🔑 Roles & Permissions

This screen controls exactly what each role on your site is allowed to do in Pavilion. A role is a group that members belong to (for example Club Member, Club Volunteer, Club Administrator). Change a role here and it applies to everyone in that role.

Reading the grid

Capabilities are listed down the left, grouped by area (Rink Bookings, Volunteer Rota, Members, Reports & Settings). Each role is a column. A switch that is on (teal) means that role has that capability.

Making changes

• Flick the switches on or off, then click 💾 Save changes.
• Use the small all / none links under a role to set that whole column at once.
• ↺ Reset to defaults restores the three Pavilion roles (Member, Volunteer, Administrator) to their original capabilities. Other roles are left untouched.

You cannot lock yourself out

The Administrator column is locked on. WordPress Administrators always keep full Pavilion access, so there is no way to remove your own ability to manage the plugin.

When changes take effect

A change applies on each affected user’s next page load (WordPress reads a user’s capabilities once per request). If someone is mid-session, ask them to reload.

Common questions

Which permission lets somebody take a shift on the steward tablet?

Manage all bookings, under Rink Bookings. Volunteers and above hold it by default, and only people who hold it appear on the tablet’s lock screen.

What is Book a slot that has passed?

Permission to enter a booking for a session that has already finished — for writing up a walk-up after the event. Volunteers and above by default. Without it a member cannot book this morning’s session at four in the afternoon, which would fill in a rink nobody can use.

Where do I give somebody a role in the first place?

On their own member profile, under What they can do. This matrix decides what each role means; the profile decides which role somebody holds.

Where have Editor, Author, Contributor and Subscriber gone?

Left out deliberately. They are WordPress’s roles for running a blog and mean nothing to a bowls club, so four permanently empty columns were only making the grid wider and harder to read. If one of them has somehow been given a Pavilion permission it is shown anyway, with a note saying why — switch its permissions off and it disappears again.

What is the difference between a role and a capability?

A capability is a single permission (e.g. “Manage members”). A role is a named bundle of capabilities that you assign to people. This screen decides which capabilities each role bundle contains.

I removed a capability but the user can still do it — why?

WordPress caches a user’s capabilities for the current page request. The change takes effect on their next page load. Also remember WordPress Administrators always have every capability.

Can I add brand-new roles here?

This screen edits the capabilities of existing roles. New WordPress roles are created by your site administrator or a role-management plugin; once they exist they appear here as columns.

What does Reset to defaults change?

Only the three Pavilion roles (Member, Volunteer, Administrator) are returned to their original permission sets. Any other roles keep whatever you set.

How do I stop non-admins seeing the Admin Tools or Settings menus?

In the Menu Access group there are two switches: Admin Tools menu and Settings menu. Turn them off for a role (for example Club Volunteer) and that role no longer sees those menus. By default only administrators have them on. If someone needs, say, the Approvals area but not full settings, give their role the Admin Tools menu only.

Can a club administrator lock the platform owner out of anything?

No. The WordPress Administrator (the person who runs the whole site) is locked on for every capability, including the Admin Tools and Settings menus, and always keeps full access no matter what the matrix says.