Staff & Roles
How Team Access Works
Complete Shop Manager uses a simple two-step system to control what each staff member can see and do. First, you create a team login (an email and password your employee uses to sign in). Second, you link that login to an Employee record and assign one or more Roles. Until that link exists, the login cannot access anything.
The shop owner always has full access and is never limited by roles. Every other login depends entirely on the roles assigned to their linked employee.
Creating a Team Login
Go to Account Settings → Team Logins. Click New Login and enter the employee’s first name, last name, and an email address. The email becomes their username — it must be unique across the whole platform, so issue each person an address your shop controls (like name@yourshop.com) rather than a personal address.
Set an initial password. The employee can change it later from their own Account Settings. You can also reset a team member’s password from this page at any time, or remove a login entirely when someone leaves.
Creating team logins requires the Pro plan.
Employees and Roles
Go to People → Employees to manage your employee records. An Employee record stores the person’s name and department. From there you can link it to a team login and assign roles.
When you deactivate an Employee, their team login immediately loses all access — you do not need to delete the login separately. Reactivating the Employee restores access.
Roles are managed under People → Roles. A Role is a named set of permissions — each one controls whether the person can view, edit, or has no access to each part of the app. A team member gets the combined permissions of every role assigned to them.
Built-In Roles
CSM comes with several ready-to-use roles that cover common shop positions. You can use these as-is or customize them for your shop.
Admin
Full access to everything except billing and account tier changes — those are owner-only. Assign this role to a trusted office manager or lead advisor.
Manager
Can manage shop settings, repair orders, customers, and vehicles. A good fit for a service manager who handles operations but does not need billing access.
Advisor
Can create and edit repair orders, manage customers and vehicles, and process payments. Designed for front-desk service advisors.
Technician
Can view their assigned repair orders and log time. Technicians do not see financial totals, customer contact details, or other areas of the app by default.
Parts
Focused on the parts and inventory side — viewing and managing parts lines on repair orders and the inventory list.
Clerk
View-only access to repair orders and customer records. Useful for a receptionist who needs to look up information but should not make changes.
Customizing Roles
Every role can be customized under People → Roles → Manage Access. Each area of the app (Customers, Vehicles, Repair Orders, Payments, Scheduling, and more) can be set to No Access, View Only, or View & Edit for that role. Repair Orders also let you control access at a finer level — for example, a technician can see labor but not the payment total.
Changes to a role take effect immediately for everyone assigned to it. You can create additional custom roles if the built-in ones do not match your shop’s structure.