Roles & Capabilities
Control who can access each part of the system by assigning roles and enabling or disabling individual capabilities per user.
The Two Roles
MBS Attendance adds two WordPress user roles:
| Role | Intended For | Default Capabilities |
|---|---|---|
| MBS Admin | Payroll officers and HR managers who need full access — generating payslips, editing pay rates, managing settings. | All capabilities granted automatically. |
| MBS Supervisor | Team leaders and floor supervisors who need to manage their team's attendance without access to payroll figures. | A limited subset. Additional capabilities can be granted individually. |
WordPress site administrators (the built-in Administrator role) automatically receive all MBS capabilities. They do not need to be assigned an MBS role separately.
Capabilities Reference
Each capability controls access to one specific action or area of the plugin. Capabilities can be granted to individual users regardless of their role — so you can give a supervisor access to one extra feature without making them a full admin.
| Capability | What It Allows | Default: Admin | Default: Supervisor |
|---|---|---|---|
| View dashboard | Access the MBS Attendance admin area and see the overview dashboard. | ✔ | ✔ |
| View clockings | View the clocking records list and individual records. | ✔ | ✔ |
| Add clock-in records | Manually add a clocking event for an employee. | ✔ | ✔ |
| Edit clock-in records | Change the time or type of an existing clocking record. | ✔ | ✗ |
| Delete clock-in records | Permanently remove a clocking record. | ✔ | ✗ |
| Bulk clock in/out entire department | Use the Bulk Clock feature to clock an entire department at once. | ✔ | ✗ |
| View employees | View the employee list and individual employee records. | ✔ | ✔ |
| Manage employees | Add, edit, and deactivate employees. Includes changing pay rates and pay types. | ✔ | ✗ |
| View payslips | View generated payslips and their line items. | ✔ | ✗ |
| Generate payslips | Run payslip generation for any pay type. | ✔ | ✗ |
| Download payslip PDFs | Export one or more payslips as a PDF document. | ✔ | ✗ |
| Manage leave requests | Submit, approve, decline, and cancel leave requests for any employee. | ✔ | ✗ |
| View leave | View leave requests and balances without being able to change them. | ✔ | ✔ |
| Manage absent days | Add and edit absence records on the Absent Days page. | ✔ | ✗ |
| Manage piece work log | Add, edit, and delete entries in the Piece Work Log. | ✔ | ✗ |
| Manage staff credit | Create and manage loans and store credit accounts in Staff Credit. | ✔ | ✗ |
| Manage settings | Access the Settings page and change global defaults, tax toggles, and company branding. | ✔ | ✗ |
Assigning a Role
- Go to WordPress Admin → Users.
- Find the user and click Edit.
- In the Role dropdown, select MBS Admin or MBS Supervisor.
- Click Update User.
The role assignment takes effect immediately on the user's next page load.
Granting Individual Capabilities
To give a supervisor access to a specific extra feature (without making them a full admin), edit their user profile in WordPress and tick the individual capability checkbox. This supplements their role's defaults — it does not remove any capability they already have through their role.
MBS Attendance manages its own capability list. Third-party role management plugins (like Members or User Role Editor) can display and modify MBS capabilities, which is fine for advanced setups. However, if such a plugin is configured to strip unrecognised capabilities on role save, it may remove MBS caps from users. Check your role management plugin's settings if users unexpectedly lose access after a user update.
Restricting a User to Their Department Only
Currently, capability access is system-wide — a supervisor with "View clockings" can see all employees' clockings, not just their own department. If you need departmental scoping, use the employee filter on the Clockings and Leave pages to limit what a supervisor sees in practice, and rely on trust and clear procedures rather than hard system restrictions.