Roles & Access Control

Understand what each role in OpenChair can do — so you assign the right level of access when inviting team members, and your staff see only what they need.

Where to find it: Roles are assigned when you invite a team member (Team → Invite) and can be changed from the staff profile.

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Overview

OpenChair uses three roles to control what each team member can see and do:

• Owner — full access to every feature, including billing, venue settings, and team management
• Manager — can manage day-to-day operations, staff schedules, and services, but cannot access billing or financial reports
• Stylist (Staff) — can view their own calendar, manage their own bookings and clients, and update their own profile

Roles are assigned per venue. A person can have different roles at different venues if they belong to more than one.

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The three roles

Owner

The Owner has unrestricted access to the venue. Every feature, setting, and report is available.

Owners can:

• Invite team members with any role (Owner, Manager, or Stylist)
• Remove or offboard any team member
• Change any team member's role
• Access billing, subscription, and payout settings
• Configure venue settings, operating hours, and booking rules
• View all reports, commission settings, invoices, and deposit rules
• Set up and manage kiosk mode (shared-device PIN)
• Manage reviews
• Access the full Intelligence dashboard

When you create a venue, OpenChair automatically assigns you the Owner role. You do not need to invite yourself.

Manager

Managers handle day-to-day operations without access to billing or sensitive financial data.

Managers can:

• View and manage all bookings on the calendar
• Manage Stylists (invite, edit profiles, set schedules, assign services, offboard)
• Configure services, packages, products, and gift cards
• Manage the waitlist
• View and manage the timesheet (all staff hours)
• Set up kiosk mode and shared-device PINs
• Access Engage (inbox, campaigns, automations)
• Access the Concierge with manager-level prompts
• Edit brand voice, storefront, portfolio, loyalty, forms, and deposit rules

Managers cannot:

• Invite, edit, or remove other Managers or Owners
• Access billing, subscription, or payout settings
• View invoices or financial reports
• View or configure commission rates (web)
• Manage the reviews queue (web)

Stylist (Staff)

Stylists have a personal view focused on their own work.

Stylists can:

• View their own calendar and upcoming bookings
• Create and manage bookings
• View and manage their own clients
• Update their own profile (name, email, bio, calendar colour)
• Edit their own working hours (via mobile self-service)
• Toggle which services they offer (on/off only — no proficiency or price overrides)
• View their own commission earnings on mobile (More → My Earnings)
• Clock in and out, track breaks (More → My Hours)
• Access the Concierge with staff-level prompts
• Send and receive messages via Engage

Stylists cannot:

• Access the Team management page
• View other team members' calendars or schedules
• Change venue settings, operating hours, or booking rules
• Configure services, commission rates, or deposit rules
• Access billing, invoices, payouts, or reports
• Set up or manage kiosk mode

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Feature access by role

The table below shows which features each role can access. "View" means read-only access; "Manage" means full create/edit/delete access.

Core features

Feature	Owner	Manager	Stylist
Calendar (all staff)	Manage	Manage	Own bookings only
Create bookings	Yes	Yes	Yes
Waitlist	Manage	Manage	No
Walk-in checkout	Yes	Yes	Yes
Clients	Manage	Manage	Own clients
Concierge (AI assistant)	Full prompts	Full prompts	Staff prompts
Engage (Inbox)	Manage	Manage	Send/receive
Engage (Campaigns)	Manage	Manage	No
Intelligence dashboard	Full	View	View

Team management

Feature	Owner	Manager	Stylist
View team list	Yes	Yes	No
Invite team members	All roles	Stylists only	No
Edit staff profiles	All staff	Stylists only	Own profile only
Set staff working hours	All staff	Stylists only	Own hours (mobile)
Assign services to staff	All staff	Stylists only	Own services (toggle only)
Set proficiency / duration / price overrides	All staff	Stylists only	No
Offboard team members	All roles	Stylists only	No
Change a team member's role	Yes	No	No

Services & catalogue

Feature	Owner	Manager	Stylist
Services	Manage	Manage	View
Packages	Manage	Manage	View
Products	Manage	Manage	View
Gift cards	Manage	Manage	View
Consultation forms	Manage	Manage	View

Financial & reporting

Feature	Owner	Manager	Stylist
Commission setup (rates & overrides)	Manage	Manage	No
Commission report (all staff)	View	View	No
Own earnings (My Earnings)	Yes	Yes	Yes
Timesheet (all staff)	Manage	Manage	No
Own hours (My Hours / clock in-out)	Yes	Yes	Yes
Invoices	Manage	No	No
Payouts	Manage	No	No
Deposits (rules & configuration)	Manage	No	No
Reviews	Manage	No	No

Venue & settings

Feature	Owner	Manager	Stylist
Venue settings	Manage	No	No
Operating hours	Manage	No	No
Booking rules	Manage	No	No
Storefront & appearance	Manage	Manage	No
Brand voice	Manage	Manage	No
Portfolio	Manage	Manage	View
Loyalty programme	Manage	Manage	No
Billing & subscription	Manage	No	No
Kiosk mode setup	Yes	Yes	No
Shared-device PIN management	Yes	Yes	No

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How roles are assigned

Roles are assigned when you invite a team member:

1. Go to Team in the sidebar (web) or More → Team (mobile).
2. Click the + button (web) or tap Invite (mobile).
3. Enter the team member's email and select a role:

Role option	Web label	Mobile label
Stylist	"Staff (Stylist)"	"Stylist"
Manager	"Manager"	"Manager"
Owner	"Owner"	"Owner"

4. Click Send Invitation (web) or tap Send Invite (mobile).

Changing a role

Only Owners can change a team member's role after they have been invited.

1. Go to Team and select the team member.
2. On the Profile tab (web) or Edit Profile screen (mobile), change the Role field.
3. Click Save Profile.

Role hierarchy for invitations

• Owners can invite and manage all roles (Owner, Manager, Stylist).
• Managers can invite and manage Stylists only — they cannot invite, edit, or remove other Managers or Owners.
• Stylists cannot invite or manage anyone.

For full details on the invitation process, see Team Invitations.

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Shared devices and kiosk mode

When your venue uses a shared tablet or reception screen, kiosk mode adds an extra layer of access control on top of roles.

What kiosk mode does

Kiosk mode locks the device to a schedule-only view, preventing unauthorised access to venue data. There are two modes:

Mode	What it does
Display Mode	Shows the schedule in a read-only view. A 4-digit venue PIN is required to unlock and return to the full dashboard.
Shared Device Mode	Team members must "claim" the device with their personal PIN before they can make changes. Write actions are disabled until someone claims the device.

Who can set up kiosk mode

Only Owners and Managers can:

• Set the venue-wide 4-digit kiosk PIN
• Enter kiosk mode (Display or Shared)
• Change or remove the kiosk PIN
• Temporarily unlock shared mode for 5 minutes (management unlock)

Stylists cannot set up or manage kiosk mode, but they can:

• Unlock the device if they know the venue PIN
• Claim the device as an operator in shared mode using their personal PIN

Personal operator PINs

In Shared Device Mode, each team member sets a personal 4-digit PIN. When a staff member claims the device:

• Their name appears in the header ("Acting as [Name]")
• They can make changes subject to their normal role permissions
• The claim expires after 15 minutes, after which they must re-claim

Kiosk mode does not override role permissions — it adds a device-level lock on top of them. A Stylist claiming a shared device still has only Stylist-level access.

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What Stylists see

Because Stylists have the most restricted view, here is a summary of their experience:

On web

• The sidebar shows the standard navigation items (Today, Schedule, Clients, Engage, Intelligence, Concierge, Services)
• The Manage popover in the sidebar is empty (all items are owner-only)
• Navigating directly to restricted pages (Team, Commission, Invoices, Payouts, Deposits, Reviews) shows an "Access Restricted" card with a message like: "Only owners can manage team members."
• The Timesheet page shows: "Timesheet management is only accessible to venue owners and managers."

On mobile

• All five main tabs are visible (Today, Clients, Create, Intelligence, More)
• The More menu hides: Reviews, Timesheet, Commission, Invoices, Payouts, and Shared Device setup
• Stylists can access: Waitlist, Engage, Intelligence, Services, Packages, Products, Gift Cards, Team (own profile), My Hours, Resources, Deposits (view only), Storefront, Brand Voice, Portfolio, Loyalty, and Forms

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Platform differences

Feature	Web	Mobile
Role assignment UI	Dropdown select in invite dialog	Radio buttons in invite form
Sidebar gating	Owner-only items hidden from Managers and Stylists via ownerOnly flag	Managers see all items; only Stylists have items hidden
Access denied message	"Access Restricted" card on the page	Items hidden from the More menu (no error page)
Kiosk mode entry	Toolbar button (monitor icon) for Owners and Managers	More menu → Shared Device (iPad only, Owners and Managers)
Commission access (page level)	Owner only	Owner and Manager
Timesheet access (page level)	Owner and Manager	Owner and Manager

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Troubleshooting

Issue	Solution
"Access Restricted" message on the Team page	Only venue Owners can access the Team management page on web. If you are a Manager, ask the venue Owner to make changes, or use the mobile app where Managers can access team features.
Manager cannot see Timesheet or Commission in the web sidebar	On web, these sidebar links are only visible to Owners. Managers can access the Timesheet page by navigating directly to the URL. Commission setup is Owner-only on web.
Cannot invite a Manager as a Manager	Managers can only invite Stylists. To invite another Manager or Owner, ask a venue Owner to send the invitation.
Staff member sees "Your account isn't linked to a staff profile"	The team member's user account is not connected to their staff record. The venue Owner should verify the staff record exists and the email addresses match.
Cannot change a team member's role	Only Owners can change roles. If you are a Manager, ask the Owner to update the role.
Stylist cannot access their own schedule on web	Ensure the Stylist has accepted their invitation and their profile is active. On web, Stylists can view the calendar but may need to navigate to their own bookings.
Kiosk mode option not showing on mobile	Kiosk mode is only available on iPad (tablets), not phones. It is also restricted to Owners and Managers.

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Related Articles

• Managing Your Team
• Team Invitations
• Staff Offboarding
• Commission Tracking

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Last updated: March 2026