Understanding employee roles and access

In Lightspeed Retail, each member of your staff is assigned their own user account.  Each employee account is assigned a role which provides permissions specific to their daily tasks. In addition to the default employee roles available,  you can create up to 21 custom employee roles to further suit your needs.

There are four default employee roles that can be assigned to an employee in Retail POS:

Associate

• Ideal for non-management sales staff.
• Can process sales, transfer stock and close off the register.
• Restricted from management functions like adding and editing products or accessing reporting.

Manager

• Ideal for management staff.
• Able to do everything an associate can.
• Can access their assigned store's reporting.
• Can add/edit items if required.

Admin

• Ideal for store owner or head office staff.
• Full access to view and change all stores within the Retail POS account.
• Multiple admin users can be created.

Owner

• Highest level of access.
• Update billing contact details. 
• Change subscription payment details or plans.
• Cancel the account.
• Export critical data.
• Delete customer and employee records.

Additionally, every Retail POS account has a Primary User role, created with the credentials used when first signing up for Retail POS.

The Primary User account employee page cannot be edited by anyone other than the Primary User.

If another employee does need to change the details of the Primary User for any reason, they should email billing@lightspeedhq.com or call our Billing department.

Creating an employee

Creating individual employee accounts allows you to track employee activity, including hours worked.

1. Navigate to Settings > Employee Setup.

   

2. Click + New employee.

   

3. Enter the employee's name.

   

4. Select a role from the Role drop-down.
5. Click Save Changes.
6. For multi-location accounts: Determine location access for the employee. By default, new employees will have access to all locations. To restrict access:
   1. Deselect the Allow access to all toggle.

      

   2. Click Edit.
   3. Click Remove beside the locations you want to restrict for that employee.

      

   4. Click Save.
7. Enter the employee's phone number(s), address, and other contact information.
8. Select their preferred contact method.
9. Click Save Changes.

Creating and editing sign in credentials

You can set and edit an employee’s sign in credentials, allowing you to provide employees with unique PINs for logging in and out of your Retail system.

1. Navigate to Settings > Employee Setup.
2. Select the employee.
3. Click Sign in.

   

4. Enter a password and lock screen PIN.

   

5. Click Save Changes.

Creating a custom employee role

You can add up to 21 custom employee roles. Each of these needs a unique name.

1. Navigate to Settings > Employee Roles.

   

2. Click + New Employee Role.

   

3. Enter a unique name for the role and adjust the permissions.

   

4. Click Save Changes.

Adjusting employee role access

Employee roles can be edited by navigating to Settings > Employee Roles and clicking on a role. Custom roles can be archived provided there is no active employee assigned to that role. Default roles cannot be archived.

Changing employee role permissions automatically updates permissions for all employees with that role.

Understanding the Auto Sign Out Delay setting

The Auto Sign Out Delay setting controls how many minutes a Lightspeed Retail POS session stays open after an employee with external login access signs in.

We recommend configuring the Auto Sign Out Delay setting to represent the entire duration of a typical business day at your shop. This allows your employees to always have access to your Retail account and be able to serve customers, while ensuring that your Retail account is secure and inaccessible to employees with PIN access after business hours end.

To configure this setting:

1. Navigate to Settings > General Options.

   

2. In the Auto Sign Out Delay field, enter the total number of minutes in a typical business day at your shop.

   

3. Click Save Changes.

   

Understanding the Verify PIN Delay setting

The Verify PIN Delay setting controls how many minutes an employee has access to your Retail account after leaving it idle. This setting automatically locks out employees and requires a PIN verification after a certain amount of time idle, ensuring your Retail account is secure and inaccessible when not in use.

To configure this setting:

1. Navigate to Settings > General Options.
2. In the Verify PIN Delay field, enter the total number of minutes you want your Retail session to stay unlocked when idle.
3. Click Save Changes.

Understanding employee role permissions

Lightspeed Retail allows for a great deal of customization regarding employee access and permissions.

General

The General section includes permissions related to general account maintenance.

• General - All enables or disables all General permissions.
• External login allows a user to log into Lightspeed Retail from any device connected to the Internet when the Lightspeed Retail session is closed. If a user does not have this permission, they can only log into Lightspeed Retail using their access PIN locally when the application is open.
• Reports allows a user to access the Reports area and access Home (with Margin and Profit KPIs hidden).
• Edit employee time clock entries allows a user to edit clock in/out entries of other employees.
• Service allows a user to access the Service area.
• Allow record merging allows a user to merge customer records.

Sales

The Sales section includes permissions related to sales transactions.

• Sales - All enables or disables all Sales permissions.
• Sales enables a user to access the Sales area. Disabling this option prevents a user from making sales.
• Sales - Refund allows a user to process refunds.
• Sales - Open Register allows a user to open a register in Lightspeed Retail to process sales and refunds. 
• Sales - Register Withdraw allows a user to withdraw money from a register.
• Sales - Close Register allows a user to close a register.
• Sales - Change Prices allows a user to change the prices of items in a sale. If the user also has inventory access, they can change an item’s price for all subsequent sales.
• Sales - Import Catalog Item allows a user to import items from catalogs to the local inventory.
• Sales - Layaways & Special Orders allows a user to create layaways and special orders.
• Sales - Line Only Discount allows a user to apply a discount to individual line items.
• Sales - Complete a Sale without selecting a Serial number allows a user to complete the sale of a serialized item without selecting a serial number.
• Sales - Entire Sale Discount allows a user to apply discounts to an entire sale.
• Sales - Allow Creation of New Serial Number at Checkout allows a user to create a new item serial number during the checkout process.
• Sales - View Customer Sales From Other Shops When Location Restricted allows a user to view customer sales history from locations the user is restricted from.

Inventory

The Inventory section includes permissions related to inventory management.

General Inventory permissions

• Inventory - All enables or disables all Inventory permissions.
• Inventory - Basic allows a user to access the Inventory area and add serial numbers during serialized item sales.
• Inventory - Show quantity-on-hand for all locations allows a user to see an item's quantity-on-hand (QOH) in all locations regardless of their location access. If enabled, the QOH of an item in all locations displays when searching for items at the register, in your inventory, in work orders, and when exporting your inventory. If this is disabled, the user can only see the QOH of an item in locations where they have access.
• Inventory - Create transfer in all accessible locations allows a user to transfer stock between any available location.
• Inventory - Categories allows a user to edit categories.
• Inventory - Brands allows a user to edit brands.
• Inventory - Tags allows a user to edit tags.

Specific Inventory permissions

*These permissions require Inventory - Basic to be enabled.

• *Inventory - Product Cost allows a user to view, edit, and export item cost; view the Margin and Profit KPIs (if also have Reports enabled); see Cost column in Inventory Count Shrinkage reports.
• *Inventory - Product Create & Edit allows a user to create new items or edit existing items. Can also edit existing serial numbers. Additionally requires Inventory - Product Cost to be enabled.
• *Inventory - Special Orders allows a user to view existing special orders.
• *Inventory - Purchase Orders allows a user to create and edit purchase orders.
• *Inventory - Purchase Orders - Add Received to Inventory allows a user to add received items in purchase orders to inventory.
• *Inventory - Purchase Orders - Add partially Received serial numbers to Inventory allows a user to add serial numbers from partially received purchase orders to the inventory.
• *Inventory - Vendor Returns allows a user to access and send vendor returns.
• *Inventory - Counts allows a user to create inventory counts and enter count data.
• *Inventory - Counts - Reconcile allows a user to reconcile an inventory count.
• *Inventory - Transfers allows a user to create, build, and receive transfers between locations. Transfers are only available in multi-store accounts.
• *Inventory - Transfers: Send stock for transfer allows a user to send items in transfers between locations.
• *Inventory - Import Images and Items allows a user to import items and item images into inventory.
• *Inventory - Vendors allows a user to edit vendors. Additionally requires Inventory - Product Cost and Inventory - Product Create & Edit to be enabled.
• *Inventory - Vendor Return Reasons allows a user to edit vendor return reasons. Additionally requires Inventory - Product Cost and Inventory - Product Create & Edit to be enabled.

eCom

The eCom section includes permissions related to eCom management.

• eCom - All enables or disables all eCom permissions.
• eCom - Basic allows a user to access eCom from the main menu drop-down.

Customers

The Customers section includes permissions related to customer account management.

• Customers - All enables or disables all Customers permissions.
• Customers - Basic allows a user to access the Customers area and edit existing serial numbers.
• Customers - Export allows a user to export customer data from the Customers section, Credit Accounts section, Gift Cards section, Customers section of submenu of items, and Customer & Item report.
• Customers - Credit Limit allows a user to set credit limits for customers.
• Customers - Customer Deletion allows a user to delete customer accounts and anonymize customer data over the entire Retail account.
• Customers - View Gift Card Numbers allows a user to see full gift card numbers instead of just the last 4 digits.
• Customers - Export Gift Card Data allows a user to export a list of gift card data including names, balances, and gift card codes.

Payments Reports

The Payments Reports section includes permissions related to viewing payments reports.

• Payments Reports - All enables or disables all Payments Reports permissions.
• Report - Card Sales and Payouts allows a user to access card sales and the Adds/Payouts report.

Settings

The Settings section includes permissions related to general account settings.

• Settings - All enables or disables all Settings permissions.
• Settings - Basic allows a user to access the Settings area.
• Settings - Setup Shops allows a user to access Locations under Settings.
• Settings - Employee Setup allows a user to access Employee Setup and Employee Roles under Settings.
• Settings - Employee Account Deletion allows a user to delete employee accounts and anonymize employee data over the entire Retail account.
• Settings - Sales Setup allows a user to set price rules, discounts, payment types, and taxes.
• Settings - Void Sales allows a user to void transactions.
• Settings - Pricing allows a user to access pricing-related settings under Settings.
• Settings - Financial Services allows a user to access the Financial Services tab in Lightspeed Retail, including settings, reports, and Lightspeed Capital.

What's next?