Categories, Groups & Permissions
Comprehensive guide to configure categories, groups, permissions, imports, and units of measurement.
The Setup section allows you to configure the foundational elements of your maintenance management system. Here you can define work order categories, user groups, permission profiles, import bulk data, and manage units of measurement. Proper setup ensures smooth operations and efficient workflow management.
Categories
Categories classify and organise your work orders. Each category has a descriptive name, a type (Emergency, Breakdown, Inspection or Preventive), an expected resolution time for SLA tracking, and an optional colour and icon so it stands out in lists and boards. A brand-new workspace ships with no categories — create the ones that match how your team works.
🏷️ What is a Category?
A category is a classification label on a work order that describes the nature of the maintenance work. Every category has a type from four fixed options (Emergency, Breakdown, Inspection, Preventive) — the type also feeds reliability metrics such as MTBF and MTTR. Categories help you organise, filter and report on different kinds of maintenance.
- • Name: A descriptive label for the category (e.g. Hydraulics, Electrical, Routine PM)
- • Type: One of the four fixed types — Emergency (EM), Breakdown (BR), Inspection (IN) or Preventive (RE)
- • Expected resolution: Target time to resolve work orders in this category — a number plus a unit (minutes, hours or days). Used for SLA tracking.
- • Colour & icon: Optional — pick a colour and an icon so this category is easy to spot in lists, tiles and the board
📋 The four category types
Every category you create must be one of these four types. The type is fixed (it drives reliability reporting) — the name, colour, icon and resolution time are all yours to choose. New workspaces start empty; nothing below is created for you.
| Type | Code | Use Case |
|---|---|---|
| Emergency | EM | Critical failures needing immediate attention; counts toward breakdown metrics |
| Breakdown | BR | Equipment failures that halt or degrade production; counts toward breakdown metrics |
| Inspection | IN | Scheduled or triggered condition checks and audits |
| Preventive | RE | Planned preventive maintenance that keeps equipment running |
🏷️ Inside a Category
Opening a category takes you to its own page — its details alongside a live breakdown of every work order raised against it.
Details Card
Name, description, short code and colour, and active status.
Status Breakdown Card
An SLA-compliance ring plus a bar for every work order status (Open, Assigned, In Progress, On Hold, Review, Completed) among this category's work orders.
- • Shows the SLA resolution compliance percentage as a ring chart
- • Breaks work orders down by status with a count and bar for each
Work Orders Table
A searchable, filterable, full-width list of every work order in this category, so you can jump straight to any of them.
- • Search by title and filter by status
- • Click through to any work order's own page
🔘 Available Actions
View Details
Opens the category detail page showing all widgets and configuration options.
Edit Category
Change the name, type, expected resolution time, colour, icon or active status. Open Additional Details in the form for the colour and icon pickers.
Toggle Status
Enable or disable the category. Disabled categories can't be picked on new work orders but existing ones keep theirs.
Delete Category
Permanently remove the category. If it has no work orders the delete button appears in the header. If it still has work orders, use Delete by merging on the category page to move them to another category first.
Delete by Merging
Shown on the category page when the category still has work orders. Pick another category, confirm, and every work order is reassigned before this category is deleted.
➕ Creating a New Category
Follow these steps to create a new category:
- 1 Open Setup → Categories from the main menu
- 2 Click Create (top right of the list) to open the category form
- 3 Enter a name, choose a type (Emergency, Breakdown, Inspection or Preventive) and write a short description
- 4 Set the expected resolution: type a number and choose a unit — minutes, hours or days
- 5 Expand Additional Details to pick an optional colour and icon, then click Create category
Groups
Groups define user roles and team structures in your organization. Each group is associated with a permission profile that determines what actions members can perform.
👥 What is a Group?
A group is a collection of users who share the same role and permissions. Groups simplify user management by allowing you to assign permissions to a role rather than individual users.
Group & Permission Structure:
🔐 Permission Profile
├── 👥 Group (e.g., Admin)
├── 👤 User 1
├── 👤 User 2
└── 👤 User 3
Benefits of using groups:
- • Simplified permission management - change once, apply to all members
- • Clear organizational structure visible in reports and assignments
- • Easy onboarding - just add new users to the appropriate group
📋 Default Groups
The system includes default groups for common organizational roles. Customize these or create new groups to match your structure.
| Group Name | Permission Level | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Admin | Full Access | Full system access including setup and user management |
| Maintenance | Operational | Can manage work orders, assets, and maintenance operations |
| Worker | Basic | Can view and update assigned work orders only |
👥 Inside a Group
Opening a group takes you to its own page, with cards that help you manage its membership and understand its configuration.
Details Card
Displays group information including member counts and associated permission profile.
- • Total users in the group
- • Active vs inactive member counts
- • Associated permission profile name
Group Permissions
Shows the permission profile assigned to this group and its access levels.
- • Permission profile name and status
- • Summary of key capabilities
Group Members Table
Lists everyone in this group with their status. From here you can move a member to another group in the same premises.
- • All group members with status indicators
- • Move a member to a different group (you pick which)
➕ Creating a New Group
Follow these steps to create a new group:
- 1 Open Setup → Groups from the main menu
- 2 Click Create (top right of the list) to open the group form
- 3 Enter a name for the group
- 4 Choose a permission profile — this decides what members can do — then click Create group
- 5 (Optional) On the new group's page, use Set as maintenance group in the details card if this group is your maintenance technicians. Exactly one group per premises holds this — setting it here removes it from any other group in the same premises.
Maintenance group: Exactly one group per premises is the maintenance group. Its members are treated as assignable technicians and count toward your maintenance seats. Set it from a group's page with Set as maintenance group.
🗑️ Deleting a group
The delete button (header of the group page) is available only when the group has no members. If it still has members, use Delete by merging on the group page to move them to another group first. The premises' maintenance group can never be deleted.
Permissions
Permissions control what actions users can perform on different resources in the system. Permission profiles group these settings and are assigned to groups.
🔐 What is a Permission Profile?
A permission profile defines access levels for each system resource (assets, work orders, users, etc.). Each resource can have a different permission level, giving you fine-grained control over what users can do.
Permission Levels (highest to lowest):
Permission Levels
Each resource is set to one of six levels. Each level includes everything the levels below it allow — so "Manage" also means the person can read and browse. The names in brackets are the underlying values you may see in exports or the API.
Full Control (delete)
Everything — create, read, edit, and permanently delete records.
Manage (update)
Create, read and edit existing records, but not delete them.
Contribute (create)
Add new records and read existing ones, but not edit or delete.
Read (view)
Open individual records and read their details. No changes.
Browse (viewAny)
See the list of records only — individual records cannot be opened.
No Access (denied)
The resource, its menu item, and its fields are hidden entirely.
🔐 Inside a Permission Profile
Opening a permission profile takes you to its own page: a hero banner with its status and terminal-role badge, and a single full-width table of its access level per resource.
Permission Summary
Shows an overview of the permission profile including its status and usage statistics.
- • Active/inactive status
- • Terminal permission indicator
- • Number of groups using this profile
Permission Details Table
Comprehensive table showing permission levels for each system resource.
- • All system resources listed
- • Current permission level for each resource
- • Color-coded legend for quick reference
⚙️ Special Permission Behaviors
- Terminal / kiosk roles: tick Terminal for a shared shop-floor device many people badge into. Administrative resources — Permissions, Users, Groups, Premises, Settings, Languages and the Audit Log — are then always denied and locked in the matrix, no matter what the columns say. Work orders, tasks, checklists and machines stay configurable so the "report an issue" flow still works. Terminal roles are also exempt from single-session sign-in.
- Inherited access: a higher level always includes the lower ones — "Manage" implies "Read" and "Browse".
- Hidden, not greyed: a resource set to "No Access" is removed from the interface for that user, not just disabled.
- Self-lockout protection: you cannot drop Permissions below "Manage", nor deactivate the role, on the profile your own account uses — there would be no way back.
- Module locking: resources belonging to a module your plan does not include show locked; buying the module restores whatever level the role already had.
Role Templates
The blue banner at the top of a profile has one-click presets — Operator, Technician, Supervisor, Planner, Storekeeper, Admin — that fill the whole matrix following least-privilege for that job. Apply one as a starting point, then fine-tune. Duplicate in the same banner clones the profile you are looking at (handy once you have hand-tuned one).
Configure a permission profile — step by step
- Go to Settings → Permissions and open a profile (or create one with Create — give it a name and save).
- On the profile page, optionally click a role template in the blue banner for a sensible starting point.
- Work down the module sections. For each resource, click a level in the segmented bar — the text on the right tells you exactly what that level allows.
- Use Set all to in a module header to level a whole module at once.
- Assign the profile to a group (Groups → the group → permission profile). Users inherit access through their group.
- Check the Recent Changes list to confirm what you changed.
A profile that groups still use cannot be deleted — move those groups to another profile first.
Recent Changes
The profile page lists its own audit trail — who changed which resource level, from what to what, and when — so permission changes are reviewable without leaving the page.
💡 Tip: Start with the most restrictive permissions and only grant additional access as needed. This follows the principle of least privilege and improves security.
Mass Import
Bulk-load data from a CSV or Excel (.xlsx) file — a fast way to set up a new workspace or move across from a spreadsheet or another system.
📥 What are Imports?
Upload a CSV or .xlsx file, map its columns to iTenance fields, and each row is validated and created (or updated). Rows that fail validation are skipped and reported — the rest still go in.
- • Populate machines, parts, users, categories, groups and units quickly
- • Migrate from spreadsheets or another maintenance system
- • Update existing records in bulk with the Update existing option
📋 How to Import Data
Follow these steps:
- 1 Open Setup → Mass Import from the main menu and click New import
- 2 Choose the data type — Machines, Parts, Suppliers, Manufacturers, Users, Categories, Groups or Units
- 3 Click Download CSV template to see the exact column names (required fields are marked with *)
- 4 Fill in your rows, upload the file, and check the auto-mapped columns in the preview
- 5 Optional: tick Validate only for a dry run, or pick an Update existing key. Then Start import and review the result — any failed rows can be downloaded, fixed and re-imported.
⚠️ setup.note: A dry run (Validate only) writes nothing — use it to check a file first. Foreign-key columns like manufacturer_id or unit_id take the numeric id of the target record; leave the default relation id option on to fill blanks.
Units
Units of measurement keep part quantities consistent. Each part is stored and counted in one unit. A standard library (each, box, kg, litre, metre, hour…) is created for you — add your own for anything specific to your operation.
📏 What are Units?
A unit has a name, a short code (kg, L, ea…) and one of eight fixed types. Every part references a unit, so stock levels, reorder points and totals all read in the same measure.
- • Part stock levels and reorder points
- • Packaging (box, pack, pallet, roll)
- • Totals and cost roll-ups across locations
- • Consistent reporting per part
The eight unit types
Length
mm, cm, m, in, ft
Weight
g, kg, t, lb
Volume
mL, L, gal
Pressure
bar, psi, kPa
Quantity
each, piece, box, set, pair, pack, roll
Time
min, hr, day
Temperature
°C, °F, K
Other
Anything that doesn't fit the seven types above
📏 Inside a Unit
Opening a unit takes you to its own page, showing its details alongside the parts inventory that uses it:
📑 Unit Page Cards
Details Card
Name, short code, description, type, and active status.
Top Parts Stock Card
Only shown when the Parts & Inventory module is enabled — the parts measured in this unit with the most stock on hand.
Parts Table
Also gated behind the Parts & Inventory module — a searchable, full-width list of every part measured in this unit.
➕ Adding your own unit
The standard library covers most needs. To add one of your own:
- 1 Open Setup → Units from the main menu
- 2 Click Create (top right of the list) to open the unit form
- 3 Enter a name and a short code (both must be unique within the premises)
- 4 Pick the type (Length, Weight, Volume, Pressure, Quantity, Time, Temperature or Other) and click Create unit
A unit that is used by any part can't be deleted — deactivate it instead. Inactive units stay on the parts that already use them but can't be chosen for new ones.
📚 Quick Reference
🏷️ Categories
- • Use short codes for quick identification
- • Set realistic resolution times for SLA tracking
- • Disable unused categories instead of deleting
- • Review category performance metrics regularly
👥 Groups
- • Keep groups aligned with organizational roles
- • Assign one permission profile per group
- • Review membership when employees change roles
- • Use descriptive names for easy identification
🔐 Permissions
- • Apply least privilege principle
- • Test permissions with a test user account
- • Document custom permission profiles
- • Review permissions during security audits
📏 Units
- • Use standard abbreviations for clarity
- • Create units for all measurement types you use
- • Avoid duplicates with different spellings
- • Consider regional preferences (metric vs imperial)
🆘 Need Help?
If you encounter any issues while configuring your setup options, please reach out to your system administrator or consult the main documentation.
Remember: Proper initial setup saves time and prevents issues down the road. Take the time to configure categories, groups, and permissions correctly from the start.