Decision Site

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Understanding Roles

What roles are and how they work together

Roles determine what people can see and do in Decision Site. Unlike a single permission system, Decision Site uses three independent role types that work together.

The Three Role Systems

Organization Roles: Workspace Access

What they control: Access to your organization's workspace and ability to create content.

Four levels (highest to lowest access):

  1. ADMIN - Full control over everything
  2. CREATOR - Can create and own Decision Sites
  3. COLLABORATOR - Can edit shared Decision Sites
  4. GUEST - View-only access to assigned Decision Sites

Who gets them: Everyone in your organization (internal team) and external users you invite.

Key point: Organization role is your "base" permission level. It affects everything you do in the workspace.

Team Roles: Team Management

What they control: Who can manage team settings and membership.

Two levels:

  1. OWNER - Can manage team, add/remove members, change settings
  2. MEMBER - Can access team content

Who gets them: Team participants only (not everyone has team roles).

Key point: Team roles are separate from organization roles. A COLLABORATOR can be a team OWNER.

Contact Roles: Deal Categorization

What they control: How stakeholders are tracked in deals and how their activity affects Deal Pulse scoring.

Nine types:

  • BUYER - External stakeholder on buyer side (activity counts 1.5x)
  • SELLER - Internal stakeholder on seller side (standard weight)
  • DECISION_MAKER - Has final approval authority
  • INFLUENCER - Affects the decision
  • CHAMPION - Internal advocate for your solution
  • GATEKEEPER - Controls access to decision makers
  • BUYER_ADMIN - Buyer-side administrator
  • BUYER_CONTRIBUTOR - Buyer-side contributor
  • BUYER_REVIEWER - Buyer-side reviewer

Who gets them: Contacts added to Decision Sites (deal participants).

Key point: These roles don't affect permissions - they categorize people for analytics and scoring.

How Roles Work Together

Example 1: Internal team member

Sarah is a sales rep

  • Organization Role: CREATOR

    • Can create new Decision Sites
    • Can access AI Assistant
    • Can view Meetings calendar

  • Team Role: MEMBER (on "Enterprise Sales" team)

    • Can access team's shared Decision Sites
    • Cannot add/remove team members

  • Contact Role: SELLER (in specific deals)

    • Activity counts at standard weight in Deal Pulse
    • Tracked as seller-side stakeholder

Result: Sarah can create Decision Sites for her deals, access team resources, but needs team OWNER or ADMIN to change team settings.

Example 2: External buyer

John is a buyer at customer company

  • Organization Role: GUEST

    • View-only access
    • Can only see Decision Sites shared with him
    • Limited navigation (no Meetings, no AI Assistant)
    • Special "What's Decision Site?" help button

  • Team Role: None

    • Not part of any internal teams

  • Contact Role: BUYER + DECISION_MAKER

    • Activity counts 1.5x in Deal Pulse scoring
    • Tracked as final decision maker

Result: John can view shared Decision Sites but cannot create or edit content. His logins and activity significantly boost Deal Pulse score.

Example 3: Organization admin

Maria is the sales ops leader

  • Organization Role: ADMIN

    • Full access to all Decision Sites
    • Can change anyone's organization role
    • Can manage billing and settings
    • Can access all teams

  • Team Role: OWNER (on multiple teams)

    • Can manage team membership
    • But ADMIN role already gives team access

  • Contact Role: SELLER (when added to specific deals)

    • Categorized as seller-side stakeholder

Result: Maria can manage everything. Her ADMIN role bypasses most restrictions.

Role Hierarchy

Organization Roles (from highest to lowest)

text
ADMIN (0)
├─ Can do everything
├─ Manages all settings
└─ Bypasses most restrictions

CREATOR (1)
├─ Can create Decision Sites
├─ Can manage owned sites
└─ Limited settings access

COLLABORATOR (2)
├─ Can edit shared sites
├─ Cannot create sites
└─ No settings access

GUEST (3)
├─ View-only
├─ No creation or editing
└─ Minimal navigation

Key insight: Lower number = more access. ADMIN (0) has highest access, GUEST (3) has lowest.

Team Roles (from highest to lowest)

text
OWNER
├─ Manage team
├─ Add/remove members
└─ Change settings

MEMBER
├─ Access team content
└─ No management powers

Special note: Organization ADMINs bypass team OWNER requirements.

Contact Roles (no hierarchy)

Contact roles don't have a hierarchy - they're categories, not permission levels.

Two dimensions:

  1. Side: BUYER vs SELLER

    • Affects Deal Pulse scoring weight (BUYER = 1.5x)

  2. Type: DECISION_MAKER, INFLUENCER, CHAMPION, GATEKEEPER

    • Tracks stakeholder type
    • Helps measure diversity
    • No permission effects

Common Misunderstandings

"CREATOR is higher than ADMIN"

Wrong. ADMIN (0) has more access than CREATOR (1). The numbers indicate access level, not rank.

"Team OWNER can do more than organization COLLABORATOR"

Partially true. Team OWNER can manage the team, but organization COLLABORATOR can edit Decision Sites (if shared). Different systems, different powers.

"BUYER role gives buyers more permissions"

Wrong. BUYER is a contact role for categorization. It doesn't grant permissions. Buyers typically have GUEST organization role (view-only).

"I need to give everyone ADMIN role"

Wrong. ADMIN should be limited to 1-2 people. Most team members should be CREATOR or COLLABORATOR.

"GUEST can't do anything"

Partially wrong. GUEST can view shared Decision Sites, see home page, and access help. They just can't create or edit.

Role Assignment

Organization Roles

Assigned by: Organization ADMINs

When: When inviting new members or changing existing member's access

Cannot change: GUEST → other roles directly (must re-invite)

Team Roles

Assigned by: Team OWNERs or organization ADMINs

When: Adding someone to a team

Default: First person to create team becomes OWNER

Contact Roles

Assigned by: Anyone who can edit the Decision Site

When: Adding contacts to a Decision Site

Default: Usually BUYER for external contacts, SELLER for internal

What Roles DON'T Control

Roles don't control:

  • Email notifications (those have separate preferences)
  • Decision Site visibility (controlled by sharing settings and domain rules)
  • Artifact access (may have separate access group restrictions)
  • Calendar integration permissions
  • External app connections (Salesforce, HubSpot, etc.)

These are controlled separately from roles.

Next Steps