MSP Sales Process CRM  · Own the Climb

Section 03 · The View from the Ridge

03Team Setup: Users, Roles & Licenses


Getting your people into the system with the right level of access takes two decisions per person: a role and a license. This section explains both, walks the invite flow, and recommends a setup for the common leadership and administrative roles.

Roles vs. licenses

Every user has a role and, optionally, a license (a permission group):

  • The role — Rep, Manager, Admin, or Owner — sets the baseline and how far up the coaching and pipeline views a person can see (their own work, their team's, or everyone's).
  • The license is a locked preset that spells out exactly what a person can view, create, edit, and delete, plus special powers like importing data or managing users. A user with no license simply falls back to their role's defaults.

The four licenses

Under Admin → Users, the panel "What do these licenses mean?" shows the full matrix. In plain terms:

The locked license presets
LicenseWhat it grants
OwnerFull access to all data and every setting, including managing other people's permissions and permanently deleting data.
Non-selling AdminFull access to data and to configuration (users, importing, lead collection) — but can't change permission groups or permanently delete data. Ideal for an operations administrator.
Sales RepWorks their own accounts: view, create, and edit companies, contacts, and deals, and full control of their own activities and tasks — but can't export or delete account records.
View-only CollaboratorRead-only on assigned accounts. For someone who needs to see but not touch.
The license matrix showing each permission group's access across resources and capabilities.

Figure 3.1The license matrix. Each preset is locked, so access stays consistent and predictable.

How much each role can see

Visibility follows the role, and it's what makes the coaching dashboard and pipeline useful at each level:

  • Rep — their own accounts and their own coaching.
  • Manager — their team's accounts, pipeline, and coaching.
  • Admin / Owner — everyone's.

Inviting a user

Go to Admin → Users and use the Invite a user panel: enter their email, pick a role, and choose a license (or leave it on "role default"). They'll sign in with their own Microsoft 365 account — there's no password to set or share.

The Users admin page with the user table and the Invite a user panel.

Figure 3.2The Users page. Change anyone's license from the table; invite new people from the panel.

Fox & Crow sets this up

Your reps are typically invited for you during onboarding, and the plays are pre-loaded. You'll mainly use this page to adjust access as your team changes — add a new hire, promote a rep to manager, or grant an admin.

Recommended setup for your team

PersonRoleLicense
Business owner (occasional viewer)OwnerOwner
Director of sales (coaches, forecasts)Owner or AdminNon-selling Admin
Sales administrator (loads lists, checks pipeline)AdminNon-selling Admin
Sales repRepSales Rep
Outside observer / partnerRepView-only Collaborator

Good to know

Only an Owner can permanently delete data or change permission groups — a deliberate guardrail. Give the Owner license sparingly. The Non-selling Admin license covers everything a sales director or administrator needs day to day without those two powers.

The bottom line

Right role, right license, right visibility.

Two choices per person set what they see and what they can do. Use Non-selling Admin for your leaders and administrators, Sales Rep for sellers, and reserve Owner for the few who truly need it.