Your team & permissions
The roles in Wattle Clinic, what each one can and can't do, and how to add new staff.
Everywhere in this guide you'll see "Can't see a button? Your account may not have permission." This page is where that comes from. A receptionist's screen has fewer buttons than a vet's, deliberately.
Role and permissions are two different things
- Your role is what you are - Veterinarian, Nurse, Practice Manager or Staff. It describes your job, and it's what the law keys off: only a Veterinarian can finalise a Schedule 8 entry, whatever anyone ticks.
- Your permissions are what you're allowed to do - tunable per role, or per person.
So two vets can share a role but hold different permissions: the principal manages pricing and the team, the associate does clinical work only. Both still finalise S8 entries, because that follows the role.
The four roles
Every role starts from the same everyday set: clinical notes, clients, patients, the calendar, invoices, estimates and taking payments. What separates them is what gets added.
| Role | For | What's added on top by default |
|---|---|---|
| Vet | Veterinarians | Deleting consults, and the controlled-drug register including signing entries off. Only vets finalise S8 entries - a legal requirement, not a setting |
| Practice Manager | Whoever runs the practice | The business side - clinic settings, branding, email, the catalogue, import/export, the audit log and the team. Not S8; they're not a vet |
| Nurse | Nurses and technicians | Capturing S8 entries for a vet to sign off |
| Staff | Reception and support | Nothing. The everyday set on its own |
Nurse vs Staff differ on exactly one thing: the controlled-drug register. Everything else about their day is identical.
A vet is not an administrator by default. The role is deliberately clinical: a plain Vet account can't reach clinic settings, the catalogue, the team, imports or the audit log. That surprises people, so if your senior vet also runs the practice, give them the extra abilities per-person (below) rather than assuming the role carries them. Whoever created the clinic already has everything, whatever role they picked.
The catalogue is management, not everyday. Editing prices needs Manage the catalogue, which only Practice Manager holds by default - so a vet, nurse or receptionist won't see Catalogue in the sidebar until you grant it. That's deliberate: a receptionist being able to quietly change pricing was a real defect we closed.
There used to be an "Admin" role. It mixed up what you are with what you can do - the exact confusion the split above fixes. Whoever runs the practice is now a Practice Manager; extra powers come through permissions. Nobody lost access when it changed.
Inside Settings, only a Practice Manager sees Branding, Email, Roles & Permissions, Import & Export, the Audit Log, Team, and the Controlled drugs setup page. Everyone always reaches their own Account and Security, the shared Clinic Settings, and the scheduling pages (Appointment Types, Visit Statuses, Availability). A vet or nurse still works in the controlled-drug register itself - it's only its configuration that's management.
Common tasks
| I want to... | Do this |
|---|---|
| Invite someone | Settings → Team → Invite → email + role → Send invite |
| Re-send a lost invite | The pending invite's ⋯ → Copy invite link, or Revoke |
| Chase a lapsed one | The Expired invites group below the list → Re-invite |
| Change someone's role | Team → their ⋯ → Change role… |
| Change what a whole role can do | Settings → Roles & Permissions |
| Change it for one person | Team → their ⋯ → Permissions… |
| Pause someone | ⋯ → Suspend access. Restore access brings them back |
| Remove someone who's left | ⋯ → Remove from clinic. Reversible |
| Reset a forgotten PIN | ⋯ → Reset PIN. Instant |
| Check your own role | Avatar → Account → Account Details |
Walk-throughs
Gotchas
- You can't change your own role. It's read-only on your Account page so nobody quietly grants themselves more access. Ask a colleague who manages the team, or hello@wattlevet.com.
- A page that bounces you home isn't included in your role. Those areas are normally hidden from your menus; reaching one by a saved link or typed address just returns you. Not a fault.
- PINs can't be looked up, only reset. A reset clears the old PIN and any lockout, and asks for a fresh one next time.
- Wattle won't let you remove the last remaining member, or your own account.
- Role changes take effect the next time they load the app.
The simple test for "is this broken?" - can a colleague with a different role see it? If yes, it's permissions. If nobody can see it, it's either coming soon or not switched on for your clinic.
Related
Signing in · Settings · Your PIN · The audit log · Schedule 8 register