Account Roles

Overview

An Account Role is the default role assigned to members in your organization and is used to specify their main title or position. It also provides a quick and easy way to group and manage people, plan projects more accurately, assign tasks, and develop resource plans.

When roles are combined with Kantata's rate cards and resource planning capabilities, costs are automatically calculated for each task, which leads to more up-to-date budget forecasting and accurate billing.

Assigning roles to your team members also unlocks additional capabilities in features such as the Resource Center—where you can filter resources by role to find people with the right skills for the job—or Billing, where you can add project roles to your invoices.

Note: You must have Account Administrator permissions to apply or change roles for people in your organization.

How to Create a New Role

1. Hover over Settings from the left-side nav bar and select Roles.
2. On the Manage Roles page, enter the new role in the Create Role field.
3. Click Save. The new role appears at the top of the Role list. 

How to Edit a Role

1. Hover over Settings from the left-side nav bar and select Roles.
2. On the Manage Roles page, click on the role name you want to edit.
3. Make your changes, and then click Save.

How to Delete a Role

1. Hover over Settings from the left-side nav bar and select Roles.
2. In the Roles list on the Manage Roles page, locate the role you want to delete.
3. Click the Delete (“   ”) icon to the right of the role name. 
4. Click OK. The role is removed from all associated account members and project-level overrides.

Note: At this time, only account administrators can edit or delete roles that are currently in use. In addition, changes made here will not update existing time entries or expenses with attached roles.

How to Export a Role Usage Report

If you're an Account Admin, follow these steps to export a role usage report that details what projects, estimates, and members are currently utilizing the selected role:

1. Hover over Settings from the left-side nav bar and select Roles.
2. In the Roles list on the Manage Roles page, locate the role you want to export.
3. On the Manage Roles page, click the Download (“   ”) icon to the right of the role name. Your role usage export begins and a link to a downloadable .csv file is emailed to you.

How to Apply a Role to an Account Member

1. Hover over Settings in the left-side nav bar and select Members.
2. Select the member to which you would like to assign a role.
3. In the Account Members Detail panel, click on the Account Role drop-down menu from the Details section and select a role.
4. If you select a member with an undefined role who is already assigned to projects, you'll be notified that changing their role may have a financial impact on their current projects. To backfill uninvoiced items with the bill rate of the new role, check the box.
5. When you're ready to apply the role, click Save.

How to Change a Member's Account Role

1. Hover over Settings in the left-side nav bar and select Members.
2. Select the member whose role you want to change.
3. In the Account Members Detail panel, click on the Account Role drop-down menu in the Details section and select a new role.
4. You'll be asked to select one of the following options:
   
   • Update All Roles—Update to the new role on all projects where the current role is being used. The new role will also be used for all new projects going forward. If you’re using rate cards, this will also refresh the bill rate on scheduled hours to the new role’s rate. You can also choose to backfill uninvoiced items using the bill rate for the new role.
   • Add Role—Keep the member’s existing tasks assigned to the current role. You'll have the option of using the new role on projects going forward. If you’re using rate cards, the updated bill rate will be applied to the new role.
   • Keep Role on Current Projects—Keep the member’s current role on all projects, and automatically use the new role on all projects going forward.
5. When you are finished, click Save.

Note: When you change a member's Account Role, it will update the Primary Project Role for all the member's current projects (unless they have a Primary Project Role override). If you don't want the new Account Role to take effect in active projects, you can individually override each project's Primary Project Role (see below). Please be aware that changing a member’s role may have a financial impact on their current projects.

How to Override a Role for a Project

To override a member's default Account Role on an individual project, you'll need to access the project’s Rates & Roles section under your Project Settings. For information on how to do this, see our Managing Team Member Project Roles article.

Note: You must have Account Admin permissions to override a member's Account Role on an individual project. You must also have Budgets enabled to access the project's Rates & Roles settings.

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