Enabling and Managing Role-Based Permissions

1. Navigate to the main menu on the left-hand side of the dashboard.
   
2. Click on Setup > Roles.
3. Select the role you wish to update.
4. Use the toggle boxes to enable or disable specific permissions for the selected role.
5. Click Submit at the bottom-right corner to save your changes.
   

Note: Only users with Administrator privileges can make these changes. If you do not have admin access, please contact your internal administrator to review or update your permissions.

Understanding Permissions

Below is a breakdown of available permissions for each area within Matters.Cloud. Each permission must be enabled per role to grant the corresponding access.

Contacts

1. View contacts: Allows access to view all contact records, excluding restricted contacts.
   
2. Create contacts: Enables the creation of new contact records.
   
3. Edit contacts: Grants the ability to edit existing contact details.
   

Clients

1. View client rates: Grants visibility of all rates associated with a client.
   
2. View client time: Allows viewing of time entries linked to a client from the client > rates tab.
   
3. Create clients: Enables the creation of new client records.
   
4. Edit clients: Allows modification (and deletion) of existing client records.
   

Note: Clients can only be deleted if they do not have associated matters.

Matters

1. View matters: Grants access to all matters, excluding restricted ones.
2. View matter balances: Allows access to the matter balances on the matter overview page.
3. View matter timeline: Enables access to the timeline tab within a matter.
4. View matter rates: Allows access to all rates associated with a matter.
5. View matter invoices: Allows access to all invoices associated with a matter.
6. View matter time: Allows access to all time entries associated with a matter.
7. View matter disbursements: Grants access to view disbursements linked to a matter.
8. View matter attribution: Enables viewing/updating of attribution records linked to a matter.
9. View matter ledger: Allows access to the ledger for a matter.
10. View matter client account: Allows access to the trust/client account tab within the matter.
11. Create matters: Enables the creation of new matters.
12. Edit matters: Allows editing of existing matters.
13. Delete matters: Enables deletion of matters.
14. View restricted matters: Allows access to restricted matters.
    

Note: Matters can only be deleted if they do not have associated financial transactions.

Disbursements

1. View disbursements: Grants access to all disbursements via the navigation menu based on the date range you selected.
2. Create disbursements: Enables the creation of new disbursements.
3. Create disbursements on behalf: Allows creation of disbursements for other users.
4. Transfer expenses: Enables transfer of disbursements to another matter.
5. Delete expenses: Allows deletion of disbursement records.
   

Note: Disbursements can only be deleted prior to billing.

Invoices

1. View invoices: Grants access to all invoices via the navigation menu.
2. Create billing guides: Enables the creation of billing guides.
3. Create invoices: Allows the creation of new invoices.
4. Create credit notes: Enables issuing credit notes against existing invoices.
5. Delete draft invoices: Permits deletion of invoices in draft status.
6. Edit invoices: Allows changes to invoice dates and items after they have been issued, subject to lock date restrictions.
7. Approve invoices: Grants permission to approve invoices.
8. Send invoices: Enables sending of invoices via email from within Matters.Cloud, subject to lock date restrictions.
9. Delete invoices: Allows deletion of issued invoices.
   

Notes:

- To maintain compliance with local regulations, it is strongly advised not to grant invoice deletion permissions to any user roles once the system is live.

- Editing issued invoices may violate local regulatory requirements and is only partially supported when integrating with external accounting systems.

Trust / Client account

1. View client account: Grants access to view client balances, bank accounts, and transactions.
2. Create client account transactions: Enables creation of new client account transactions.
3. Delete client account transactions: Allows deletion of client account transactions.
   
4. View reconcilitation: Enables access to reconciliation features for client account transactions.

Notes:

- To maintain compliance with local regulations, it is strongly advised not to grant delete client account transactions permissions to any user roles once the system is live.
- Users oUsers who manage reconciliation tasks within connected accounting platforms such as Xero or QuickBooks may wish to disable access to reconciliation features in this system to avoid duplication of effort and ensure consistency across financial records.

Payments

1. View payments: Enables viewing of all open invoices and recorded payments.

Opportunities

1. View opportunities: Grants access to all opportunity records.
   
2. Create opportunities: Enables creation of new opportunities.
   
3. Edit opportunities: Allows editing of existing opportunities.
4. Delete opportunities: Allows deletion of existing opportunities.
   

Dashboards

1. View dashboards on behalf: Enables viewing of dashboards as another user.
   

Admin

1. System admin: Provides access to the Setup menu and all administrative functions.
   

Best Practices for Managing Roles

1. Review roles regularly – Ensure that permissions still reflect each team member’s responsibilities.
   
2. Limit access where possible – Only assign permissions that are essential to reduce the risk of data misuse.
   
3. Use restricted roles – For users with limited responsibilities, create roles with minimal permissions.
   
4. Communicate changes – Notify users if their role has changed or if new permissions have been granted or removed.
   

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