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Admin vs Manager role — what's the difference?

Lindsey Park

Hi everyone! I'm really sorry if this is a silly question, but I've been going through the setup process for our team and I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed by all the different permission levels. I'm the new office manager at a small HVAC company (we have about 12 technicians and 3 dispatchers), and I've been tasked with getting everyone set up in FieldPulse.

I've been reading through the documentation, and I keep seeing "Admin" and "Manager" roles mentioned, but I'm having trouble understanding exactly what the difference is between them? Like, if I want our lead dispatcher to be able to add new technicians but not be able to change billing settings or export all our data, which role would that be? And can a Manager still see all the reports, or is that Admin-only?

I tried looking at the user settings screen, but it seems like there's a lot of overlap and I'm worried about giving people too much access, especially since we're still learning the system and I don't want anyone to accidentally delete something important. We've had some issues in the past with our old system where people could see things they shouldn't have been able to see, so I'm being extra careful this time.

Any help would be so appreciated! I've already learned so much from this community just by reading through other posts. Thank you so much in advance!

  • 0

    Hi Lindsey! Happy to help — this is a great question and definitely not silly at all. Getting roles right upfront saves a lot of headaches later.

    Here's the quick breakdown:

    Admin = full access. Can manage billing, delete data, export everything, change account settings, and modify user roles themselves.

    Manager = operational access. Can create and edit users, manage work orders and scheduling, view reports, and handle day-to-day team management. Cannot access billing, account-level exports, or role configuration.

    For your lead dispatcher who needs to add technicians but shouldn't touch billing — Manager is exactly right.

    A few more details that might help:

    1. Both Admins and Managers can view all reports — that's not restricted to Admin only
    2. Managers can deactivate users but cannot delete them permanently (only Admins can)
    3. If you need finer control, you can also create custom roles under Settings > User Management > Custom Roles

    For your specific setup, I'd suggest:

    • You: Admin (as office manager overseeing everything)
    • Lead dispatcher: Manager
    • Other dispatchers: Manager or a custom "Dispatcher" role with slightly fewer permissions
    • Technicians: Technician role

    Does that clarify things? Let me know if you'd like help setting up those custom roles — we can walk through it together.

  • 0

    It is worth noting that the distinction between Admin and Manager is not merely one of scope, but of governance and data stewardship obligations. From an IT governance perspective, the Admin role constitutes a "Privileged Access" classification under most security frameworks.

    I have documented the permission matrix as follows for my own organization's compliance review:

    1. User lifecycle management: Manager can create users; only Admin can modify role hierarchies
    2. Data export: Admin-only (GDPR/CCPA export rights)
    3. Billing and subscription: Admin-only
    4. API key management: Admin-only
    5. Audit log access: Admin-only (though Managers can view operational reports)

    It is also worth noting that FieldPulse does not currently support role-based access control (RBAC) with attribute-based constraints (e.g., "Manager of Region X only"). If your organization requires geographic data segregation, you will need to implement that through separate account instances rather than permissions.

    One correction I would offer to the previous response: Managers can delete work orders and customers, which in many compliance contexts constitutes "deletion" of business records. Do not assume that "cannot delete" applies to operational data — it applies only to user accounts.

  • 0 in reply to Anita Sharma

    Thanks for the clarification, Anita — you're absolutely right on the work order deletion point, and I should have been more precise there. Managers can delete work orders, customers, and other operational data. What they cannot delete are user accounts themselves (only deactivate).

    The geographic constraint you mentioned is also a good callout for larger organizations. For Lindsey's 12-person team, the standard Manager role should work well, but it's worth knowing the limitation if you scale to multiple regions later.

  • 0

    Oh wow, thank you both so much! This is incredibly helpful. I really appreciate you taking the time to explain this so thoroughly.

    I have a quick follow-up question — when you say Managers can delete work orders, is there any kind of confirmation prompt or approval workflow? Or is it just immediate? I'm a little worried about someone accidentally deleting something if they're clicking quickly through a busy day. I know our old system had a "soft delete" where you could recover things for 30 days, does FieldPulse have anything like that?

    Also, I saw something about "Custom Roles" in the settings — is that available on all plans or is it an upgrade? We're on the Professional plan right now.

    Thanks again, I'm feeling much more confident about getting this set up correctly now!

  • 0 in reply to Lindsey Park

    Hi Lindsey! Great follow-up questions.

    Deletion behavior: Yes, there's a confirmation dialog for work order deletions ("Are you sure you want to delete this work order?"), but it's not a multi-step approval. Once confirmed, the deletion is immediate. FieldPulse does not have a built-in soft delete or recycle bin for work orders — though we do maintain 90-day backups that our support team can restore from if needed (just reach out with the work order ID).

    Custom Roles: These are available on Professional and above, so you're all set! You'll find them at Settings > User Management > Custom Roles. You can start from an existing role (like Manager) and toggle specific permissions on/off.

    Pro tip: Create a test user account for yourself with Manager permissions only, log in as that user, and click around. It's the best way to verify exactly what your team will see before you assign roles to real users.

  • 0

    tbh i got made a manager by accident when our old admin left and i didnt even realize i could delete work orders lol. been using this app 6 months and never noticed. so yeah probs not a huge risk if your dispatchers are careful

    also the custom roles thing is p cool i just found out about it last week. u can turn off like specific stuff like "can edit customer addresses" while keeping other manager perms. pretty granular