Understanding Project Team Roles
Project Team Roles identify the role each user performs in a project's workflow. This article explains what they are, why they're important, and how they're used throughout Buildend.
Table of Contents
- Overview
- Who Needs a Project Team Role?
- Why Project Team Roles Matter
- Available Project Team Roles
- Best Practices
Overview
Project Team Roles identify each user's responsibilities within a project's workflows.
They determine who receives workflow assignments and help ensure work is routed to the appropriate people throughout the project.
Although they work together, Project Permissions and Project Team Roles serve different purposes:
- Project Permissions — What can this user access and do?
- Project Team Roles — What is this user's responsibility within the project's workflows?
Project Team Roles are assigned after a user has been added to a project and are unique to each project.
📝 Note: Assigning a Project Team Role is Step 3 of the User Management Lifecycle. Before assigning a role, the user must already exist in your Buildend workspace and have been added to the project.
Who Needs a Project Team Role?
Not every project user requires a Project Team Role. These roles are intended for users who participate in project workflows and receive workflow assignments.
Users who only require project visibility—such as executives or other stakeholders—may not need a Project Team Role if they won't participate in workflows.
Why Project Team Roles Matter
Buildend workflows are designed around Project Team Roles rather than individual users.
Instead of assigning workflow steps directly to people, each workflow step is assigned to a Project Team Role, such as Project Manager, Architectural Engineer, or Owner. When a workflow reaches that step, Buildend automatically routes the workflow assignment to the user or users assigned to that role for the project.
This allows the same workflow to be reused across every project while ensuring work is always assigned to the appropriate team members.
Why This Approach Works
Construction projects are dynamic. Team members may change roles, take vacation, leave the organization, or be replaced throughout the life of a project.
Because Buildend assigns workflows to Project Team Roles instead of individual users, the workflow itself never needs to change.
When project responsibilities change, simply update the user assigned to the Project Team Role. Future workflow assignments are automatically routed to the correct person without modifying the workflow.
This approach provides several advantages:
- Workflows remain consistent across every project.
- Changes in project staffing don't require workflow redesign.
- New team members can take over responsibilities quickly.
- Work continues without relying on assignments to specific individuals.
Available Project Team Roles
Buildend includes a set of Project Team Roles out of the box to support common construction workflows.
Default Project Team Roles
Examples include:
- Project Manager
- Project Coordinator
- Superintendent
- Architectural Engineer
- Owner
The roles available to your organization may vary depending on how Buildend has been configured.
Custom Project Team Roles
If you can't find a Project Team Role that fits what you're looking for, additional roles can be added through Settings → Data Objects.
Any custom Project Team Roles created will be available across all projects within your workspace.
📝 Note: Creating and managing Project Team Roles requires the appropriate permissions. Check with your Buildend Administrator if you need this access enabled.
Best Practices
- Assign roles only to users who will receive workflow assignments.
- Keep role names consistent across projects.
- Review assignments whenever project responsibilities change.
- Start with the default roles and customize only when needed.