> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.testfactors.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Memberships and access control

> Invite teammates, assign roles, and manage permissions across your TestFactors workspace to control who can view, edit, and approve work.

<Note>
  **This is the most common admin task.** If you're an Org Admin, Client Manager, or Project Manager, you'll use this module weekly to bring new teammates onto projects.
</Note>

## What this module does

TestFactors organizes access in a hierarchy: **Organization → Client → Project**. People (called **members**) join at one or more of these levels with a **role** that determines what they can do.

A few key ideas:

1. **Membership is per-scope** — you can be an Org Admin on Org A and just a Tester on a Project under Org B. They're independent.
2. **Authority cascades down** — an Org Admin automatically has Admin rights on every Client and every Project under that Org.
3. **Authority never cascades up** — a Tester on Project X cannot see anything about the parent Client or Org.
4. **Invitations work for any email** — invite people who don't have TestFactors accounts yet; they get an email and accept on first sign-in.

This module is where you do all of that.

***

## The role system

TestFactors has a rich role catalog — but you'll usually only use a handful. Here's the cheat sheet:

| Role                                 | Where it lives         | What it does                                                                                                    |
| ------------------------------------ | ---------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Platform Admin**                   | Whole platform         | Manages the entire TestFactors deployment. Very rare — usually 1–3 people per company.                          |
| **Org Admin**                        | Organization           | Full administrator of an organization. Manages settings, billing context, all clients/projects under it.        |
| **Client Manager**                   | Client                 | Manages a client and everything under it. Day-to-day decision-maker for one client.                             |
| **Project Manager**                  | Project                | Manages one project: members, scope, cycles, settings.                                                          |
| **Test Manager**                     | Client or Project      | Owns the testing strategy. Approves scenarios/test cases, assigns executions, owns defect triage.               |
| **Test Coordinator**                 | Client or Project      | Day-to-day testing operations. Assigns scripts, tracks progress, signs off cycles.                              |
| **Module Process Owner**             | Client or Project      | Subject-matter expert for one SF module (e.g. *Comp lead*, *EC lead*). Reviews and approves module-scoped work. |
| **Tester**                           | Client or Project      | Executes assigned test scripts. Logs defects. Proposes test cases.                                              |
| **Developer / Consulting Developer** | Client or Project      | Fixes defects, verifies tests against code. Read-only access to most other things.                              |
| **Support Staff**                    | Org / Client / Project | Read-only with light editing on some surfaces. Good for sponsors, observers, finance.                           |
| **Viewer**                           | Org / Client / Project | Read-only across everything in scope.                                                                           |

<Tip>
  **Don't memorize the whole list.** For 95% of cases you'll use: **Project Manager**, **Test Coordinator**, **Tester**, **Developer**, and **Viewer**. Reach for the others only when you need them.
</Tip>

### Authority ranking (briefly)

Roles have a rank (0–100). A role with rank X can manage members of rank X or lower. You **cannot** promote someone to a role higher than your own — TestFactors prevents this server-side.

| Role                                             | Rank |
| ------------------------------------------------ | ---- |
| Platform Admin                                   | 100  |
| Org Admin                                        | 80   |
| Client Manager                                   | 70   |
| Project Manager                                  | 60   |
| Test Manager                                     | 50   |
| Support Staff                                    | 40   |
| Developer / Consulting Developer                 | 30   |
| Tester / Test Coordinator / Module Process Owner | 20   |
| Viewer                                           | 0    |

You'll see this ranking respected automatically — the role dropdown won't show options above your authority.

***

## Step-by-step: invite a teammate to a project

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open the project you want to invite into">
    Navigate to the project. Bottom-left → **Settings** → **Members**.

    <Frame caption="Project Settings page with Members tab selected showing current members and pending invitations.">
      <img src="https://mintlify.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/testfactorsllc/images/memberships/01-project-members.png" alt="Project Members page" />
    </Frame>
  </Step>

  <Step title="Click + Add Member">
    Top-right of the Members table. A side panel opens.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Enter their email and pick a role">
    Two fields:

    * **Email** — the email of the person to invite
    * **Role** — pick from the dropdown (Tester, Developer, Test Coordinator, etc.)

    <Frame caption="Add Member panel with email and role fields and an Invite button.">
      <img src="https://mintlify.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/testfactorsllc/images/memberships/02-add-member.png" alt="Add member panel" />
    </Frame>

    <Tip>
      **The role you pick should match what they'll actually do** — not their job title elsewhere. A senior consultant who's just observing this project should be Viewer, not Project Manager.
    </Tip>
  </Step>

  <Step title="Click Invite">
    Two outcomes:

    * **Email matches an existing TestFactors user** → they're added immediately to the project; they'll see it on their next login.
    * **Email is brand new** → an invitation is sent. They click the link in the email, sign up (or sign in if they already have a TestFactors account on a different email), and are added automatically.

    Either way, you see a confirmation.

    <Frame caption="Confirmation toast: 'Maria Garcia added as Tester' or 'Invitation sent to newhire@example.com'.">
      <img src="https://mintlify.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/testfactorsllc/images/memberships/03-invite-confirmation.png" alt="Invite confirmation" />
    </Frame>
  </Step>
</Steps>

***

## Changing someone's role

<Steps>
  <Step title="Find them in the Members list">
    Project Settings → Members. Each row shows name, email, current role, and join date.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Click the role dropdown">
    The role column is editable inline. Pick the new role.

    <Frame caption="Member row with role dropdown open showing all valid role options.">
      <img src="https://mintlify.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/testfactorsllc/images/memberships/04-change-role.png" alt="Change role dropdown" />
    </Frame>
  </Step>

  <Step title="Confirm if prompted">
    For role *demotions*, you may see a confirmation. For *promotions* up to your own authority, the change is immediate.

    If you try to promote someone above your own rank, you'll see an error: *"You can't grant a role higher than your own."* This is by design.
  </Step>
</Steps>

***

## Removing a member

<Steps>
  <Step title="Find them in the Members list">
    Same place as above.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Click the ⋮ menu → Remove">
    A confirmation dialog asks if you're sure.

    <Frame caption="Member row with action menu open showing the Remove option in red.">
      <img src="https://mintlify.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/testfactorsllc/images/memberships/05-remove-member.png" alt="Remove member" />
    </Frame>
  </Step>

  <Step title="Confirm">
    The member loses access to this project immediately. Their **historical activity remains** — test executions they ran, defects they logged, comments they made all stay attributed to them. They just can't take new actions.

    <Warning>
      If you're the **only admin** on a project, you can't remove yourself. Promote someone else to admin first.
    </Warning>
  </Step>
</Steps>

***

## Pending invitations

Invitations to email addresses that aren't TestFactors users yet show as **Pending** in the Members list.

For each pending invitation you can:

* **Resend** the invitation email (useful if it went to spam or was missed)
* **Revoke** the invitation (the link in the original email stops working)
* **Copy the invite link** to share via Slack/Teams

<Frame caption="Pending invitations list showing two invitations with Resend / Revoke / Copy-link actions.">
  <img src="https://mintlify.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/testfactorsllc/images/memberships/06-pending-invitations.png" alt="Pending invitations" />
</Frame>

Invitations expire after 14 days. Expired invitations need to be re-sent; the original link can't be re-used.

***

## Managing access at higher scopes

The same pattern works at **Client** and **Organization** scope:

* **Client members** → Client Settings → Members. Granted users see every Project under that Client.
* **Org members** → Org Settings → Members. Granted users see every Client and every Project under that Org.

Use the higher scopes for:

* **Org Admin** — your TestFactors champion who owns the platform for your company
* **Client Manager** — the lead for one customer engagement (often consulting firms have one per client)
* **Support Staff at Org scope** — your finance person who needs read access but no editing

<Frame caption="Org Settings with Members tab showing org-scope memberships.">
  <img src="https://mintlify.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/testfactorsllc/images/memberships/07-org-members.png" alt="Org members" />
</Frame>

***

## The People panel — see who has access to what

The People panel shows the full access tree for a specific person across your visible scope. Use it for:

* **Auditing access** — "Where exactly does Maria have access?"
* **Bulk assignment** — assign her to multiple projects at once
* **Quick removal** — see and revoke all her access in one place

<Steps>
  <Step title="Find the person">
    Org Settings → People (or click anyone's avatar from any members list).
  </Step>

  <Step title="View the tree">
    You see a tree:

    ```
    Acme (Org Admin)
    ├── Acme Q2 Implementation (inherited)
    │   ├── Project Alpha (Project Manager)
    │   └── Project Beta — no membership [+ Assign]
    └── Acme Compensation Refresh (Client Manager)
        ├── Project Comp-1 (inherited)
        └── Project Comp-2 (inherited)
    ```

    "+ Assign" appears next to any scope where you have authority to add them.

    <Frame caption="People panel showing one user's full access tree with assigned and unassigned scopes.">
      <img src="https://mintlify.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/testfactorsllc/images/memberships/08-people-panel.png" alt="People panel" />
    </Frame>
  </Step>

  <Step title="Click + Assign on any unassigned node">
    Pick a role from the dropdown. The membership is created immediately.
  </Step>
</Steps>

***

## Tips

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Default new members to Tester or Viewer" icon="user-shield">
    Easy to upgrade later if they need more. Demoting causes friction.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Avoid Project Manager for everyone" icon="crown">
    A project with 5 Project Managers and 0 Testers gets nothing done. One PM per project is usually right.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Use Org-scope membership for cross-project people" icon="layers">
    Your QA director shouldn't be invited 12 times to 12 projects — one Org Admin or Org Support Staff membership covers everything.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Review access quarterly" icon="calendar-check">
    Half-yearly audit: open each project's Members list, remove anyone no longer involved. Stale access is a security risk.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Resend invitations after 3 days" icon="bell">
    Most are missed because of spam filters or busy inboxes. A friendly resend works wonders.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Don't role-cheat" icon="ban">
    Giving someone Project Manager because "Tester doesn't let them see defects" is wrong — Testers can see defects. Talk to your TestFactors champion if a role feels too restrictive.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

***

## Troubleshooting

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="The role I want to assign isn't in the dropdown" icon="lock">
    The role is higher than your own rank. You can't grant roles above your authority. Two options:

    1. Ask someone with higher authority (Client Manager or Org Admin) to make the assignment
    2. Pick a lower role that gets the person started; they can be promoted later
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="I removed someone, then realized I shouldn't have" icon="rotate-left">
    Just invite them again with the same email. They're added back immediately with the role you pick. Their historical contributions are preserved — nothing was deleted.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="My invitation says 'Expired'" icon="clock">
    Click **Resend** to generate a fresh invitation (new 14-day expiry). The recipient gets a new email; the old link stops working.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="I want to bulk-add people from a CSV" icon="upload">
    Today it's one-at-a-time in the UI. For larger onboarding (10+ people), ask your Admin — they have access to a bulk import via the API. Otherwise, the People panel makes one-at-a-time fast.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="I'm the only admin on this project and I can't remove myself" icon="circle-info">
    By design — leaves the project without an admin. Promote someone else to Project Manager first, then you can leave.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="A teammate says they can't see something I can" icon="eye">
    Three checks:

    1. Are they a member of the same project/client/org? Check Members list.
    2. Is their role sufficient? Compare with the role table at the top of this guide.
    3. Is their membership *Active*? Sometimes memberships get deactivated — toggle in the People panel.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="I want to revoke access without removing membership history" icon="user-clock">
    Edit the member row → **Deactivate** (instead of Remove). They lose access immediately but their row stays in the Members list with an inactive badge. Reactivate any time.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

***

## Related guides

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Settings" icon="settings" href="/admin/settings">
    Configure org/client/project-level preferences your members will work with.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Quickstart" icon="rocket" href="/platform/quickstart">
    Onboarding a new teammate? Send them the Quickstart guide first.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Test Execution" icon="play" href="/platform/test-execution">
    Assigned executions show up here once you've invited testers.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Defects" icon="bug" href="/platform/defects">
    Defect routing rules use membership info — keep memberships accurate.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>