Staff access

Staff access decides who can sign in to the back office. It's by invitation only: you invite someone's email address with a role, and the first time they sign in with that address, their access starts.

The database itself checks every request against this list, so a change here takes effect straight away. Hiding a button is never what keeps someone out.

When to use this

• Someone new joins the staff or the volunteer team that runs the back office.
• Someone's job changes and they need more or less access.
• Someone leaves, or a computer or phone with their sign-in on it is lost.

Invite someone

1. Open Settings, then Staff access.
2. Under Invite someone, type the Email to invite: the address they'll sign in with.
3. Choose a Role: Staff or Admin.
4. Select Invite. The invite appears under Invited, waiting to sign in.
5. Tell the person to open the back office, select Sign in and use that address. No email is sent from this page; their sign-in code arrives when they ask for it.

When they sign in, they move from Invited, waiting to sign in to People with access.

To change the role on an invite, select Cancel invite, then invite them again with the right role.

Roles

• Staff can sign in and use the back office.
• Admin can also invite people, change roles, remove access and manage Check-in stations.

Give Admin to as few people as you can: two is a good number, so one can cover for the other.

Change a role

1. Find the person under People with access.
2. Select Make admin or Make staff.

The change works on their next click.

Remove access

1. Find the person under People with access and select Remove.
2. Confirm with Remove.

Their access stops on their very next click, even if they're signed in somewhere. Their past work stays in the records. To give access back later, send a new invite.

The last admin

The church always needs at least one admin. You can't remove or demote the last admin, including yourself; make someone else an admin first. The database refuses it too, even if two admins try at the same moment.

Good to know

• For now, staff sign in with a 6-digit code sent to their email. Once the church has Google Workspace, it can switch to Google sign-in; from then on, invites must use a church Workspace address.
• An invite works only for the exact address you typed, and only once.
• In the practice sandbox, invites stay in your browser and no one is emailed. Select Pretend they signed in to see an invite turn into access.
• Team and permissions shows the proposed per-ministry permissions for Messages. This page is who can sign in at all.

Top tips

• Remove access on someone's last day, before you hand their keys back.
• Keep at least two admins, so access never depends on one person.
• Check this list each quarter and remove anyone who no longer needs it.