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Gavel organizes everyone who accesses your account into one of four roles: Admin, Builder, Organizational User, and User. Each role defines what a person can see, build, and do. Choosing the right role for each person keeps your client data secure, your workflow library tidy, and your billing under control. One important principle to keep in mind: Organizational Users and Users have no access to any workflow by default. Access must be explicitly granted by an Admin or Builder — either by assigning a workflow directly or by assigning a bundle.

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Role overview

Who it’s for: The person responsible for the Gavel account — typically a firm administrator, managing partner, or operations lead.The Admin has comprehensive control over every aspect of the account. This role is best held by whoever manages billing and is responsible for onboarding and offboarding team members.Key capabilities:
  • Manage billing and account subscription details
  • View and manipulate all client data across the entire platform
  • Change any user’s role and contact information
  • Invite and deactivate users
  • Perform every action available to a Builder — create, edit, share, and assign workflows and bundles
Things to know:
  • It is recommended that an account has only one Admin seat, since the Admin controls the billing portal and payment for Gavel services.
  • An Admin can still build and test workflows just like a Builder.
  • To cancel your Gavel account, the Admin should follow the account cancellation process.
Who it’s for: Attorneys, paralegals, or consultants who create and manage document automation workflows.Builders are the practitioners who design questionnaires, upload document templates, configure logic, and share completed workflows with clients or colleagues. They can see and work with the client data that flows through their own workflows.Key capabilities:
  • Create and edit workflows, questionnaires, and document templates
  • Share workflows with clients via link or direct assignment
  • Assign workflows to specific users and revoke that access
  • Collaborate with other Builders by sharing workflows for co-editing
  • Access and manipulate client data associated with their workflows
Things to know:
  • A Builder cannot manage billing or change other users’ roles — that requires the Admin.
  • If you are working with an outside consultant or Gavel Expert to build your workflows, you can add them as a Builder. Many experts prefer to build on their own Gavel account and transfer workflows to yours when ready — discuss this approach with your consultant.
Who it’s for: Power users who need to run workflows repeatedly — such as a paralegal at a partner firm, a high-volume client, or a B2B customer who licenses access to your automation.An Organizational User can answer assigned workflows and reuse the data they enter across multiple sessions. Unlike the end-user User role, an Organizational User can run the same workflow again with new data each time.Key capabilities:
  • Complete workflows assigned to them by an Admin or Builder
  • Generate documents by answering the questions in those workflows
  • Access and edit their submitted data in Data Manager to make corrections or generate updated documents
Things to know:
  • Organizational Users cannot create or edit workflows.
  • They only see workflows that have been explicitly assigned to them.
  • This role does not require the person to be inside your firm. Many Gavel accounts use this role for B2B purposes — selling access to a workflow package to another law firm or business.
Who it’s for: Individual clients who need to answer a questionnaire once and receive their documents.The User role is the lightest-weight role, designed for one-time or infrequent use. Users interact only with their client portal and only see what you have assigned to them.Key capabilities:
  • Access and respond to assigned workflows in their client portal
  • Have their answers saved automatically (data persistence)
Data persistence: If a User has previously entered a value for a variable — for example, their name as clientname — every other workflow that uses the clientname variable will automatically populate with the same value. Users never need to re-enter the same information.Things to know:
  • A User cannot run the same workflow again with new data. Their session is saved and persists.
  • Users only see workflows and data that you have assigned to them — nothing else is visible.
  • You can have unlimited Users on your account.

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Role comparison at a glance

CapabilityAdminBuilderOrg. UserUser
Manage billing✓
Manage user roles✓
Create & edit workflows✓✓
Assign workflows to others✓✓
Access all client data✓
Access own assigned data✓✓✓
Run assigned workflows✓✓✓✓
Re-run workflows with new data✓✓✓
Data persistence across sessions✓
Unlimited seats✓

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Inviting and managing users

All user management is handled from the Users page, accessible from the main navigation. Only Admins can invite new users or change existing users’ roles.
1

Open the Users page

Click Users in the left-hand navigation of your Dashboard.
2

Invite a new user

Click Invite User (or the equivalent button on your plan). Enter the person’s email address and select their role — Admin, Builder, Organizational User, or User. Gavel sends them an invitation email with a link to set up their account.
3

Edit an existing user

Find the user in the list. Click their row or the edit icon to change their name, email address, or role. Role changes take effect immediately.
4

Deactivate a user

To remove someone’s access, deactivate their account from the Users page. Their historical data is retained, but they can no longer sign in.
When a client follows a login-required workflow link and creates their own account, they are automatically added to your Users page with the User role. You don’t need to manually invite them first.

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Where each role lands after sign-in

Admin & Builder

Taken to the full Dashboard with access to workflows, bundles, data, and settings.

Organizational User

Taken to their portal (yoursubdomain.gavel.io/portal) where they see their assigned workflows and bundles.

User

Taken to their client portal where they see only the workflows assigned to them and their saved responses.

New user via link

Prompted to create an account, then directed to the specific workflow they clicked — or to their portal if accessing a login-required page directly.