Treasurer or president
Change what a role can do
Every permission in PTO HQ can be given to any role. Set the matrix once to match how your board actually divides the work, rather than working around a role that cannot reach what it needs.
When you are done
Your board's permission matrix matches the way your board actually works, and nobody is blocked from a job they were elected to do.
Who else you need
Only a role that can manage the board may change this screen, which by default means treasurer and president. That is itself one of the sixteen settings below, so a board can hand it to another role — and PTO HQ refuses to save a matrix where no role holds it, because nobody could then change the screen again, including you.
Understand what the matrix is
PTO HQ ships eight roles with sensible defaults. The defaults are a starting point, not the rule: every one of the sixteen permissions below can be set to any level for any role.
- This is the answer to the commonest complaint about software like this — a permission the product will not let a board delegate to the officer who actually does that job.
- A capability a role does not hold is not drawn on that person's screen at all, and the server refuses it as well, so the matrix is the rule rather than a hint to the interface.
Change a permission
Open Settings and choose the Permissions tab.
Pick the role you are changing from the role picker.
The matrix shows one role at a time, because the question is always asked about one person: what should the treasurer be able to reach.
Set each permission to the level you want.
Levels are ordered. Each one includes everything below it, so giving a role Record and edit on Money also gives it Read everything.
Save.
The change applies to everybody holding that role, immediately, and is written to the audit log with your name.
Know the sixteen permissions and their levels
| Permission | Levels, lowest first |
|---|---|
| Money | No access · Income statement only · Read everything · Record and edit |
| Requests | No access · Reimbursements only · Deposits only · Both |
| Reconciling | No access · Review a statement · Reconcile and lock · Reopen a locked month |
| Membership | No access · View only · Sign people up · Manage |
| Directory | No access · View only · Manage |
| Students | No access · View only · Manage |
| Teachers | No access · View only · Manage |
| Volunteers | No access · Sign up only · Sign up and log hours · Manage |
| Events | No access · View only · Sign up for events · Manage |
| Committees | No access · View only · Manage |
| Records | No access · View only · Manage |
| Website | No access · Edit the site |
| Posters | No access · Make and change them |
| Messages | No access · Send messages |
| Board | No access · View only · Invite and change roles |
| Audit log | No access · View it |
Keep the controls that are not yours to switch off
Three rules hold whatever the matrix says, because they are the controls a bond or an auditor depends on rather than preferences.
- Whoever submitted a reimbursement can never approve it, and neither can anybody your board has recorded as related to them. No level of Requests changes that.
- The monthly statement review goes to somebody who does not sign checks and who did not reconcile the account. Granting Reconciling to a signer does not make them eligible to review.
- An event cash count needs two different named counters. No permission lets one person sign both halves.
Do not lock yourselves out
PTO HQ refuses to save a matrix in which no role can manage the board.
Before you take Board away from a role, check another role still has Invite and change roles.
If the save is refused, give Board back to at least one role, then save again.
- The refusal reads: "At least one role has to be able to manage the board, or nobody could ever change this screen again — including you."
Check what somebody can actually reach
Read the role's row on the board tab to see which role each person holds.
Read the permission matrix on the roles guide for the defaults, and this screen for your own board's settings.
The published matrix shows what PTO HQ ships with. Once you change it, this screen is the answer for your organization and the published table is only the starting point.
How to check it worked
- The Permissions tab shows the level you chose against that role.
- Somebody holding that role sees the control appear, or disappear, the next time they load the page.
- The audit log carries a line naming you and the change.
If it did not work
| What you see | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| "At least one role has to be able to manage the board, or nobody could ever change this screen again — including you." | The matrix you tried to save gives no role the ability to invite people and change roles. | Give Board at Invite and change roles to at least one role, then save again. It does not have to be treasurer or president. |
| The Permissions tab is not there. | Your own role does not hold Board at Invite and change roles. | Ask somebody whose role does. If nobody's does, that state cannot be reached through this screen, so contact support with your organization's name. |
| You gave a role a permission and the person still cannot do the thing. | Either they hold a different role than you think, or a control is one of the three above that no permission unlocks. | Check their role on the board tab first. Then check the list under "Keep the controls that are not yours to switch off" — a submitter approving their own reimbursement, a signer reviewing their own statement, and one person signing both halves of a cash count are refused whatever the matrix says. |
| A change did not reach somebody who was already signed in. | They are looking at a page rendered before the change. | Ask them to reload. Nothing needs signing out and back in. |