BETA: Custom roles

Jake Sawyer

Updated July 15, 2024 19:51

You can now create new maker roles and define how they interact with Productboard to fit your organizational structure and internal processes. Roles can always be updated from the Members page but may affect how much you pay. We'll let you know if so.

Pricing and impacted seats

Before now, Productboard had four “out of the box” base roles:

Admin (paid)
Maker (paid)
Contributor (unpaid)
Viewer (unpaid)

Throughout this beta program, each custom role will count as a maker seat. In addition, only the maker role can be customized.

Note: Sharing a board with a maker will also share it with anyone that is assigned a custom role.

Beta program

During our beta program, customers will be able to define a custom role. which is a variation of the maker role. You can give custom roles their own names and remove certain capabilities from them. The ability to restrict the following capabilities is in scope during the beta:

Restrict the creation of certain data fields
Restrict editing of certain data fields
Restrict deletion of certain data fields

The following data fields are in scope:

Release groups - includes releases
Drivers & scores
Tasks
Tags
Custom fields

Note: SSO/SAML updates to leverage custom roles are not included in the beta program.

Creating a custom role

You will need to be an admin in Productboard to create a custom role.
To create a custom role:

Click your workspace name in the top left of your account, and then click Settings.
Scroll down to the Custom Roles section and click the button to enable the functionality.
You’ll see a new option on the left-hand navigation. This option is listed as Roles.

Within Roles, you’ll see the four base roles we offer today and a button inviting you to Create a custom role. Click this button to begin the role creation process.

Note: There is currently no limitation on the number of roles that can be created.

Create a custom role.png

Defining a custom role

When defining a custom role, there are several options available to you:

You can give the role a name
You can make any selection from the configuration options displayed

Once you’ve given the role a name and defined the capabilities of the role, click Create to complete the process.

Defining a custom role.png

Reviewing roles

Once you’ve created your role, this will be reflected in the Roles section. You’ll now have visibility of all the custom roles you’ve created and a high-level oversight into how many members have been assigned this role.

Reviewing custom roles.png

In addition to this, you can also review and edit the capabilities that are associated with a given role. Simply click on the role to do this.

Custom role EM.png

Whilst only admins can create a custom role, all other members will be able to see the definition of the roles in Productboard. This will clarify to members what their role is and why they don’t have access to specific capabilities. For further clarity, the member will also see who created the role and when it was last updated.

Viewing custom role capabilities.png

Assigning a member to a role

Once you’ve created a custom role, it’s now time to assign members to this role.

To assign a custom role:

Click your workspace name in the top left of your account, and then click Members.
Update the role associated with a given member.

Assigning a role.png

In addition to the current role assignment process, you can now assign a member a new role via the Account Info section. Click on the member name, and update the role associated with a given member.

Account info page.png

Custom roles with SCIM

After you've added your custom roles in Productboard, you can create a matching role in your identity provider with the same workflow used to configure Productboard’s base roles (admin, maker, contributor, and viewer). Click on an identity provider below to view linked instructions and screenshots.

Note: Custom role names are case sensitive. When creating custom roles in your identity provider, make sure to match their names exactly to the custom roles you created in Productboard.

Okta

For provisioning Okta SCIM: Setting up SCIM provisioning with Okta

For setting up the base roles: Configuring Productboard roles in Okta correctly

The role name needs to follow this format: “maker_Case Sensitive Custom Role Name”, where maker_ is the base role for the custom role. Currently the only base role available is maker_, but other base roles (admin_, contributor_, viewer_) may be available in the future.
The role name can include spaces. Include them in the string normally. For example, “maker_my new role” will work just fine.

Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure AD)

For provisioning Entra and setting up the base roles: Setting up SCIM provisioning with Azure AD

The role name needs to follow this format: “maker_Case Sensitive Custom Role Name”, where maker_ is the base role for the custom role. Currently the only base role available is maker_, but other base roles (admin_, contributor_, viewer_) may be available in the future.
The role name can include spaces. Include them in the string normally. For example, “maker_my new role” will work just fine.

If you've provisioned SCIM properly, you should now be able to assign custom roles from your identity provider and have them update in Productboard right away.

SCIM Troubleshooting

Here are some common failure responses that could be displayed in your identity provider and how to solve them:

Role with base role '%baseRole%' and custom role '%customRole%' was not found.

Make sure the custom role is defined in Productboard.
Make sure the role name in the identity provider follows the correct format of MAKER_customrolename.
Make sure to use “MAKER” as the base role.
If there are spaces in the custom role name, be sure to include them (i.e. “MAKER_my new role”).

Role '%baseRole%' is not a valid role.

Make sure to use “MAKER” as the base role.

Member '%id%' was not found.

Member is not found in the system. Contact Productboard support if error persists.

Entity action definitions

Here are precise definitions for each available restriction you can place on a custom role.

Entity	Create	Edit	Delete
Drivers & prioritization scores	The ability to create a new driver or score.	The ability to edit the driver name & description. You can still associate a driver with a product and comment on the driver. The ability to edit the prioritization score name, description, effort & driver(s). You can still associate a prioritization score with a product and comment on the prioritization score.	The ability to delete the driver or prioritization score entirely.
Release groups & releases	The ability to create a new release group. When deleting the release group all contained releases are deleted as well.	The ability to edit the release group name, and description, and add/edit/delete a new release within the Release group. You can still associate a release group with a product.	The ability to delete the release group entirely.
Tasks	The ability to create a task.	The ability to edit the task name, and description, and add/edit/delete values on the task. You can still associate a task with a product and comment on the task.	The ability to delete a task. When deleting a task all contained values are deleted as well.
Tags	The ability to create a new tag.	The ability to edit the tag name and description. Including the ability to merge a tag.	The ability to delete a tag.
Custom fields	The ability to create a new custom field.	The ability to edit the custom field name and description, and add/edit/delete Values on the custom field (where applicable). You can still associate a custom field with a product and comment on the custom Field.	The ability to delete a custom field.