Setting up your responders and roles

For school leads and IT.  During onboarding you'll need a list of your responders so they can be added to your Response Team.

Who are responders?

Responders are the people who pick up lockdown calls for help. They also need to be able to start a lockdown, which requires permission to make announcements. Give each responder the Announcer or Administrator role.

Getting your responder list to your IT contact

The Onboarding Wizard is often completed by your IT team or an external IT provider, who may not know who your responders are. Before they start, download the responder list (excel) fill in each responder's name, email address and role, and send it to them.

Your IT contact can then add them in the Response teams step of the Onboarding Wizard. If you're completing the Wizard yourself, add your responders directly in that step. 

Roles and permissions

Each user in teamSOS has a role that controls what they can do. There are three roles: User, Announcer and Administrator.

User role

The User role is for general staff who use teamSOS to raise and respond to incidents, receive alerts and stay informed.

Users can:

• Raise and respond to incidents
• Send and receive messages
• View announcements

Optional permission: Allow Chats lets a user start and take part in chat conversations within teamSOS.

Announcer role

The Announcer role lets staff create and send announcements without full Administrator access. Sending an announcement needs the Announcer or Administrator role.

Note: you can assign the Announcer role directly during onboarding. When you manage an existing user in the teamSOS web app, it may appear as an "Allow Announcements" toggle on their account instead. Turning it on gives the same access.

Administrator role

Administrators have full permissions to manage and personalise teamSOS for your organisation.

Administrators can:

• Manage users, roles and permissions
• Configure system settings and integrations
• Create and manage templates
• View and manage all incidents across the organisation
• Send announcements school-wide or to specific membership groups
• Use all standard features: raise and respond to incidents, message, view announcements, and use the guidance and training area
  
  

Managing users and roles

Once onboarding is complete, administrators can manage users in Admin > Users > Manage Users. From here you can:

• Add or remove users
• Change a user's role (User, Announcer or Administrator)
• Turn the Allow Chats permission on or off
  
  

Giving someone Administrator access

• New user: when creating the user, select the Admin option.
• Existing user: click the user, select Edit, scroll down to Permissions and select Admin.

For the different ways to add users (Excel import, Entra sync or manual entry), see the Manage Users guide (PDF).

Best practice

• Give the Administrator role only to people who need full control, but make sure you have more than one Administrator for backup.
• Assign the Announcer role and Allow Chats permission thoughtfully so communication stays clear and secure.
• Review roles regularly to keep access right as your organisation grows.
  
  

Next step: Onboarding Wizard →