User Roles & Permissions Management Overview
The User Management system controls access across the platform through:
Users: individual accounts
Roles: permission sets assigned to users
Each user has one role. You can also add user-level permission overrides for extra flexibility.
Understanding Roles
Roles are used to group permissions by job function within your organization and are then assigned to individual users. This ensures that users have the right level access from the moment their account is created. The updated User Management menu includes both Higharc’s default roles and the ability to create new custom roles.
Default Roles
Higharc’s default roles are pre-configured and cannot be edited directly. They are a direct copy of the existing roles usually selected during new user creation.
Custom Roles
Create custom roles by:
Clicking Create Role on the Roles tab
Duplicating an existing role and editing the permissions
Tip: To reduce setup time, start by duplicating the role most similar to the custom one you want to create, then add or remove permissions as needed for the custom role.
Permission System
Each permission within a role/user can be set to one of three states:
Allow: User can perform the action (unless denied at the user or role level)
Deny: Action is blocked; Deny always overrides Allow
Defer to Other Policies: Uses other role/user policies to decide
How Permissions Are Evaluated
Any Deny blocks the action
Allow only works if nothing else denies it
If no policy covers the action (e.g. the role/user have it set to “Defer”), it defaults to Denied
Important: You cannot override a role’s Deny with a user-level Allow.
Permission Categories
Permissions are grouped into categories like:
Builder Settings & Admin
Locations
Home Plans
Lots
Sales & Marketing
Studio Files
Estimate
Option Catalog
etc…
How Sales Staff Permissions Work
Sales roles combine role permissions with resource assignments (such as assignment to a specific home plan or location).
Default Sales Roles
Sales Manager: full sales access, can assign agents, manage settings, download plan sets
Sales Team Lead: manages plans within assigned locations
Sales Agent: limited to assigned home plans
Home Plan Assignment
Sales agents are auto-assigned when creating new home plans
Permission Assign Sales Agent to Home Plan controls reassignment
Some permissions apply only if the user is assigned to the plan
Location Assignment
Sales team leads can be assigned to locations
Permission Assign Sales Agent to Community controls location assignment
Plan Set Downloads
Plan set downloads are controlled by:
Role permissions (Download Plan Sets / Download Built-In Plan Sets)
Assignment-based access (Download Plan Sets If Sales Staff)
Per-template controls in Studio (Allow / Deny / If Assigned)
Best Practices
Least Privilege: grant only the access needed to do the job
Audit Regularly: review roles and permissions periodically
Use Roles Over Overrides: prefer role-based access over user overrides
Tutorial: Create a “Drafting Manager” Role
Goal
Create a custom role called Drafting Manager based on the default Drafter role and tailor its permissions.
Step 1 — Open Roles
Go to User Management
Open the Roles tab
Step 2 — Duplicate the Drafter Role
Find the Drafter role in the default roles list
Click Duplicate
Name the new role: Drafting Manager
Step 3 — Configure Permissions
In the permissions editor, review categories and adjust as needed:
Allow drafting-related work (e.g., Studio Files, Home Plans)
Deny admin or sensitive actions not relevant to drafting
Defer anything handled by other policies
Step 4 — Assign the Role to Users
Go to Users
Select a user
Assign Drafting Manager as their role
Adding Users to Higharc
To add new users to the Higharc account from your dashboard, click on Staff → Invite Staff. You’ll be prompted to enter First & Last name, Email, and Role (Other fields are optional).
Access
Access is granted to the Higharc Platform after you sign up. Click the link in your invitation email to activate and setup your account.
Note: Access Invitations expire in 3 days if not selected and setup.
If you need access, contact your Customer Success Manager or Sales Representative.
Roles within Studio
As a Drafter user type you have access to create new Studio files. When you’re in a Studio file, there are 3 types of Role permissions.
Owner - This is like an admin for that Studio file. You have permission to make all edits to the file and can also configure who has Editor or Viewer access to the file within your Higharc account.
Editor - This role is able to make edits in the file, but cannot add other users to the file or make any user role changes.
Viewer - This role can only access the file as read-only, and no changes to the file can be made.
Adding Users to Studio
As a file Owner, you can manage authors for your file. To do that, navigate to the Home on the Inspector panel, click on your name.
A Manage Authors window will pop-up and you can add existing users into your file and select the appropriate role.
If you need to add a user that doesn’t exist in your Higharc account yet, you’ll need to add them from your dashboard (see “Adding Users to Higharc”).