Staff Accounts, Role Permissions & Commission Tracking Guide

Print Life Software provides a multi-user team management and role-based access control engine designed for custom apparel decorators and commercial print shops. From production floor press operators working on shop tablets to dedicated outside sales representatives and executive managers, the platform enables shop owners to delegate operational workflows, protect sensitive business financials, automate job assignments, and track sales commissions without friction.

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1. Feature Scope & UI Navigation

The staff management system spans account configuration, job assignment, floor tablet routing, and commission reporting across the following dedicated navigation paths:

┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                                PRIMARY NAVIGATION PATHS                                │
├──────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────┬───────────────────────────────┤
│ Feature Activation       │ /settings?tab=features      │ Settings -> Features          │
│ Staff & Vendor Roster    │ /settings?tab=staff         │ Settings -> Staff/ Vendors    │
│ Commissions Ledger       │ /financials?tab=commissions │ Financials -> Commissions     │
│ Quote Job Assignment     │ /quotes-invoices/[id]       │ Quote Builder -> Team Roster  │
│ Dashboard Task Filter    │ /dashboard                  │ Capacity Bar -> All Staff     │
│ Production Sheet View    │ /quotes-invoices/[id]       │ Job Details -> Production Tab │
└──────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────────┴───────────────────────────────┘

Feature Activation (/settings?tab=features)

• Expand Finance & Settings in the left sidebar $\rightarrow$ click Settings $\rightarrow$ select the Features tab.
• Locate the Staff Accounts toggle and switch it to ON. This unlocks multi-user logins, granular permissions, vendor contractor profiles, and the dedicated Staff/ Vendors settings tab.

Staff & Vendor Management (/settings?tab=staff)

• Order Assignment Toggle: Located at the top of the Staff/ Vendors tab. Enable this switch to activate team allocation cards on quotes and invoices, and to enable the personal task queue filter on the main Dashboard.
• Team Management Card: Displays your active roster with employee names, login identifiers, roles, department tags, and status badges.
  • Add Team Member (Button): Launches the provisioning modal to create a new employee profile.
  • Edit (Row Action): Opens the employee settings drawer to adjust roles, commission rates, and granular permissions.
• Fulfillment Vendors Card: Dedicated management hub for outside contract screen printers, embroidery houses, and DTF fulfillment partners.
  • Add Vendor (Button): Registers an external contract decorator for outsourced purchase orders.

Team Allocation on Orders (/quotes-invoices/[id])

• On any quote or invoice, the Job Assignment card appears directly below customer billing details.
• Assign Team (Button): Launches the team selection drawer to manually allocate designers, printers, and sales representatives.
• Auto-Assign Departments (Button): Automatically inspects all decoration line items on the order and assigns qualified staff based on their tagged decoration methods and department specialties.

Commissions Ledger (/financials?tab=commissions)

• Expand Finance & Settings in the left sidebar $\rightarrow$ click Financials $\rightarrow$ select the Commissions tab.
• Tracks earned commission totals, payout logs, sales rep performance metrics, and individual order allocations across custom date ranges.

Dashboard Capacity Bar Filter (/dashboard)

• Located at the top of the Kanban production board inside the capacity row.
• The All Staff dropdown allows owners and department leads to filter the entire Kanban board and Production Calendar to display only jobs assigned to a specific team member, or select Unassigned Jobs to identify unstaffed work orders.

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2. Capabilities & Operational Boundaries

The platform links all secondary team members directly to your primary shop workspace while enforcing strict role isolation and data privacy:

┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                        SHOP OWNER / TENANT ROOT                        │
│          Full Unrestricted Control: Financials, Pricing, Staff         │
└───────────────────────────────────┬────────────────────────────────────┘
                                    │
                                    ▼
┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                  MULTI-USER IDENTITY ACCESS GATEWAY                    │
│   Standard Corporate Email  OR  Internal Masked Login (username@shop)  │
└───────────────────────────────────┬────────────────────────────────────┘
                                    │
                                    ▼
┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                   ROLE-BASED PERMISSION GATEKEEPER                     │
│  [Quotes] [Pricing] [Matrices] [Financials] [Staff] [Inbox] [Tablet]   │
└───────────────────────────────────┬────────────────────────────────────┘
                                    │
         ┌──────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┐
         ▼                          ▼                          ▼
┌─────────────────┐        ┌─────────────────┐        ┌─────────────────┐
│   SALES REP     │        │ SHOP FLOOR TECH │        │ DEPARTMENT LEAD │
│ Quotes & Orders │        │ Tablet Mode     │        │ Full Production │
│ Commission Log  │        │ Zero Pricing    │        │ Task Queues     │
│ Customer Comms  │        │ Work Order SOP  │        │ Staff Schedules │
└─────────────────┘        └─────────────────┘        └─────────────────┘

Supported Capabilities

1. Granular Role-Based Permissions: Control access down to the feature level across 10 individual operational permissions (e.g., viewing pricing, editing quotes, managing price matrices, viewing general ledgers, or accessing the unified email inbox).
2. Production-Only Shop Floor Tablet Mode: Dedicated operational mode designed for press operators, embroidery technicians, and ink mixers. When enabled, workers land directly on the full-screen interactive Production Sheet with 100% of quote totals, markups, customer billing addresses, and line-item prices stripped from the screen.
3. Email-Less Masked Logins (username@shop): Floor operators do not need corporate email addresses. Owners can assign simple alphanumeric usernames (e.g., printer1@inklab) paired with simple PINs or passwords for fast, shared-tablet authentication on the shop floor.
4. Focus-First Personal Task Queues: Toggle off the "View All Shop Jobs" permission to restrict an employee's Dashboard and Quote list exclusively to orders where they have been explicitly assigned.
5. Multi-User Job Assignment: Allocate multiple team members to a single job order (e.g., one Graphic Artist, two Automatic Press Printers, and one Outside Sales Representative).
6. Smart Department Auto-Assignment: 1-click allocation matches order decoration methods (Screen Printing, Embroidery, DTF, Laser Engraving) and named machine centers directly to staff tagged with those competencies.
7. Sales Rep Commission Accounting: Assign custom commission percentages per sales representative and track accrued liabilities across paid invoices in the Financials ledger.

Operational Boundaries & Guardrails

• Tenant Isolation: Staff credentials and permissions are strictly scoped to the issuing shop. A staff member cannot access data, quotes, or inventory from any other shop on the platform.
• Privilege Escalation Prevention: Non-owner staff members with the Manage Team Members (staff_manage) permission cannot alter their own roles, change their own permissions, or grant permissions to other users that they do not possess themselves. Only the primary shop owner can create new staff accounts or permanently delete team members.
• Confidential Profile Protection: Sensitive staff data (personal email addresses, phone numbers, home addresses, commission rates, and administrative permissions) is visible exclusively to the shop owner and managers with Manage Team Members or Financials permissions. Standard staff viewing assignment drawers only see team member names, operational roles, and department tags.
• Global Order Assignment Dependency: The Job Assignment card on quotes and the personal task queue filter on the Dashboard remain inactive until Order Assignment is enabled in Settings $\rightarrow$ Staff/ Vendors.
• Zero Client Financial Leakage: When the View Pricing permission is disabled for a user, financial totals, unit margins, and price matrices are withheld at the server boundary and never transmitted to the user's browser session.

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3. Step-by-Step SOP Workflows

SOP 1: Enabling Staff Accounts & Order Assignment

[Settings -> Features] ──> [Toggle: Staff Accounts ON] ──> [Settings -> Staff/ Vendors] ──> [Toggle: Order Assignment ON]

1. Navigate to Settings (/settings) from the left sidebar.
2. Select the Features tab.
3. Locate Staff Accounts and toggle the switch to ON.
4. The Staff/ Vendors tab will now appear in your Settings navigation bar. Click the Staff/ Vendors tab.
5. In the top card, switch the Order Assignment toggle to ON.
6. The shop is now configured for multi-user assignment and personal task queues.

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SOP 2: Adding a Team Member & Configuring Login Credentials

1. Under Settings $\rightarrow$ Staff/ Vendors, locate the Team Management card.
2. Click the Add Team Member button.
3. In the setup modal, configure the team member's profile:
   • Full Name: Enter the employee's formal display name (e.g., Marcus Vance).
   • Login Method:
     • Standard Email: Select for administrative and sales staff with company or personal email addresses (e.g., marcus@printshop.com).
     • Internal Username: Select for shop floor workers without email addresses. Enter a simple username (e.g., press1). The interface will automatically append your shop scope (e.g., press1@inklab).
   • Initial Password: Enter a temporary password (minimum 6 characters).
   • Role: Select General Staff (standard operations) or Sales Rep (activates commission rate fields).
   • Account Status: Ensure the status is set to Active.
4. Click Save Team Member.

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SOP 3: Setting Up a Production-Only Shop Floor Tablet Account

To configure a shared tablet or press operator account that only displays technical production details and hides all sensitive job costs and prices:

┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                 THE PRODUCTION-ONLY TABLET RECIPE                      │
├───────────────────────────────────────────────────┬────────────────────┤
│ [x] Access Production Floor View (production_view) │ MUST BE CHECKED ON │
│ [ ] View Pricing (pricing_view)                   │ MUST BE TURNED OFF │
│ [ ] Edit Quotes (quotes_edit)                     │ MUST BE TURNED OFF │
└───────────────────────────────────────────────────┴────────────────────┘

1. Go to Settings $\rightarrow$ Staff/ Vendors $\rightarrow$ click Add Team Member (or Edit an existing printer profile).
2. Set Login Method to Internal Username (e.g., press1).
3. Set Role to General Staff.
4. Configure the Granular Permissions checklist:
   • Check ON: Access Production Floor View (Shop Tablet Mode) (production_view).
   • Turn OFF: View Pricing (Dollar amounts) (pricing_view).
   • Turn OFF: Edit Quotes (quotes_edit).
   • (Optional) Turn OFF: View All Shop Jobs if you want the tablet to show only orders assigned to that specific press.
5. Click Save Team Member.

The Floor Worker's Tablet Experience:

• Immediate Production View: When the operator clicks on any order from the Dashboard, the system bypasses the Quote Builder and opens directly into the tablet-optimized Production Sheet.
• Zero Pricing Exposure: Retail prices, garment costs, setup fees, total invoice balances, and payment collection buttons are completely hidden.
• Full Technical Utility: The operator has full access to:
  • Garment Receiving Matrix: Size count steppers, shelf inventory counts, and "Mark All Counted" verification buttons.
  • Decoration Technical Specs: Pantone color chips, placement dimensions ($W \times H$), collar offsets, and 1-click downloads for original artwork and print film separations.
  • Personalization Roster: Jersey name and player number check-off lists.
  • Milestone Checklists: Interactive status buttons to advance the order across production stages in real time.
  • Print Work Orders: 1-click generation of physical job tickets and traveler sheets.

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SOP 4: Tagging Staff with Decoration Departments & Auto-Assigning Orders

1. Navigate to Settings $\rightarrow$ Staff/ Vendors $\rightarrow$ click Edit on a team member.
2. In the profile drawer, locate the Decoration Departments section.
3. Check all methods and machine centers the employee is qualified to operate:
   • Standard decoration methods: Screen Printing, Embroidery, Direct to Film (DTF), Laser Engraving, Flat Stock.
   • Custom named departments defined on your price matrices (e.g., Automatic Press 1, M&R 8-Color, Barudan Embroidery 6-Head).
4. Click Save Team Member.
5. Open any quote or invoice in the Quote Builder.
6. On the Job Assignment card, click Assign Team $\rightarrow$ select Auto-Assign Departments.
7. The system evaluates every decoration line item on the order and automatically assigns the qualified team members.

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SOP 5: Setting Up Sales Rep Commissions & Auditing Payouts

1. Under Settings $\rightarrow$ Staff/ Vendors, edit or create a team member and set their Role to Sales Rep.
2. Set their default Commission Rate (%) (e.g., 10.00%).
3. In the Quote Builder, assign the sales representative to the order.
4. When the order is invoiced and payments are received, open Financials $\rightarrow$ Commissions tab.
5. Filter by sales rep or date range to review:
   • Eligible Sales Volume ($)
   • Accrued Commission ($)
   • Paid vs. Pending Commission Balances
   • 1-Click Export: Download audit-ready CSV commission statements for payroll processing.

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4. Business Logic, Formulas & Rules

Granular Permissions Reference Table

The platform enforces 10 discrete permission flags per staff account:

Permission Name	UI Setting Label	Operational Scope & Enforcement
production_view	Access Production Floor View	Unlocks the tablet-optimized Shop Floor Production Sheet. Core prerequisite for Production-Only Mode.
quotes_view	Access Quote Builder	Unlocks viewing quotes and invoices. Without this, the entire sales pipeline is hidden.
pricing_view	View Pricing (Dollar amounts)	Controls visibility of prices, unit costs, markups, and totals. When disabled, financial data is stripped.
quotes_create	Create New Quotes	Allows drafting new quotes and converting customer requests into orders.
quotes_edit	Edit Quotes	Permits modifying line items, quantities, garment blanks, fees, discounts, and customer billing fields.
matrices_manage	Manage Price Matrices	Permits creating and modifying labor matrices, quantity break grids, and markup tables.
financials_view	View Financials & Books	Unlocks the Financials Command Center, Operating Costs, True Hourly Operating Rate, and General Ledger.
staff_manage	Manage Team Members	Permits editing team members, roles, and department tags. Cannot modify self or escalate permissions.
view_all_jobs	View All Shop Jobs	When enabled, shows all shop orders. When disabled, filters dashboard to only assigned jobs.
inbox_view	Access Inbox & Correspondence	Permits accessing the unified email inbox (/inbox). Off by default for all new staff profiles.

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Production-Only Tablet Mode Trigger Formula

The platform dynamically activates Shop Floor Tablet Mode based on the following logical evaluation:

$$M_{\text{tablet}} = \begin{cases} \text{TRUE (Direct to Production Sheet)}, & \text{if } P_{\text{production}} = \text{true} \land P_{\text{pricing}} = \text{false} \land P_{\text{quotes_edit}} = \text{false} \ \text{FALSE (Standard Quote View)}, & \text{otherwise} \end{cases}$$

When $M_{\text{tablet}} = \text{TRUE}$:

• Active tab default forces tab=production.
• Quote Builder navigation tabs (pricing, details, invoicing) are disabled.
• Financial summary cards and payment triggers are omitted from the document tree.

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Sales Commission Calculation Engine

Commissions are calculated on a per-order basis based on the assigned Sales Rep's profile rate:

1. Gross Invoiced Revenue Basis (Standard)

$$\text{Commission Accrued} = \left(S_{\text{eligible}} - T_{\text{sales_tax}} - F_{\text{shipping}} - S_{\text{credit_card_surcharge}}\right) \times \left(\frac{R_{\text{commission}}}{100}\right)$$

Where:

• $S_{\text{eligible}}$ is the gross collected order revenue.
• Pass-through liabilities ($T_{\text{sales_tax}}$, $F_{\text{shipping}}$, and the 3% credit card processing surcharge $S_{\text{surcharge}}$) are excluded from the commissionable base.
• $R_{\text{commission}}$ is the representative's assigned percentage rate.

2. Net Gross Profit Margin Basis (Advanced Option)

$$\text{Gross Profit} = S_{\text{eligible}} - \left(C_{\text{blanks}} + C_{\text{decoration_materials}} + C_{\text{outsourcing}}\right)$$ $$\text{Commission Accrued} = \text{Gross Profit} \times \left(\frac{R_{\text{commission}}}{100}\right)$$

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Department Auto-Assignment Precedence Hierarchy

When Auto-Assign Departments is triggered on an order, the assignment engine resolves candidates using a 2-tier matching hierarchy:

Line Item Decoration Configured
           │
           ▼
[Tier 1: Specific Department Match]
Does an employee hold an exact tag for the named matrix department?
(e.g., "M&R Auto Press 1" == "M&R Auto Press 1")
    ├── YES ──> Assign employee to job
    └── NO  ──> Fall through to Tier 2
           │
           ▼
[Tier 2: Generic Decoration Method Match]
Does an employee hold a general method tag?
(e.g., "Screen Printing" == "Screen Printing")
    ├── YES ──> Assign employee to job
    └── NO  ──> Leave line item unassigned for manual review

• Rule: Auto-assignment is strictly additive; it assigns qualifying team members without removing previously assigned staff.
• Rule: Matching is case-insensitive and ignores redundant whitespace.

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5. Troubleshooting & Diagnostic Matrix

Symptom / Question	Root Cause	Exact Remediation Step
Shop floor press operator can see job pricing and totals	The pricing_view permission is checked ON in the employee's profile.	Navigate to Settings $\rightarrow$ Staff/ Vendors, click Edit on the employee's row, uncheck View Pricing, and click Save Team Member.
Worker logs in and the Kanban board is completely empty	View All Shop Jobs is turned OFF, and no active jobs have been assigned to this employee.	Either open orders in the Quote Builder and assign the worker via Job Assignment, or edit their profile and check View All Shop Jobs.
Staff member receives "Invalid Credentials" when using internal username	The shop identifier was omitted during login (e.g., entering press1 instead of press1@shopname).	Instruct the worker to enter their complete masked identifier (username@shopname) as displayed in the Team Management card.
"Job Assignment" card does not appear on quotes or invoices	The master Order Assignment toggle is disabled in shop settings.	Go to Settings $\rightarrow$ Staff/ Vendors and toggle Order Assignment to ON.
Staff member cannot see the unified email Inbox link	The inbox_view permission is disabled (turned off by default for security).	Open Settings $\rightarrow$ Staff/ Vendors, edit the staff member, check Access Inbox & Email Correspondence, and save.
Manager cannot add new staff or grant permissions	Non-owner staff cannot create accounts or grant permissions they do not hold.	The primary shop owner must log in to provision new accounts or elevate the manager's permissions.
Auto-assign does not assign staff to a specific decoration	Employee department tags are missing, or a renamed matrix department left stale tags.	Check the staff profile under Settings $\rightarrow$ Staff/ Vendors $\rightarrow$ Decoration Departments and verify tags match the active matrix department name.

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6. Frequently Asked Questions & Action Prompts

Q: How do I set up a shared tablet for our press operators?

Answer: Create a staff account using the Internal Username option (e.g., press1@yourshop) so your floor crew doesn't need personal emails. Then apply the Production-Only Formula: check Access Production Floor View ON, while turning View Pricing and Edit Quotes OFF. When floor staff log in, jobs open directly into the tablet Production Sheet with zero pricing visible.

[How do I configure production-only mode?](chat:How do I configure a production-only printer account?)

Q: Why can't my sales rep see the shop's Financials or operating costs?

Answer: Financial data is locked down by default. Staff members cannot see operating overhead, True Hourly Operating Rates, or transaction ledgers unless an owner explicitly checks the View Financials & Books permission on their profile.

[Where do I manage staff permissions?](chat:Show me the Staff Settings page)

Q: Can non-owner managers add new employees?

Answer: No. To safeguard your account subscription and security, adding and deleting team members is reserved exclusively for the primary shop owner. Managers with the Manage Team Members permission can edit roles and department tags, but cannot add new users or escalate their own privileges.

[How do I add a new team member?](chat:How do I add a new employee or staff member?)

Q: How does the "All Staff" dropdown filter the Dashboard?

Answer: Located in the capacity row at the top of the Dashboard, the All Staff dropdown filters the Kanban board and Production Calendar to display only jobs assigned to a specific team member. You can also select Unassigned Jobs to quickly identify orders that haven't been allocated to a printer or artist yet.

[Show me the Dashboard navigation guide](chat:Where is the All Staff filter on the Dashboard?)