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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!

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    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.

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    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.

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  • 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.