FAQ: What’s the difference between departments and roles?

When you set up users in an Acquire instance, you should probably distinguish between different responsibilities. After all, some users should have limited access to the platform (especially for your live site). 

You should also set up departments, even if your organization is a small one. But what’s the difference between these two? 

Roles control what the user can see and do on the platform 

Departments control routing through workflows such as Business Rules or Sequence Bots. You may also assign email inboxes and set up your IVR to transfer callers to different departments.

In this article:

• Department Routing
• Default Roles
• Permissions 

Department Routing 

In Acquire, agents may be organized into groups known as departments. Departments may be used in workflows, such as Sequence Bots and Business Rules, to connect visitors with agents. 

Beyond chats, VoIP messages, audio calls, and emails may also be routed to certain departments. 

Be careful when deleting departments, as your routing may be affected as well. 

Default Roles

When you first set up a user account, you may choose between the default roles Operator and Administrator.

Administrator

Complete access to the platform

Operator

Limited access. Permission to: 

• Change information in their profile 
• Look at and import information to the Contact List
• Respond to conversations on the Dashboard
  

Permissions

Sometimes, the default roles aren’t right for your organization. To create a custom role with your preferred permissions go to Settings > Account Settings > Users and Role.

In the ‘Manage Users’ tab, you may: 

• Add users 
• Edit user details
• Select the role a user belongs to
  

In the ‘Manage Roles’ tab, you may:

• Determine what data the agent can see 
• Determine what the agent can do with the data
• Add, edit, and delete roles
  

When creating or editing a role, you may choose from the following permissions: 

In Settings, users may view or manipulate

• The web widget
• Account settings
• Their profile 
• Other users 
• Other roles 
• Departments

Apps 

• Custom attributes
• Shortcuts 
• Tags
• Feedback
• Audit logs 
• Blocked contacts (users may still block contacts from the dashboard if this permission is turned off) 

Languages 

• API keys 
• Webhooks

In Analytics, users may view information about: 

• Agents 
• Apps
• Bots
• Chat
• Custom Reporting 
• Satisfaction
• General 
• KB (Knowledge base) 
• Live Dashboard 
• Mail 
• VoIP

Give users permissions to integrate with third-party applications by selecting ‘Home’ in the App Store.

In ‘Bot’, users may view and manipulate:

• Conversational Bot
• Sequence Bot 
• Configurations 

From the Dashboard, users may: 

• See and add to the contact list 
• Respond to conversations in Messenger

View and add companies in ‘Company’ 

• Delete conversations
  

In the Knowledge Base, users may: 

• Set up the KB 
• Add, edit, or delete articles or categories
• Edit the KB’s theme
  

In email, users may: 

Create, edit, or delete the inboxes, templates, and signatures

Connect to an SMTP

In VoIP

• Default
• Event
• Setup
• Setting
  

In Triggers, give users permission to create, edit, and delete:

• Business Rules

In Live Chats, users may: 

• Cobrowse 
• Screen share
• Set up video or audio calls