Understand and assign access

A high rank or a function name does not grant every action. Panel roles control StaffNest permissions; department delegations can add scoped responsibilities.

Four separate concepts

Concept	Purpose	Example
Rank	Place in the staff hierarchy.	Moderator, administrator.
Department	Team and work scope.	Moderation, communications.
Function	A mission that can be combined with others.	Recruiter, trainer.
Panel role	Actions allowed in StaffNest.	Manage recruitment, approve absences.

Discord permissions for the member and bot are separate requirements for actions performed on Discord.

Create a panel role

You need Manage panel roles. This grants access to the Permissions section without opening the server’s other settings.

1. Open Settings → Permissions, then panel roles.
2. Choose an existing role or create one with a clear name.
3. Search for a permission or browse the groups. Select the rights needed for its responsibilities and read their descriptions.
4. Save the role and review added rights, removed rights and affected members.
5. Confirm the change.

Everyone assigned to the role receives the new permissions. You cannot grant a right you do not have. The owner role is protected.

The 20 available permissions

Permission	What it allows
Manage staff	Manage member profiles and follow-up. Ranks, panel roles and department assignments have separate permissions.
Manage grades	Create and edit ranks in settings, together with Manage settings. Changing a member’s rank also requires permission to manage their profile.
Manage departments and functions	Create and edit departments, functions and assignments. Delegations and Discord links also require settings access.
Manage tasks	Create and manage tasks across the server. Department delegations remain limited to their teams.
Manage absences	Review absence requests. Declaring your own absence does not require this management right.
Manage sanctions	Handle sanctions, reports and player records within available modules.
Manage recruitment	Create positions and review applications. Preparing an arrival also requires rights over the items changed.
Manage meetings	Create and manage meetings. Creating a follow-up task also requires Manage tasks.
Manage tickets	Access and handle tickets permitted by their category, assign them and add notes.
Configure tickets	Configure categories, teams and messages, check permissions and publish the Discord entry point. Does not itself grant access to conversations or ticket records.
Manage automations	Create, simulate and manage rules. Permissions for trigger data and selected actions are still required.
Publish announcements	Publish announcements and authorize automation notification actions.
Manage polls	Create, close and delete polls.
Manage training	Create courses and manage training progress.
Manage wiki	Create and edit internal documentation, subject to visibility restrictions.
View statistics	View available statistics without automatically gaining access to detailed records.
View activity log	View server history. Details subject to other permissions remain protected.
Manage panel roles	Create and edit roles without granting rights you do not hold. Assigning a role also requires Manage staff.
Manage blacklist	Block a member’s panel access, subject to account protections.
Manage settings	Change general configuration, integrations and delegations. Other management permissions remain independent.

Existing roles keep their capabilities

When the separate permissions are introduced, existing roles inherit their previous capabilities: departments from staff management, tasks from staff or meeting management, and automations, activity logs and ticket configuration from settings access. You can then disable each right independently. New roles start without permissions; the owner retains every permission.

For example, start a recruiter with recruitment rights. Add staff or training management only if they also handle those steps. A department manager may need a scoped delegation rather than global rights. A role that manages settings or other roles has broader powers than one that handles requests.

Assign and verify access

Assigning a role requires Manage staff and Manage panel roles. General settings access is not required. Use member assignments in Settings → Permissions, or edit the panel role on the staff profile with the required rights. Review the permission comparison before confirming. Changing a role does not restore a removed or blacklisted profile.

The access view in permissions settings explains a member’s rights and their origin. Check their actual assigned role, selected permissions, department membership, delegations and profile status. A recorded Discord departure or revoked ownership also blocks access. Ask the person to refresh and try the intended action after a change.

Roles are server-specific: the same person may have different rights elsewhere. Viewing information and being allowed to edit it are separate checks.

Limit bot commands

Configuring Settings → Permissions → Bot commands requires settings access. Select the allowed panel roles. An unconfigured command keeps its default policy; explicitly selecting All staff opens that delegation to all staff, while mandatory action-specific checks remain in place. The personal /staffnest, /tasks, /departments and /meetings menus also apply their own permission and scope checks.

See server configuration and the command reference before changing command access.

Delegate within a department

Department settings can allow its managers to handle that team’s tasks, statistics or absences without opening every server record. A manager using only an absence delegation cannot approve their own absence. See departments and functions.