User Roles & Permissions
Understand the three system roles in ClinicShifts — User, Paid Admin, and Unpaid Admin — and what each can access.
ClinicShifts has three system roles that control what each team member can see and do within the application. Understanding these roles helps you set up your team correctly and manage costs.
Role Overview
| Capability | User | Paid Admin | Unpaid Admin |
|---|---|---|---|
| View schedule | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| View calendars | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Create / edit / delete shifts | No | Yes | Yes |
| Manage holidays and time off | No | Yes | Yes |
| Add / remove users | No | Yes | Yes |
| Manage organization settings | No | Yes | Yes |
| Can be assigned to shifts | No | Yes | No |
| Counts as a paid seat | No | Yes | No |
User (Provider)
The User role is designed for your providers — the people who are assigned to shifts but don't need to manage the schedule.
What Users can do:
- View the schedule page (read-only — they cannot create, edit, or delete shifts)
- View their own calendar and see their assigned shifts
- Sync their shifts to external calendar apps (Google Calendar, Outlook, etc.)
- Receive email notifications about shift changes
What Users cannot do:
- Create, edit, or delete shifts
- Manage holidays or time off
- Add or invite other team members
- Change organization settings
Users see a simplified view of the application focused on their own schedule.
Paid Admin
The Paid Admin role is for team members who are both administrators and providers — they manage the schedule and are also assigned to shifts themselves.
What Paid Admins can do:
- Everything a User can do, plus:
- Full access to create, edit, delete, and publish shifts
- Manage holidays and time off for all employees
- Add, invite, edit, and remove users in ClinicShifts Admin
- Configure organization settings
- Be assigned to shifts on the schedule
Billing: Paid Admins count as a paid seat because they occupy provider spots on the schedule.
Choose Paid Admin for practice owners, lead physicians, or office managers who also provide patient care and need to be scheduled.
Unpaid Admin
The Unpaid Admin role is for pure administrators who manage the schedule but are never assigned to shifts themselves.
What Unpaid Admins can do:
- Everything a Paid Admin can do, except being assigned to shifts
Billing: Unpaid Admins do not count as a paid seat, since they don't appear on the schedule.
Choose Unpaid Admin for office managers, scheduling coordinators, or administrative staff who handle scheduling logistics but don't provide patient care.
Choosing the Right Role
| Scenario | Recommended Role |
|---|---|
| A physician who manages the team's schedule and also sees patients | Paid Admin |
| An office manager who builds schedules but is never on the floor | Unpaid Admin |
| A nurse practitioner who just needs to view their own shifts | User |
| A medical director who both manages and works shifts | Paid Admin |
| A scheduling coordinator hired to handle admin tasks only | Unpaid Admin |
Changing a User's Role
Admins can change any team member's role at any time:
- Go to ClinicShifts Admin > Users
- Click Edit next to the employee
- Change their System Role
- Save the changes
Changing a provider from Paid Admin to Unpaid Admin (or vice versa) may affect your billing. Switching to Unpaid Admin means they can no longer be assigned to shifts.