Customizing Roles

Tailor the built-in roles to your school’s policies, or create entirely new roles for job functions that don’t fit the defaults.

Mosaic’s default roles cover common job functions, but every school is different. You can customize the permissions within any built-in role, or create custom roles from scratch. Both are managed from the same screen.

Getting to the Roles Screen

Settings Dropdown (under your name, top right) → District Settings → User Access → Roles

The Roles screen has two sections:

• Mosaic Roles (left sidebar) — the built-in system roles
• Custom Roles (left sidebar, below) — roles your district has created

Selecting any role shows its permissions in the detail panel on the right, organized by category (Student, Staff, Communication, Administration, Finances, System Config).

Customizing a Built-in Role

If a Mosaic default role is close to what you need but not quite right, you can adjust individual permissions without creating a new role.

Customizing Affects All Users on That Role

Customizing a role changes the permissions for every user assigned to it. Make sure you understand the impact before saving changes.

How to Customize

1. Select the role you want to modify from the Mosaic Roles list.
2. Click Customize.
3. A dialog opens showing all permissions grouped by category tabs (Student, Staff, Communication, etc.).
4. Each permission has a dropdown showing the available access levels (None, View, Edit, etc.).
5. Permissions that match the Mosaic default are marked with (default) in the dropdown.
6. Adjust the levels as needed.
7. Click Save.

The changes take effect immediately for all users assigned to that role.

Only Your Changes Are Stored

When you customize a system role, Mosaic only stores the permissions you changed. Everything else continues to use the Mosaic default. If Mosaic later updates a default permission that you haven’t customized, your district automatically gets that update.

Identifying Customized Roles

Customized system roles are marked with a “Customized” badge in the sidebar. The detail panel also shows a summary of what has changed from the default.

Individual permissions that differ from the Mosaic default are highlighted in the detail view so you can quickly see what has been modified.

Reverting Individual Permissions

While editing a customized role, each changed permission shows an undo icon next to it. Clicking this resets that single permission back to the Mosaic default without affecting your other customizations.

Reverting an Entire Role

To discard all customizations and restore the original Mosaic defaults:

1. Select the customized role.
2. Click Revert.
3. Confirm when prompted.

This removes all your customizations — the role returns to its original state as if it had never been modified.

Creating a Custom Role

Custom roles are best when you need a set of permissions that represent a specific job function — something multiple users might need, or that defines a coherent responsibility (e.g., “Department Head”, “Bus Coordinator”, “Cafeteria Manager”). If you just need to give one user a single additional permission, an individual grant is simpler.

Custom roles work exactly like system roles for assignment purposes — they appear in the role dropdown when assigning roles to users.

How to Create a Custom Role

1. In the Custom Roles section of the sidebar, click New.
2. Enter a name for the role (required) — choose something that describes the job function (e.g., “Department Head”, “Bus Coordinator”, “Cafeteria Manager”).
3. Enter an optional description explaining who this role is for and what it provides.
4. Set permission levels using the category tabs. All permissions start at None — enable only what this role needs.
5. Click Save.

The role appears in the Custom Roles section and can immediately be assigned to users.

Editing a Custom Role

1. Select the custom role from the sidebar.
2. Click Edit.
3. Modify the name, description, or permission levels as needed.
4. Click Save.

Changes take effect immediately for all users assigned to the role.

Deleting a Custom Role

Custom roles can be deleted, but only if no users are currently assigned to them.

1. Select the custom role from the sidebar.
2. If no users are assigned, the Delete option is available.
3. Click Delete and confirm when prompted.

If users are still assigned, you must first remove the role from all users before deleting it. The role detail panel shows a list of assigned users — click the user count to see who they are.

System Roles Cannot Be Deleted

Built-in Mosaic roles can be customized and reverted, but never deleted. Only custom roles created by your district can be removed.

Custom Roles vs. Customized System Roles

	Customized System Role	Custom Role
Starting point	Built-in role with modifications	Blank — you define all permissions
Receives Mosaic updates	Yes, for any permissions you haven't changed	No — fully independent
Can revert to defaults	Yes	N/A — no defaults to revert to
Can delete	No	Yes, if no users are assigned
Best for	Small adjustments to an existing role	Entirely new job functions

Best Practices

• Customize before creating. If a built-in role is 90% right, customize it rather than creating a new role. You’ll benefit from future Mosaic updates to the permissions you didn’t change.
• Use descriptive names for custom roles. Future administrators should be able to understand the role’s purpose from its name alone.
• Add descriptions. A short note about who the role is for saves time during future reviews.
• Review periodically. At the start of each school year, check whether your customizations and custom roles still reflect your current needs. Staff turnover and policy changes can make old roles outdated.
• Prefer roles over individual grants. If you find yourself adding the same individual grant to multiple users, consider creating a custom role instead.