Overview 

Custom Roles & Permissions (CRP) allow you to control who can do what in Litmos—either across your entire account or within specific teams. This feature is designed for organizations that need more flexibility than the standard Account Owner, Administrator, and Learner roles provided. 

This guide walks you through what CRP is, when to use it, and how to roll it out safely. It intentionally avoids deep permission-level detail. Links to advanced and reference documentation are provided where needed. 

For customers that will be migrating to the new Custom Roles and Permissions, please review CRP Migration details for more information. 

Do I Need Custom Roles & Permissions? 

You should consider using CRP if: - You want to give administrative access without full Account Owner or Administrator permissions - You need different levels of access based on job responsibilities (e.g., content managers, report viewers) - You want to delegate admin responsibilities within specific teams only 

How the Roles Model Works 

CRP is built on three core concepts: roles, permissions, and users. 

Roles 

There are two types of roles: - Account Roles – Apply across the entire Litmos account - Team Roles – Apply only within specific teams 

Permissions 

Permissions control what actions a role can perform, such as viewing, creating, editing, deleting, or assigning: - Users (People) - Content (Courses, Modules, Learning Paths, Assets, etc.) - Teams - Reports and selected features 

Users 

• A user can have one Account Role 
• A user can have multiple Team Roles, one per team 
• A user may have only a Team Role and no Account Role 

Important: Team Role permissions apply only within the team where the role is assigned. 

Recommended Rollout Approach 

To ensure smooth adoption, we recommend rolling out CRP gradually. 

Step 1: Enable CRP 

CRP must be enabled for your instance through your Litmos Support Portal Account.  if you do not have one or need assistance logging in, please email the support portal at portalaccess@litmos.com the following information:  

• Company 
• Litmos Domain (website URL post login) 
• Phone number 

From the support portal, select ‘More’, then select ‘Custom Roles and Permission (CRP) Request’ 

Once you have submitted a ticket, your request is received and vetted internally. The provisioning is done on a Wednesday at 1pm US Eastern Time (for non-US customers) and at 9pm US Eastern Time (for US-based customers). 

Once your request is confirmed and moved to the next stage, an email is sent informing you that the CRP Request has been Confirmed. Your Customer Name and Litmos Domain are indicated, as well as the scheduled Date & Time. If the assigned day and time do not work for your team, please email CRP@litmos.com. 

A final email is sent informing you that the Custom Roles and Permissions feature has been provisioned for your instance.  

Once enabled, you will see Roles & Permissions under Account Settings. 

What Happens to Existing Users? 

When CRP is enabled: - Account Owners, Administrators, and Learners keep their existing roles - Team Admins and Team Leads are migrated to Team Roles - Permissions are mapped automatically 

Note: Once migration is complete, it cannot be rolled back. 

For detailed migration mappings and edge cases, see CRP Migration Details. 

Best Practices & Examples 

Core Design Principles 

• Design for Responsibilities, Not People
  • Create roles based on what someone does, not who they are. 
  • Good examples: - Content Manager - Reporting Viewer - Team Admin 
  • Avoid: - Jane’s Role - Power User - Admin Lite v2 
•   Start With the Minimum Required Permissions
  • Give users only what they need to succeed today. 
    • Add permissions later if required 
    • Avoid Delete permissions unless truly necessary 
    • Test roles with real users before scaling 
  • Best practice: If you’re unsure whether to include a permission, leave it out initially. 
•   Prefer Team Roles Over Account Roles
  • When responsibilities are limited to a team, use a Team Role. 
  • Benefits: - Reduced risk - Easier troubleshooting - Clearer ownership boundaries 
  • Use Account Roles only when access is required across the entire account. 
•   Limit the Number of Roles
  • While CRP supports up to 50 custom roles, most organizations need far fewer. 
  • Recommended: 5–10 total custom roles 
  • Too many roles: - Increase admin overhead - Create confusion during assignment - Make troubleshooting harder 

Common Role Patterns 

Content Manager (Account Role) 

Responsibilities: Create and maintain learning content 

Typical permissions: - Content: View, Create, Edit - Reports: View 

Exclude: - Account Settings - User deletion 

Reporting Viewer (Account Role) 

Responsibilities: Access and review reports only 

Typical permissions: - Quick Reports: View - Reporting Engine: View 

Exclude: - Content management - User management 

 

Team Admin (Team Role) 

Responsibilities: Manage users and content within a specific team 

Typical permissions: - People: View, Assign - Content: View, Assign - Teams: View 

  

Instructor-Led Training Manager (Account Role) 

Responsibilities: Manage ILT sessions and reporting 

Typical permissions: - Content: View, Edit - Reports: View - Feature Access: Instructor-Led Training 

Anti-Patterns to Avoid 

• Recreating every legacy role immediately 
• Giving delete permissions “just in case” 
• Using Account Roles when Team Roles would suffice 
• Creating roles without documentation 

 Testing & Validation Checklist 

Before rolling out a role broadly: - Assign the role to a test user - Validate visible menus and actions - Confirm restricted areas are inaccessible - Ask the user to complete real tasks.

When to Create a New Role 

Create a new role only when: - Responsibilities are clearly different - Permission differences cannot be handled by a Team Role - Multiple users will need the same access 

Otherwise, reuse an existing role. 

Where to Go Next 

• CRP Creating Roles 
• CRP Migration Details 

You can also enroll in the Custom Roles & Permissions Course to see real-world examples and guided walkthroughs.