User Roles & Permissions

GoalPath provides four distinct user roles, each with carefully designed permissions to support different team structures and responsibilities.

Role Overview

Role	Primary Use Case	Key Permissions
Owner	Project administrators	Full access including settings and billing
Project Leader	Lead developers & team leads	All Collaborator and Stakeholder permissions
Collaborator	Development team members	Work on items, create milestones, view reports
Stakeholder	Business stakeholders & PMs	View roadmap, vote on priorities, track progress
Viewer	Read-only observers	View roadmap and milestones only

Owner

Project Leader

Primary Responsibility: Lead development and strategic prioritization

Project Leaders have all the permissions of Collaborators and Stakeholders. They can work on items, create milestones, view reports, and also participate in voting and strategic decisions.

What Project Leaders Can Do

✅ Create and manage items - Add new work items, update descriptions
✅ Update item progress - Move items through workflow (NotStarted → Started → Finished → Delivered → Accepted)
✅ Add estimates - Estimate story points for forecasting
✅ Create milestones - Plan project phases and goals
✅ View reports - Access time reports and velocity metrics
✅ Standup updates - Participate in daily standups
✅ Board access - View and manage work on kanban board
✅ View members - See who's on the team
✅ Voting access - Participate in milestone prioritization
✅ View roadmap and milestones - Track progress and strategic alignment
❌ No settings access - Cannot modify project configuration

Accessible Pages

Dashboard
Search
Standup
Board
Roadmap
Milestones (view and edit)
Time Report
Voting
Members

**When to Use:** Assign Project Leader role to lead developers or team leads who need both execution and prioritization authority.

Primary Responsibility: Project administration and strategic decisions

Owners have complete control over the project, including administrative functions that other roles cannot access.

What Owners Can Do

✅ Full project access - All features and pages
✅ Project settings - Modify project configuration
✅ Member management - Invite, remove, and change member roles
✅ Billing & subscription - Manage payment and plan settings
✅ Team management - Create and manage teams
✅ Voting access - Participate in milestone prioritization
✅ All Collaborator permissions - Create and manage work items

Accessible Pages

Dashboard
Search
Standup
Board
Roadmap
Milestones (view and edit)
Time Report
Voting
Members
Settings (exclusive to Owners)

**Best Practice:** Limit Owner access to 1-2 trusted team members who need administrative control. Most team members should be Collaborators.

Collaborator

Primary Responsibility: Execute project work and maintain velocity

Collaborators are the core development team who actively work on items, update status, and drive the project forward.

What Collaborators Can Do

✅ Create and manage items - Add new work items, update descriptions
✅ Update item progress - Move items through workflow (NotStarted → Started → Finished → Delivered → Accepted)
✅ Add estimates - Estimate story points for forecasting
✅ Create milestones - Plan project phases and goals
✅ View reports - Access time reports and velocity metrics
✅ Standup updates - Participate in daily standups
✅ Board access - View and manage work on kanban board
✅ View members - See who's on the team
❌ No settings access - Cannot modify project configuration
❌ No voting access - Cannot participate in prioritization voting

Accessible Pages

Dashboard
Search
Standup
Board
Roadmap
Milestones (view and edit)
Time Report
Members

Critical Workflows

Collaborators can complete the full item lifecycle:

Create items on milestones
Add estimates for forecasting
Progress items: NotStarted → Started → Finished → Delivered
Accept or reject delivered items
View velocity and forecast metrics

**When to Use:** Assign Collaborator role to developers, designers, and anyone actively working on deliverables.

Stakeholder

Primary Responsibility: Strategic oversight and priority decisions

Stakeholders provide business perspective, vote on priorities, and track overall progress without getting involved in day-to-day execution.

What Stakeholders Can Do

✅ Vote on milestones - Participate in prioritization voting
✅ View roadmap - See project timeline and dependencies
✅ View milestones - Track progress of major deliverables
✅ Search content - Find specific items and milestones
✅ View members - See team composition
❌ No item editing - Cannot modify work items or status
❌ No standup access - Cannot participate in daily standups
❌ No board access - Cannot view or manage kanban board
❌ No time reports - Cannot view detailed velocity metrics
❌ No settings access - Cannot modify project configuration

Accessible Pages

Dashboard
Search
Roadmap
Milestones (read-only)
Voting (exclusive to Stakeholders and Owners)
Members

Use Cases

Product Managers who need to influence priorities but don't execute work
Business Stakeholders tracking ROI and strategic alignment
Executives monitoring high-level progress
Customer Representatives voting on feature priorities

**Strategic Role:** Stakeholders bridge business needs and technical execution. Their voting input helps teams focus on highest-value work.

Viewer

Primary Responsibility: Read-only observation and transparency

Viewers have minimal permissions, ideal for observers who need visibility without any ability to modify data.

What Viewers Can Do

✅ View roadmap - See project timeline (read-only)
✅ View milestones - Track milestone progress (read-only)
✅ Search content - Find items and milestones
✅ View members - See team composition
❌ No editing - Cannot create or modify anything
❌ No voting access - Cannot participate in prioritization
❌ No standup access - Cannot view standup updates
❌ No board access - Cannot view kanban board
❌ No time reports - Cannot view velocity metrics
❌ No settings access - Cannot modify project configuration

Accessible Pages

Dashboard
Search
Roadmap (read-only)
Milestones (read-only)
Members

Use Cases

Auditors who need project visibility
Consultants providing advice without hands-on involvement
Documentation Team tracking what to document
Temporary Observers who need short-term visibility

**Security Note:** Viewers can see all project data but cannot modify anything. Only grant Viewer access to trusted individuals.

Permission Matrix

Quick reference for what each role can access:

Feature	Owner	Project Leader	Collaborator	Stakeholder	Viewer
Dashboard	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
Search	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
Roadmap	✅ Full	✅ Full	✅ Full	✅ Read	✅ Read
Milestones	✅ Edit	✅ Edit	✅ Edit	✅ Read	✅ Read
Members	✅ Manage	✅ View	✅ View	✅ View	✅ View
Voting	✅	✅	❌	✅	❌
Standup	✅	✅	✅	❌	❌
Board	✅	✅	✅	❌	❌
Time Report	✅	✅	✅	❌	❌
Settings	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌

Changing User Roles

**Owner Requirement:** Only project Owners can change member roles. Navigate to **Members** page and click the role dropdown next to any member's name.

Best Practices for Role Assignment

Start Restrictive: Assign the minimum role needed, then upgrade if necessary
Owner Sparingly: Only 1-2 Owners per project to prevent accidental configuration changes
Collaborator for Doers: Anyone executing work should be a Collaborator
Stakeholder for Voters: Business stakeholders who influence priorities
Viewer for Transparency: External observers or temporary access

Role Upgrade Patterns

Common progression paths as team members' involvement increases:

Viewer → Stakeholder: Observer becomes active in prioritization decisions
Stakeholder → Collaborator: Stakeholder starts executing work
Collaborator → Owner: Trusted team member needs administrative access

Security & Access Control

Protected Routes

GoalPath enforces role-based access control at the application level:

Attempting to access restricted pages results in "Access Denied" or redirect
API endpoints verify permissions on every request
Role changes take effect immediately (no logout required)

Audit Trail

All significant actions are logged with user and role information:

Project Owner can review who made changes
Helps with compliance and troubleshooting
Available in project activity logs

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Can a user have different roles in different projects?
A: Yes! Roles are project-specific. You might be an Owner in one project and a Collaborator in another.

Q: What happens when a member's role is changed?
A: The change takes effect immediately. The user will see updated sidebar navigation and permissions on their next page load.

Q: Can Owners remove themselves?
A: Yes, but projects must have at least one Owner. The last Owner cannot remove themselves without first assigning another Owner.

Q: Do Stakeholders see all project data?
A: Stakeholders see roadmap, milestones, and voting data but cannot access execution details like standup, board, or time reports.

Q: Can Viewers see sensitive information?
A: Viewers can see all roadmap and milestone data. If you need to hide information, consider using separate projects instead of relying on role restrictions.

**Ready to manage your team?** Navigate to the **Members** page to invite users and assign roles based on their responsibilities.