Roles and permissions

Trialflare uses role-based access control (RBAC) so you can decide exactly what each staff member can see and do. There is no single “role” enum baked into the product for every customer; instead, named roles (optional) bundle permissions, and you can also assign individual permissions at the right scope (whole trial, a site, or a participant group).

This page lists the permission keys the Trialflare web app uses when you configure collaborators, sites, and groups. The descriptions match the in-product permission chooser.

How it fits together

  • Team — Users belong to your organisation’s team. Only team members can be added as trial collaborators. Team-level permissions (users.*, trials.*, team.*) control invitations, trial creation, and account administration separately from trial scope.
  • Trial — Most capabilities are controlled with trial.* permissions on that trial.
  • Sites — For multi-site studies, site.* permissions can limit access to one site’s participants, files, and packs.
  • Groups — Study arms or cohorts can use group.* permissions so someone only sees (or edits) participants in that group.

Roles are reusable bundles of these permissions (configured under trial personnel / roles). Assigning a role is a shortcut; the effective access is still expressed as a set of permission keys.

Baseline trial access

When someone is first added as a collaborator, the system may grant a minimal baseline such as trial.access so they can open the trial at all. That key is treated as a system-style gate and is not listed in the chooser alongside the fine-grained permissions below—but other permissions still govern what they can actually do once inside.

PII and sensitivity

Several descriptions call out PII (personally identifiable information) or restricted study fields. Trialflare separates “ordinary” study data from more sensitive views so you can comply with least-privilege and delegation norms (e.g. monitors who must not see direct identifiers).

Trial permissions (trial.*)

These apply to the trial as a whole (unless combined with site- or group-scoped grants).

Permission Description
trial.admin Trial administrator (full access) (no-PII)
trial.read Trial-wide admin view access (no-PII)
trial.write Trial-wide admin write access
trial.readParticipants List all participants in the trial
trial.registerParticipants Register new participants into the trial
trial.writeParticipants Edit participant details (name, email, phone, ID)
trial.allocateParticipants Mark participants as allocated or unallocated
trial.archiveParticipants Archive and unarchive participants
trial.withdrawParticipants Mark participants as withdrawn
trial.deleteParticipants Permanently delete participants and their data
trial.tagParticipants Add and remove participants from groups (tags)
trial.rescheduleParticipants Manually reschedule participant stages and tasks on the timeline
trial.readParticipantPersonalInformation View participant personal profile and contact details (PII)
trial.readParticipantConsent View a participant’s consent information (PII)
trial.readTrialConsents List all trial consents (PII)
trial.readConsentSettings View-only access to consent settings (availability and informed consent forms)
trial.readTrialSettings View-only access to trial settings and the About tab
trial.readDataTypes View-only access to the Data Types configuration
trial.readStages View-only access to the Stages configuration
trial.readParticipantNotes View participant notes and communication logs
trial.writeParticipantNotes Add notes to participants
trial.readParticipantStudyData View participant study data (excluding restricted and PII fields)
trial.readParticipantStudyDataRestricted View restricted participant study data fields (restricted)
trial.readParticipantStudyDataPii View PII participant study data fields (PII)
trial.writeParticipantStudyData Create and update participant study data
trial.exportData Export / bulk-download trial data from the Results tab
trial.readFiles View all files in the eTMF
trial.readApprovedFiles View approved files only in the eTMF
trial.readFileVersions View file versions in the eTMF
trial.writeFiles Create new files and versions in the eTMF
trial.deleteFiles Delete all files and versions in the eTMF
trial.requestFileApproval Request eTMF file approval
trial.approveFiles Approve all eTMF files
trial.readUsers View trial users
trial.support Send and receive support messages
trial.readTasks List all trial tasks
trial.writeTasks Create and manage trial tasks
trial.readQueries List all trial queries
trial.writeQueries Raise trial queries
trial.readAutomaticQueries View automatic trial queries
trial.writeAutomaticQueries Create automatic trial queries
trial.readSites View trial sites
trial.writeSites Create and update trial sites
trial.listPacks List and view packs
trial.writePacks Create and update packs
trial.deletePacks Delete packs
trial.assignPacks List and assign available packs to participants
trial.createParticipantMeetings Create online video call meetings with participants
trial.readParticipantMeetings View online video call meetings with participants
trial.joinParticipantMeetings Join participant video call meetings
trial.deleteParticipantMeetings Delete online video call meetings with participants
trial.manageWallet Manage (view and top-up) the trial wallet
trial.useAssistant Use the trial assistant
trial.readInsights View trial and participant insights
trial.readSiteMessages Read all site message boards in the trial
trial.writeSiteMessages Post to any site message board and broadcast to all sites

Configuration: view-only, write, and admin

Trial configuration — stages, stage groups, and data types — is editable with trial.write (admin-level write access). Only top-level governance actions require trial.admin: locking/unlocking the trial or database, editing trial settings, managing consent settings, and deleting the trial.

If someone should see configuration without changing it, grant the matching view-only key instead: trial.readStages, trial.readDataTypes, trial.readTrialSettings, or trial.readConsentSettings. Each is implied by trial.read, so a trial-wide viewer already has them.

Study data: viewing vs. exporting

Study data has three layers, and viewing is separate from exporting:

  • trial.readParticipantStudyData — view study data (excluding restricted and PII fields). This governs both a participant's Responses tab and the trial-wide Results tab (Dashboards and Explore). Add trial.readParticipantStudyDataRestricted and trial.readParticipantStudyDataPii for those field layers.
  • trial.exportData — the additional, more sensitive bulk export/download action (the Export tab in Results, and raw data exports). It falls through to trial.read, so existing trial-wide readers keep export; grant it explicitly to give export without full trial.read.

Because they're separate, trial.readParticipantStudyData on its own means "can view Results but cannot export"; add trial.exportData for a role that should also download. Export still requires the relevant study-data read permission for the data being exported.

Site-scoped staff (site.readParticipants + site.write) can view and edit the study data of participants in their site without any of these trial-wide keys — that access follows the participant, not the trial-wide Results/export surface.

Messaging: site boards vs. participant support

Two separate features both involve “messages”, and they use different permissions:

  • Site message boards (staff-to-staff, per site) — trial.readSiteMessages / trial.writeSiteMessages (trial-wide, all boards) and site.readSiteMessages / site.writeSiteMessages (a single site’s board).
  • Participant support messaging (staff-to-participant) — trial.support.

Site permissions (site.*)

Use these when someone should only operate within one site (participants, files, packs scoped to that site).

Permission Description
site.access Be a site member (recommended for any site roles)
site.read Site-wide admin view access
site.write Site-wide admin write access
site.readParticipants List all participants at the site
site.registerParticipants Register new participants and add them to this site
site.readFiles Read site files
site.readApprovedFiles View approved site files only
site.readFileVersions View site file versions
site.writeFiles Create new site files and versions
site.deleteFiles Delete site files and versions
site.requestFileApproval Request site file approval
site.approveFiles Approve site files
site.readUsers View site personnel
site.listPacks List and view packs
site.writePacks Create and update packs
site.assignPacks List and assign available packs to participants
site.readSiteMessages Read this site’s message board
site.writeSiteMessages Post to this site’s message board

Group permissions (group.*)

For study arms / groups of participants:

Permission Description
group.read Read group participants and data
group.write Read and change group participant data

Practical tips

  1. Start narrow — Grant trial.readParticipantStudyData without PII/restricted keys until a user truly needs those layers.
  2. Use sites — Combine site.access with read/write participant and file permissions so local staff only see their own site’s cohort.
  3. Separate approvers — Split trial.writeFiles / trial.requestFileApproval from trial.approveFiles where regulations require independent QC.
  4. Wallet and meetings — trial.manageWallet and the participant-meeting permissions are distinct; a coordinator who runs visits need not be able to top up incentives (or vice versa).

For workflow context on adding collaborators and sites, see Part 10 — Team members, collaborators and sites.