Roles and Permissions

How to create roles, assign permissions, and control access in Equa

Roles and Permissions

Equa uses role-based access control (RBAC) to determine what each member can see and do within an organization. This guide covers creating roles, assigning permissions, and managing access for your team.

Prerequisites

• Active Equa account
• editMembers permission to create, edit, and delete roles
• viewMembers permission to view roles

Understanding the Permission Model

Access control in Equa works through three layers:

1. Permissions — Individual capabilities (e.g., “View Cap Table”, “Edit Documents”)
2. Roles — Named collections of permissions (e.g., “Investor”, “Admin”, “Board Member”)
3. Member assignments — Each member is assigned one or more roles

A member’s effective permissions are the combined set of all permissions from all their assigned roles.

Built-In Permissions

Equa includes 15 built-in permissions:

Permission	What It Controls
viewOrganization	View the organization dashboard
viewCapTable	View the cap table and all holders
editCapTable	Create, edit, and manage holdings
viewDocuments	View data room documents
editDocuments	Upload and edit documents
deleteDocuments	Delete data room documents
viewMembers	View member information
editMembers	Edit and manage members
viewIncentivePlan	View equity incentive plans
editIncentivePlan	Manage incentive plans
viewGoverningDocuments	View agreement documents
editOrganizationDetails	Update organization settings
editBilling	View and manage billing
signing	Sign documents and certificates
viewSelf	View own holdings and profile

Creating a Role

Step 1: Navigate to Roles

From your organization sidebar, click Settings > Roles.

Step 2: Create a New Role

Click New Role and fill in:

• Role name — A descriptive name (e.g., “Investor”, “CFO”, “Board Observer”)
• Description — What this role is for

Step 3: Set Permissions

Toggle the permissions you want this role to include. Each permission controls a specific area of the platform.

Step 4: Save

Click Save to create the role.

Common Tasks

Assigning a Role to a Member

1. Navigate to Team Members
2. Click on the member’s name
3. Click Edit
4. In the Roles section, select one or more roles
5. Click Save

Permission changes take effect immediately on the member’s next action.

Viewing the Permissions Matrix

1. Navigate to Settings > Roles
2. Click the Permissions Matrix tab
3. View a grid showing all roles across the top and all permissions down the side
4. Checkmarks indicate which permissions each role has

Editing a Role’s Permissions

1. Navigate to Settings > Roles
2. Click on the role you want to edit
3. Click Edit Permissions
4. Toggle permissions on or off
5. Click Save

Deleting a Role

1. Navigate to Settings > Roles
2. Click on the role
3. Click Delete
4. Confirm the action

Creating Shared Roles

Shared roles can be reused across multiple organizations:

1. When creating a role, enable the Shared option
2. The role will be available for assignment in any organization it is linked to

This is useful for companies with multiple subsidiaries that use the same role structure.

Common Role Templates

Here are some typical roles you might create:

Role	Suggested Permissions
Admin	All permissions
Investor	viewOrganization, viewCapTable, viewDocuments, viewSelf
Board Member	viewOrganization, viewCapTable, viewDocuments, viewGoverningDocuments, viewMembers, signing
Employee	viewOrganization, viewSelf, viewIncentivePlan
CFO	viewOrganization, viewCapTable, editCapTable, editBilling, viewDocuments, editDocuments, viewMembers

Tips

Organization owners automatically have full access to everything — they do not need explicit role assignments. This ensures the owner can always manage the organization.

Every member can always view their own profile and holdings through the “View Self” permission, even if they do not have “View Members”. This ensures people can see their own equity.

Use the Permissions Matrix view to quickly audit who has access to what. It is the fastest way to spot gaps or excessive permissions.

Troubleshooting

A member cannot access a feature they should be able to use

Cause: The member’s assigned roles may not include the necessary permission.

Solution: Check the Permissions Matrix to see which permissions the member has. Assign a role that includes the missing permission, or edit an existing role to add it.

I cannot create or edit roles

Cause: You need the editMembers permission to manage roles.

Solution: Ask the organization owner to assign you a role with the “Edit Members” permission.

Permission changes are not taking effect

Cause: Permission changes should be immediate. The user may need to refresh their browser.

Solution: Ask the affected member to refresh their browser page. If the issue persists, verify the role assignment is saved correctly.

I accidentally deleted an important role

Cause: Role deletion is permanent and cannot be undone.

Solution: Create a new role with the same name and permissions. Reassign it to the members who had the deleted role.

Related

• Managing Team Members
• Admin Guide
• Organization Setup
• Team Members and Roles Specification