Managing user access is a cornerstone of a secure and efficient collaborative platform. In BusinessChat, assigning the correct roles is a strategic imperative that directly impacts customer response times, data security, and marketing effectiveness. Proper role assignment enhances security by limiting access to sensitive data and functions, streamlines workflows by providing team members with the exact tools they need, and ensures operational clarity across the organization. This guide provides a detailed breakdown of the available user roles, their specific permissions, what they can and cannot do, and how their view of the platform differs, empowering you to manage your team effectively.
1. Overview of User Roles and Permissions
BusinessChat employs a hierarchical user management system to grant different levels of access and control. This tiered structure is designed to ensure that sensitive operations, account-wide settings, and user management capabilities are restricted to authorized personnel, while team members remain focused on their core responsibilities.
The Three Primary Roles:
Owner: The single highest level of authority with complete and immutable control over the entire account.
Admin: An administrative role with broad permissions to manage platform settings, teams, users, and operational assets.
User: A standard role designed for team members, such as customer service agents, with access centered on core operational tasks like managing conversations.
Additional Granular Permissions: Beyond these core roles, specific permissions can be assigned to expand a user's capabilities. These granular controls grant access to specific platform areas—like Campaigns & Automations or Subscription & Billing—without elevating the user's primary administrative authority.
NOTE: Ensure you grant all additional permissions to Admins from the moment you set up their accounts, especially the Marketing permissions if you need them to handle everything. The button for this permission is toggled ON by default.
This guide will now explore each role in detail, starting with the most powerful—the Owner.
2. The Owner Role: Ultimate Account Authority
The Owner role represents the single, ultimate authority for the BusinessChat account. This role holds the highest level of permissions and is foundational to the account's security and administration. There is only one Owner per account, and their authority is absolute within the platform's structure.
Core Attributes:
Highest Authority: The Owner possesses all the same permissions and capabilities as the Admin role, including full administrative control over users, settings, and data.
Immutable Role: The Owner's account is unique in that it cannot be modified, deactivated, or have its role changed by any other user, including Admins.
Since the Owner's capabilities encompass all those of an Admin with an added layer of ultimate control, the following section details the extensive permissions granted to the Admin role.
3. The Admin Role: Administrative Control
The Admin role is the primary administrative function for the day-to-day management of the BusinessChat platform. Admins are entrusted with operational oversight, user management, and the configuration of business settings, acting as key figures in maintaining a smooth and efficient workflow for the entire team.
3.1. Admin Permissions and Capabilities
An Admin has extensive access to manage and configure the platform. Their key capabilities include:
User Management: Add new users, deactivate existing user accounts, and change other users' roles (excluding the Owner).
Account-Wide Settings: Modify business settings such as team configurations, working hours, conversation assignment limits, and other operational parameters.
Data Access and Export: View, inspect, and export the complete list of customer contacts from the platform.
Reporting and Analytics: Access and export all platform reports to analyze performance and team activity.
Conversation Oversight: Access all conversations across all teams and individual user views, providing a complete overview of customer interactions.
Asset Creation: Create and manage shared assets for the entire team, including conversation topics, WhatsApp message templates, and saved replies.
3.2. Admin Limitations
Despite their broad administrative powers, Admins have one critical restriction:
Cannot Modify Owner: An Admin is not permitted to modify or deactivate the account Owner's profile or access.
3.3. Admin Platform View & Marketing Access
An Admin's view of the platform varies based on whether they have been granted specific marketing permissions. While they have broad operational control, their access to marketing execution tools is not automatic.
Standard Admin View (Default): By default, an Admin has access to the Inbox, Contacts, Chatbot, and Reports pages. This allows them to oversee operations, manage users, and analyze performance.
The Restriction: Without additional permissions, the Main Dashboard, Campaigns, and Automations pages are hidden. They cannot launch campaigns or build automation flows.
Asset & Data Exception: Even without marketing permissions, Admins retain the ability to create and manage operational assets. They can always create WhatsApp Templates, Saved Replies, and Topics.
Admin with Marketing Permissions: If an Admin is explicitly granted the "Campaigns" permission, their interface expands to include the Main Dashboard, Campaigns, and Automations tabs. This provides them with a complete view of the platform, combining operational oversight with marketing execution tools.
How to Grant Access: To enable this view, you must edit the user's profile and check the "Campaigns" permission box.
3.4. Default Operational State
When an Admin logs into the platform, their default status is "Watching Mode," indicated by a yellow icon. This means they will not be automatically assigned new incoming conversations. This allows them to monitor all team activity, oversee workflows, and manually assign conversations to themselves if needed.
From the administrative control of the Admin, we now turn to the operationally-focused User role.
4. The User Role: Focused on Customer Engagement
The User role is the standard account type for team members who are directly involved in day-to-day customer interactions. Its permissions are intentionally focused, providing access only to the tools necessary to manage conversations and engage with customers, thereby minimizing the risk of accidental changes to critical business settings.
4.1. User Permissions and Capabilities
A standard User can perform the following core functions:
Conversation Management: Access and engage in conversations that are assigned directly to them or to a team they are a member of.
Restricted Contact Management:
View customer contact information only for the conversations they have permission to access.
View Contact Groups to identify customer segments (e.g., "VIP Customers"), but they cannot see the complete list of contacts within those groups.
Add Contacts Individually: They can manually add a new contact one by one if needed for a specific conversation.
Personal Settings: Manage their own personal profile information, including their name, notification preferences, and display language.
Important Note: Be aware that if the Shw AGnet Name feature is toggled ON from the Chatbot settings, the user name will be visible to customers when the agent is handling conversations.
4.2. User Limitations and Platform View
The User role is streamlined to protect account integrity and maintain operational focus on customer engagement. Consequently, their view of the platform is significantly more limited than that of an Admin.
Platform Visibility & Interface:
Hidden Tabs: The Dashboard, Reports, Campaigns, Chatbot, and Automations tabs are entirely hidden from the navigation bar. They cannot view the main account dashboard or access any reporting pages.
Exception: If a User is granted the "Campaigns" permission, they gain access to the Campaigns and Automations tabs to launch marketing initiatives. However, the Main Dashboard and General Reports remain hidden.
Focus on Inbox: Their interface is primarily designed around the Inbox/Conversations tab, ensuring they concentrate solely on managing their assigned tasks.
Data & Contact Restrictions:
Restricted Contacts View: Users cannot browse the full contact database or see the "Total Contacts" count. They only see the specific individuals they are communicating with.
No Bulk Actions or Exports: They cannot upload contacts via CSV, import data in bulk, or export any customer lists, groups, or conversation data.
Single Contact Addition: While they cannot view the entire database, they can still add a new contact manually, one by one.
No Group Downloads: They can see Group names to identify customer segments, but they cannot download the contact lists within those groups.
Operational Restrictions:
No Global Assets: They cannot create WhatsApp templates, saved replies, or conversation topics.
=> Important: This restriction applies even if the user has the "Campaigns" permission. They can launch campaigns using existing templates, but they cannot create new templates themselves.
No Management or Settings: They cannot add, deactivate, or change roles for other users, nor can they modify business-wide account settings.
Cannot access the general 'Reports' page (unless viewing specific Campaign reports via the Campaigns tab).
4.4. Default Operational State
Upon logging in, a User's default status is "Active," indicated by a green icon. This status signifies that they are immediately available to be automatically assigned new incoming conversations according to the rules configured by a Admin.
While the standard User role is focused, it can be augmented with specific permissions to grant access to additional functions.
5. Assigning Additional Permissions to Users or Admins
The standard Admin and User roles can be enhanced with specific, granular permissions. This allows an administrator to grant access to specialized platform functions without elevating an individual's primary role, maintaining a principle of least privilege.
5.1. Campaigns Permission
Scope: This permission grants a user access to the Campaigns and Automations pages, allowing them to manage and launch marketing initiatives. They can access and export individual campaign reports, but not the General Reports icon and details under it, such as conversations reports and general overall campaigns reports.
Key Limitation: Even when a User is granted the Campaigns Permission, they are still unable to create new WhatsApp templates. This capability remains exclusive to Admin and Owner roles.
5.2. Subscription Management Permission
Scope: A user with this permission can manage the account's BusinessChat subscription. This includes the ability to pay invoices, access past invoices, and view the payment card information on file.
6. User Account Management
The lifecycle of user accounts—from onboarding to deactivation—is managed by administrators to ensure the team roster is always current and secure. These actions are reserved for Owners and Admins.
6.1. Adding and Onboarding a New User
An administrator can invite a new team member by following these steps:
Navigate to Account Settings > Users.
Click New User and provide the required information: Name, Email, Phone Number, Role (User or Admin), and initial Teams to be part of. Plus, grant additional permissions for marketing campaigns and subscription management as you see fit for the role. NOTE: Permissions are toggled ON by default for Admin roles, but you can turn them off.
Click Send Invitation. The new user will receive an email to confirm and activate their account.
If a user forgets their password:
If any user forgets their password, they can ask an Admin or the Owner to reset their password for them, or they can simply reset it themselves following these steps:
From the login page: https://platform.businesschat.io/
Click Forgot password
Enter your email address
You will receive an email to change the password.
Troubleshooting steps if you didn't receive the email to confirm reseting the password:
Check Spam/Junk: Look for emails specifically from
[email protected].Check Firewalls: Verify with your IT department if a firewall is blocking the email.
Forgotten Email: If you cannot remember which email is linked to your account, check your WhatsApp chat history with the BusinessChat Sales team, as your login credentials were likely sent there during onboarding. This is for Owners only, if the account resetting the password is for a user or Admin, then try reaching out to BusinessChat Support.
Password Requirements: When setting a new password, ensure it is at least 8 characters long and that the password and confirmation fields match exactly.
Note on User Limits: The number of users you can add is determined by your subscription plan. All plans include at least five users.
6.2. Editing a user permissions after being added to the account
Owners or Admins can edit a user's permissions any time even after they've already set up their account and the user has accepted the invitation. To edit a user's permissions, follow these steps:
Navigate to Account Settings from your profile avatar
Click Users found under the General Settings
Choose the specific user you want to edit their permissionS and click the Edit button (Pencil icon)
Toggle On or Off the Marketing and Subscription permissions as need
Click Save
you can as well edit the user Role itself from User to Admin or from Admin to User, by choosing the role you need from the dropdown. Make sure to click Save.
6.3. Deactivating and Reactivating a User
To maintain data integrity for reporting and historical records, user accounts cannot be permanently deleted. Instead, they can be deactivated by an Owner or Admin.
To deactivate a user account, follow these steps:
Click on Account Settings from your profile avatar, then select Users.
Click on the Pen icon (Edit) next to the user you want to deactivate.
Click on Deactivate.
Confirm that you want to reassign this user's active conversations to other team members, then click Deactivate Account to confirm.
Consequences of Deactivation:
The user immediately loses all access to the platform.
All of their currently active conversations are automatically reassigned to other team members.
The action frees up a user seat/license in the account's subscription plan.
All of the user's historical data, such as past messages and contributions to reports, is retained for accuracy.
Reactivation: A deactivated account can be reactivated at any time, restoring the user's access. You can reactivate any user you have deactivated by clicking the "Activate User" button that appears next to the user's name.
7. Understanding User Status Indicators
7.1. Understanding the User Status Indicator from personal profiles
The BusinessChat platform uses a simple, color-coded system to display each user's current status at a glance. This indicator is visible only in each user’s personal account when they’re logged in to the platform. The user can locate this indicator by navigating to their profile avatar from the bottom of the page; it should be visible next to their name. They can toggle the button next to it to change their status to Active or Watching.
Status | Description |
Active (Green) | The user is logged in and available to be automatically assigned new conversations. This is the default status for the User role. |
Watching Mode (Yellow) | The user is logged in, but will not be automatically assigned new conversations. They can monitor activity and manually take conversations. This is the default status for Owner and Admin roles. |
7.2. Understanding the User Status Indicator from Admin access
As an Admin or Owner, you should check which users are active. You can see this information by following these steps:
Go to Account Settings from your profile avatar
Click on Users, under General settings
Locate the user whose status you want to check
In front of each user, you can see a column for Status, which can be one of three:
Offline: they are not logged in at all
Watching: they are logged in but have their Watch mode on, meaning they cannot be assigned conversations automatically.
Active: they are logged in and ready to be assigned a conversation.
8. Managing Personal Profile Settings
Every user on the platform—whether Owner, Admin, or User—has access to a personal profile page to customize their experience and identity. To access these settings, click your Avatar at the bottom of the sidebar and select Profile.
8.1. Changing Your Display Name
All users (User, Admin, Owner) can update their First Name and Last Name at any time.
Important Note: If your organization has enabled the "Show Employee Name" option in the Chatbot settings, the name you save here will be visible to customers during conversations.
8.2. Changing Display Language
BusinessChat supports four interface languages. All users can toggle between them to suit your preference without affecting other team members:
Supported Languages: Arabic, English, Portuguese, and Spanish.
How to Switch: Navigate to the Language dropdown in your profile, select your preferred language, and click Save Changes.
8.3. Setting a Profile Picture
You can upload a photo to represent your account. This image helps team members identify you in the:
User Management list.
Internal Team Chat and assignment logs.
To Upload: Click the Upload button in your profile, select an image from your device, and click Save.
8.4. Two-Factor Authentication (2FA)
Enabling Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) significantly enhances your account security by protecting it against unauthorized access.
How to Enable: Navigate to your Profile settings and toggle the 2FA option to ON.
How It Works:
When logging in from a new device or after a 30-day period, you will be prompted to enter a secondary verification code.
Trusted Devices: The system securely remembers the secondary password on your device for 30 days to provide a seamless login experience without compromising security.
8.5. Changing Your Password
All users can update their password at any time for security reasons directly from their profiles.
Open your Profile.
Enter your Current Password in the designated field.
Enter your New Password and confirm it in the "Confirm New Password" field.
Click Save.
8.6. Personal WhatsApp Number for Notifications
The personal profile allows any user to link a personal WhatsApp number for security reasons to receive OTPs or simply for BusinessChat support team to reach them when needed.
Important Distinction: This number is strictly used for receiving important account alerts (e.g., Campaign Status, Revenue Reports as per user role) and for account verification. It is completely different from the Business Line used to chat with customers and connected to WhatsApp API via BusinessChat.
How to Update Your Personal Number:
Click your profile avatar and select Settings.
Open the Profile tab.
In the WhatsApp Number field, enter your number in international format (e.g., +9665XXXXXXXX).
Click Update Number.
You will receive a verification code via WhatsApp. Enter the code and click Confirm Code.
Troubleshooting: If you do not receive the code, ensure your phone is connected to the internet and WhatsApp is active, then click "Resend Code."
Conclusion
The distinction among the Owner, Admin, and User roles in BusinessChat provides a robust framework for securely and effectively managing a team. The Owner holds ultimate authority, the Admin manages daily administrative and operational tasks, and the User remains focused on customer engagement. By leveraging this role-based system, organizations can maintain a secure, organized, and highly efficient customer communication workflow. Properly configured, this system prevents data breaches, ensures marketing campaigns are managed by authorized personnel, and empowers customer-facing teams to work without distraction, directly improving the customer experience.