Quick Start: Who Gets Which Preset

The short version. Common jobs in your organisation, and exactly which preset and scope to choose for each one.

Most people's jobs fit one of a handful of patterns. Find the job below, choose what it says, and you're done. You don't need to read the rest of the User Permissions pages to get started.

Who this is for:

Owners and anyone who adds users. For how presets, permissions and scope work in full, see User Permissions.

At a Glance

The job	Preset	T&A teams	Payroll access?	Payroll companies	Pay runs
Team manager	User — T&A only (scoped)	Their teams	—	—	—
Pay run administrator	User — Full (scoped)	None	Yes	None	Their pay runs
Company payroll administrator	User — Full (scoped)	None	Yes	Their company	None
Accountant or auditor	User — Full (unscoped)	—	—	—	—
Full administrator	Admin — Full	—	—	—	—
Owner	Owner	—	—	—	—

A dash (—) means the preset already decides it, so AllWage won't ask.

Where to Choose It

1. Go to Settings → Users and click Add A User. To change someone who already has access, click ⋯ on their row and choose Edit access.

2. Under Permissions preset, open the preset picker and choose the preset from the table.

3. If a Scope — set for this user step appears, fill it in using the same row of the table.

4. Check the Resolved access panel. It shows what this person will and won't be able to do. Then save.

Get your teams right first. A team manager only sees the employees on their teams. An employee who isn't on a team, or is on the wrong one, won't appear for the manager who expects them. See Teams.

Team Manager

Looks after the day-to-day time and attendance of one or more teams.

Choose
Preset	User — T&A only (scoped)
T&A teams	Specific — the team or teams they manage

They can: see only the employees on their teams, and fix those employees' clocks, leave, activity items, hour overrides, biometrics and WhatsApp. Reports and screens automatically show only their people.

They can't: see anyone outside their teams, or change shared setup such as clock templates, activities, devices and custom metrics. They can see that setup so their data makes sense, but a change there would affect every team, so it stays with your administrators.

Every team manager uses the same preset. Only their teams differ.

Need a manager who can look but not change anything? See trainees who only see certain teams.

Pay Run Administrator

Works on certain pay runs, but not on a company's payroll as a whole.

Choose
Preset	User — Full (scoped)
T&A teams	None
Payroll access?	Yes
Payroll companies	None
Pay runs	Specific — the pay runs they work on

They can: work on their pay runs and the pay of the employees on them, and run payroll reports for those employees — including UI-19, Leave Liability, Certificate of Service, Cost Report and Nett Pay Report. Reports only ever show the employees on their pay runs.

They can't: file statutory returns, run company-wide reports such as the SARS Code Summary or OID Report, or change company settings. Those need the whole company.

If they also look after time and attendance for some teams, set T&A teams to those teams instead of None.

Company Payroll Administrator

Runs the whole payroll for one company, including filing.

Choose
Preset	User — Full (scoped)
T&A teams	None
Payroll access?	Yes
Payroll companies	Specific — their company
Pay runs	None

They can: work on every pay run in the company, including ones added later. They can file and submit to SARS, run all of the company's reports, and change the company's pay run, payslip and company settings.

They can't: change leave policies, input templates or input variables. Those are shared by every company, so only Admins change them.

Leave Pay runs on None. Choosing the company already includes all of its pay runs.

Accountant or Auditor

Needs to see everything, and must not change anything.

Choose
Preset	User — Full (unscoped)

They can: read all time and attendance and all payroll, across the whole organisation.

They can't: add, change or delete anything.

If they don't need payroll, choose User — T&A only (unscoped) instead.

Full Administrator

Runs time and attendance and payroll for the whole organisation, including all shared setup.

Choose
Preset	Admin — Full

They can: change everything in time and attendance and payroll, including clock templates, activities, devices, custom metrics, teams, leave policies and input templates.

They can't: add users or change anyone's access. They can see the list of users, but managing it stays with your Owners.

If they don't run payroll, choose Admin — T&A only instead.

Owner

Controls who can get into AllWage, and what each person can do.

Choose
Preset	Owner

They can: do everything, including adding users, building presets, making other people Owners and viewing the audit log.

Keep Owners to two or three people. Having at least two means you're never stuck if one leaves or can't sign in. Only an Owner can make someone an Owner. See Owners.

When a Job Doesn't Fit

If one of these is almost right but one thing needs to differ, build a custom preset. Start from the preset in the table and raise only what you need. See Building a custom preset.

Learn More

The User Permissions & Presets course walks through all of this step by step, with short quizzes along the way. To open it, click the graduation cap icon at the top of the portal, next to the bell, and search for User Permissions. If you don't use payroll, you can stop before the final section.