Managing roles in eCourtDate lets you control what each team member can access and do within your agency. By creating and assigning custom roles, you ensure that every staff member has the right level of permissions for their responsibilities.

### Overview

Roles define the set of permissions and navigation visibility for your agency's staff. eCourtDate allows you to create custom roles (such as Billing, Uploader, or Analyst) with specific permissions and hidden navigation sections. Once a role is created, you can assign it to one or more users. This gives you fine-grained control over who can view, create, edit, or delete records across the platform.

### Prerequisites

- Super Admin access to your eCourtDate agency
- At least one active user account to assign a role to
- An understanding of which permissions each team member needs

### How-To Steps

#### Create a New Role

1. Click **Admin** > **Users** in the top navigation.
2. Click the **Roles** tab.

![Settings Roles tab](https://s3.amazonaws.com/ecdassets/images/articles/settings-roles-tab.png)

3. Enter a name for the new role in the **Name** field (for example, "Billing," "Uploader," or "Analyst").
4. Select the permissions you want to assign to this role in the **Permissions** section.
   - Choose only the permissions necessary for the role's responsibilities
5. Configure the **Hidden Navigations** section to hide specific areas of the platform from users with this role.
6. Click the **Save** button.

![Edit roles form with name, permissions, and hidden navigations](https://s3.amazonaws.com/ecdassets/images/articles/edit-roles-form.png)

#### Edit an Existing Role

1. Click **Admin** > **Users** in the top navigation.
2. Click the **Roles** tab.
3. Select the role you want to modify from the list.
4. Update the **Name**, **Permissions**, or **Hidden Navigations** as needed.
5. Click the **Save** button to apply your changes.

#### Delete a Role

1. Click **Admin** > **Users** in the top navigation.
2. Click the **Roles** tab.
3. Locate the role you want to remove.
4. Click the **Trash** button associated with that role.

### What to Expect

After saving a new or updated role, the changes take effect immediately. Any user assigned to that role will see the updated permissions and navigation visibility the next time they load a page. Users who had a deleted role will lose those permissions and may need to be reassigned to a different role.

### Best Practices

- Follow the principle of least privilege: assign only the permissions each role genuinely needs.
- Use descriptive role names that clearly communicate the role's purpose (for example, "Read-Only Analyst" rather than "Role 2").
- Review roles periodically to ensure permissions still match your team's evolving responsibilities.
- Use **Hidden Navigations** to simplify the interface for roles that do not need access to certain sections, reducing confusion.
- Document your roles and their intended purposes so new administrators can understand the access structure.

### Frequently Asked Questions

**Q: How do I delete a custom role?**
A: Navigate to **Admin** > **Users** > **Roles** tab, find the role you want to remove, and click the **Trash** button next to it. Users assigned to that role will lose those permissions.

**Q: Can I assign multiple roles to a single user?**
A: Yes. A user can have multiple roles assigned. Their effective permissions will be the combination of all permissions from their assigned roles.

**Q: What happens to a user if their assigned role is deleted?**
A: The user will lose the permissions associated with the deleted role. You should reassign them to a new role or update their permissions to maintain the correct level of access.

**Q: Can I duplicate an existing role to use as a starting point?**
A: There is no built-in duplicate feature for roles. However, you can create a new role and manually select the same permissions and hidden navigations as the role you want to copy.

### Troubleshooting

**Issue:** A user cannot access a feature they should have permission for.
**Symptoms:** The user sees an "access denied" message or the navigation item is missing from their menu.
**Solution:** Go to **Admin** > **Users** > **Roles** tab and review the role assigned to the user. Verify the required permission is checked. Also check the **Hidden Navigations** section to ensure the relevant navigation item is not hidden for that role.

**Issue:** Changes to a role do not appear to take effect.
**Symptoms:** A user still sees old permissions or navigation options after you updated their role.
**Solution:** Ask the user to refresh their browser or log out and log back in. Role changes take effect on the next page load.

### Related Articles

- [Roles and Permissions](/roles-and-permissions)
- [How to Manage Users](/how-to-manage-users)
- [How to Edit Your User Profile](/how-to-edit-your-user-profile)
- [How to Filter Assigned Clients by Users](/how-to-filter-assigned-clients-by-users)