Role Based Access Control for Field Service Teams
Role based access control software for field service: owner, administrator and employee at company level, technician, task requester and task approver inside each service zone. Rights are granted per area, so the same person can run one district and only execute work in another.
Role Based Access Control at Company Level
Shifton Field Service defines three company roles. The Owner is the user who registered the company and holds full access, including payment methods, billing and legal details, subscriptions and user management. Administrators run daily operations. Employees work with the jobs assigned to them.
Financial data stays with the owner even when several people administer the system.
Functional Roles Inside Each Service Zone
On top of the company role, an employee can hold one or more functional roles in a given service zone, and the roles can differ between zones. This is where authority over creating and approving work is granted.
The same employee can approve work in one area and only execute it in another.
Access Control in the Mobile App
The mobile application follows the same permission model. A technician works with their own tasks, their own To-Do items and their own inventory records, and cannot create tasks, create To-Do items for others or add clients.
Permissions do not have to be maintained separately for web and mobile.
Ownership Transfer and Accountability
Ownership can be handed over: in Company Settings, open the company name and choose Change Owner. After confirmation the selected user becomes the Owner and the previous one becomes an Employee. Actions in the system are recorded against the user who performed them.
Access control software is only useful when the record shows who acted, and when.
Start with the Free Plan
No time limits. Get full access to core features and upgrade when you're ready.
How roles and permissions work here
Who sees what, and why it matters in field service
Role based access control software exists because field service data is not uniformly sensitive. A technician needs the address and the job. Payment details, legal information and other employees' schedules belong to the office. Access control is how both requirements are met in one system.
Shifton splits access three ways at company level, then adds functional roles inside each service zone. The result is a permission model you can explain in a sentence and still tune per area of operation.
The three company roles
- Owner. The person who registered the company. Full access to every module and setting, payment methods, billing and legal details, subscriptions, and the right to add or remove administrators and employees. Ownership can be transferred, and the previous owner becomes an employee.
- Administrator. Almost the same rights day to day: employees, schedules, tasks, service zones, modules and company workflows. What an administrator cannot touch is financial data, payment methods and ownership.
- Employee. The default. Sees their own task schedule, performs assigned work, updates statuses, receives and returns inventory items and views their own inventory records. By default an employee does not create or approve tasks, does not see other people's schedules and does not open company settings.
Functional roles inside a service zone
Company roles answer what a person may do everywhere. Zone roles answer what they may do here. Each employee can hold one or several roles in a given service area, and the roles can differ from one area to the next.
- Technician. Sees and performs tasks inside the assigned zone.
- Task Requester. Creates task requests, picks the client address and assigns the job to a zone.
- Task Approver. Approves or rejects new task requests, which is the control point for companies where jobs are not created freely.
The same person can be a technician in one area and a task approver in another, which matches how service companies distribute responsibility across districts.
What this prevents
The model addresses three common exposures: financial data reachable by every account created to help with scheduling, the full client database available on a field device, and work committed to a crew by a user without the authority to commit it.
Roles in the mobile app
The app follows the same model. A technician sees the tasks assigned to them, their own To-Do items and their own inventory, and cannot create tasks, create To-Do items for others or add clients. Administrators and the owner get the wider set. Nothing has to be configured twice for web and mobile, because it is one permission model. See the mobile app for what each role gets on a phone.
What it costs
Roles and permissions are part of the platform, not a paid add-on. The Tasks base module is free for up to two employees with no time limit, and $5.00 per employee per month above that, 20% less on annual billing. Paid modules such as inventory and invoicing respect the same roles. See the pricing page.
Frequently Asked Questions
What roles exist in Shifton Field Service?
Three at company level: Owner, Administrator and Employee. On top of those, employees can hold functional roles inside a service zone: Technician, Task Requester and Task Approver.
What can the Owner do that an Administrator cannot?
Manage payment methods, change company billing and legal details, manage the subscription, and transfer ownership. Administrators run daily operations but have no access to financial settings.
Can I transfer ownership of the company account?
Yes. In Company Settings open the company name and choose Change Owner. After confirmation the selected user becomes the Owner and the previous one becomes an Employee.
What does an employee see by default?
Only their own task schedule and the jobs assigned to them, plus their own inventory records. By default employees cannot create or approve tasks, see other people's schedules or open company settings.
Can one person have different rights in different areas?
Yes. Functional roles are assigned per service zone, so the same employee can be a Technician in one zone and a Task Approver in another.
Who can create and approve tasks?
The Owner and Administrators always can. An employee can create tasks with the Task Requester role and approve them with the Task Approver role, and only within the zones where those roles are granted.
Does the mobile app use the same permissions?
Yes. What a person sees in the app follows their role: a technician works with their own tasks and To-Do items and cannot create tasks, add clients or assign work to others.
Can I stop technicians from seeing the whole client base?
Yes, that is the default. Client records and the wider database belong to roles with access to the Clients section, while a technician gets the client details carried by their own job.
Is access control a paid module?
No. Roles and permissions come with the platform. The Tasks base module is free for up to 2 employees and $5.00 per employee per month above that, and paid modules follow the same roles.
Ready to transform your field operations?
Join thousands of field service companies that trust Shifton to run smarter every day.