they've been invited into, and only to the extent their project role in each one allows.

5. Project Roles

When someone is added to a project, they are given one of these four roles for that project. They are listed from most powerful to least.

Lead

Complete control of that project: edit project settings, delete the project, manage who is on the team, create and delete epics/stories, run the full sprint cycle (create, start, complete), customise the project's workflow, manage who gets emailed about project updates, and delete attachments.

Developer

The "doer" role. A Developer can create and edit stories, change a story's status, assign stories to people, move stories between sprints, create and edit epics, log work time, comment, upload attachments, and view reports.

A Developer cannot: delete stories, delete epics, manage the sprint cycle (create / start / complete / delete sprints), edit project settings, delete the project, or customise the workflow. Those are Lead-only.

Reporter

A "light contributor" role — ideal for stakeholders who need to raise issues but should not change ongoing work. A Reporter can create new stories, add comments, upload attachments, and view reports.

A Reporter cannot: edit existing stories, change a story's status, assign stories, work with epics or sprints, or log work time.

Viewer

Pure read-only access. A Viewer can open the project, look at the board, the backlog, stories and reports, and see the member list — but cannot create or change anything at all. (Everyone, including a Viewer, can still manage their own email-update preferences for the project.)

6. What each role can do — full capability table

"O" = granted by an Organisation role. "P" = granted by a Project role. A blank cell means not allowed. (The Superadmin is not shown — it manages organisations themselves, not the work inside a project.)

* About "Manage project members" for lower roles: everyone on a project can open the member list. But changing a member's role is limited by your own level — see Section 8. In practice a Viewer can do almost nothing here.

Important: Where a role has an "O", it applies across the whole organisation. An Org Admin has an "O" on every project row, so they can do everything in every project in their organisation even without a project role. A Member only has the few "O" rows (create projects, import, view); everything else depends on their project role.

7. How the screen looks different per role

SPIREX hides buttons and pages you cannot use, so the app stays uncluttered. If you don't see a button described below, it's because your role doesn't allow that action — it isn't a bug.

Platform vs. organisation

• A Superadmin lands on a dedicated platform dashboard (organisations and superadmins) and does not see project screens. Everyone else lands inside their organisation and never sees the platform dashboard.

Things only an Organisation Admin sees

• A people / users area for the organisation (add, invite, and set roles for members of this organisation).
• An Organisation settings page to edit the organisation's name, web address, and logo.
• On the Worklogs screen, an Admin sees everyone's logged time in the organisation. A non-admin sees only their own.

Things gated by being able to import from Jira

• The "Import from Jira" sidebar link only appears for people allowed to import (Org Admins, Members, and project Leads/Developers). For everyone else the link is hidden and the import screen cannot be opened.

Things gated by being able to create projects

• The "Create Project" button only appears for Org Admins and Members. External users never see it.

Inside a project — buttons that appear or disappear

• "Create Story" — visible only to Leads, Developers, and Reporters.
• "Create Sprint" and the Start / Complete Sprint buttons — Leads only.
• Editing a story — edit controls appear only for Leads and Developers; a Reporter or Viewer sees the story as read-only.
• Dragging stories — moving a story to a new status or into a sprint works only for Leads and Developers.
• Bulk-delete stories — Leads only.
• Assigning a story — Leads and Developers only.
• Upload attachment — active for Leads, Developers, and Reporters; off for Viewers.
• Project Settings — any member can open it to manage their own email-update preferences, but the Details, Workflow, Custom fields, and Danger Zone (delete project) sections appear only for the roles allowed to use them (mostly Leads). A Lead can also set email-update preferences for the whole team from the Members list.

What the External (client) role sees

An External user sees a trimmed-down app: no "Create Project" button and no "Import from Jira" link. They see only the projects they were invited to, and within each project they behave according to the project role they were given there. An External user can be made a Lead or Developer on a project — the "External" label only restricts organisation-wide actions, not what they do inside a project they belong to.

8. Member management — the "level" rule

Project roles have a ranking, from highest to lowest:

Lead (4) → Developer (3) → Reporter (2) → Viewer (1)

When you add a person to a project or change their role, you can only assign a role at or below your own level. This stops people from promoting others (or themselves) above their own authority.

• A Lead can assign any role, including another Lead.
• A Developer can assign Developer, Reporter, or Viewer — but not Lead.
• A Reporter can assign Reporter or Viewer.
• A Viewer can effectively only deal with other Viewers.
• An Organisation Admin bypasses this entirely and can assign anyone any role in their organisation.

You also cannot change or remove a member who outranks you — their role is shown to you as a plain badge you can't edit.

9. Quick reference — common scenarios

10. Frequently asked questions

Q: What's the difference between an Admin and a Superadmin? An Organisation Admin runs one organisation — its people, its settings, and all its projects. A Superadmin runs the platform — they create and manage the organisations themselves but don't take part in any organisation's projects.

Q: I'm an Admin in one organisation but not in another. Is that normal? Yes. Roles are per-organisation. Use the organisation switcher at the top of the sidebar to move between them; what you can do changes with each one.

Q: I'm a Member but I can't edit stories in a project. Why? Being an organisation Member only lets you create projects and import from Jira. Inside a project you need a project role — ask the project Lead to add you as a Developer.

Q: A button I expected is missing. SPIREX hides actions your role can't perform. A missing button almost always means your role doesn't permit that action, not that something is broken.

Q: Can a Developer delete a story they created by mistake? Not through the normal delete — deleting stories is Lead-only. However, a person can always delete an attachment they uploaded themselves. Ask a Lead to remove an unwanted story.

Q: Does an Org Admin need to be added to a project to manage it? No. An Org Admin has full control of every project in their organisation automatically.

Q: Can an External (client) user run a sprint? Only if they were given the Lead role on that specific project. The "External" label restricts organisation-wide actions (new projects, Jira import), not what they do inside a project they belong to.