---
title: "Project Roles"
description: "Who sees which projects, who sees the money and who signs off: the five project roles from Sponsor to Team Member, and what each one can do."
url: "https://bareledger.app/guides/project-roles"
category: "CRM & projects"
updated: "2026-11-06"
publisher: "BareLedger (Syneria Technologies OPC)"
---

# Project Roles

> Sponsor, PMO Manager, Project Manager, Coordinator and Team Member: who sees which projects, who sees the money, who signs off.

**Who this is for**: owners and administrators setting up the **People** page for project work.

Projects use the same idea as the rest of BareLedger: the person who proposes a decision is never the one who approves it. On top of that, a delivery team often should not see the money, and a crew member should only see the jobs they work on. Five ready-made roles cover the usual set-up. They follow the common project-management split used by PMI and PRINCE2 — someone owns the business case, someone checks, someone runs the job, someone keeps things tidy, and the team does the work.

| Role | Sees | Works the board | Money | Decisions |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| **Project Sponsor** | Every project | No | Yes | Gives final approval to openings, budget changes and closures |
| **PMO Manager** | Every project | Yes | Yes | Reviews openings, budget changes and closures (cannot give the final approval) |
| **Project Manager** | Projects they are on | Yes, and manages the board layout and team | Yes | Proposes openings, budget changes and closures |
| **Project Coordinator** | Every project | Yes, and manages board layouts, teams and templates | No | None |
| **Project Team Member** | Projects they are on | Yes | No | None |

The other roles keep working as before: the **Accountant** has full project access, **Staff** prepare project requests, **Reviewers** and **Approvers** check them, and **Viewers** read every project and its money but change nothing.

## The project team

Each project has a **Team** tab. Adding someone there is what lets a Project Manager or Team Member see the project. Their *project role* on that team is separate from their organization role:

- **Project manager** — runs the project day to day.
- **Team member** — works the cards.
- **Stakeholder** — follows the project but cannot change the board, whatever their organization role allows.

Whoever creates a project is added as its project manager.

## Fine-tuning

Under **People → Customize access**, *Projects* and *CRM* each offer the standard levels — Viewer, Preparer, Reviewer, Approver and Full access — and Projects adds **Team member** (see and work the board of your projects, nothing else). In **Advanced (per permission)** you can grant the individual keys: *see every project*, *see project money*, *work board cards*, *manage projects and boards*, *submit*, *review*, *approve* and *reject*.

## Common mix-ups

- **"The Sponsor cannot move cards."** Correct — the Sponsor decides; the team does the work. Add the board key in Advanced access if your Sponsor also works the board.
- **"A Project Manager approved nothing in the queue."** Managers propose; a PMO Manager reviews and the Sponsor (or an Approver or Accountant) approves.
- **"A Team Member sees an empty Projects page."** Nobody has added them to a project's team yet.