Getting started
What each MotoDesk role can do
Understand the responsibilities of MotoDesk owners, managers, advisors, mechanics, HR users and separate platform support roles.
Roles are designed around workshop responsibility. Use the least powerful role that still lets a person complete their normal work. Module availability, record state and assignment can further narrow what is available, so two users with the same role may see different options if their workspace or job context differs.
Garage roles and MotoDesk platform-support roles are separate. A consultant or platform administrator is not a substitute garage employee, and a garage owner does not receive platform administration screens.
Garage role summary
| Role | Typical responsibility | Key boundaries |
|---|---|---|
| Owner | Workspace activation, commercial control and full garage oversight | Owner-only billing and selected account/PIN actions |
| Manager | Day-to-day operational control, scheduling, staff, stock and finance | Cannot replace the owner for activation or owner-only billing |
| Advisor | Customer-facing office work, jobs, bookings and approved operational decisions | No stock-master, billing or broad configuration ownership |
| Mechanic | Assigned jobs, work time, checks, physical part verification and requests | Assigned-job boundary and restricted job-status transitions |
| HR | Employee, leave and payslip administration plus personal HR | Workshop, customer, stock and finance navigation is intentionally limited |
Owner and manager differences
Both roles can run the workshop, manage core records and perform many privileged stock and finance actions. The owner remains responsible for licence activation and garage billing. Selected protected management actions, such as setting the Boss Panel PIN, are also owner-led.
A manager can schedule and assign work, maintain parts and complete operational administration without being given ownership of the commercial account. If a manager cannot see an expected module, check the licence before changing the role.
Advisor and mechanic handoff
An advisor can prepare and manage customer-facing workshop records and is treated as an office reviewer for additional-part and return requests. A mechanic does not issue extra stock by scanning an unapproved part; the mechanic verifies an already issued assignment or asks the office for a decision.
Mechanics only open assigned jobs. Their status choices are intentionally narrower than office choices, and an active timer can prevent moving the job away from in-progress work until the session is paused or finished.
HR and employee self-service
HR, owners and managers can administer employees, leave policy, leave decisions and payslips. Personal HR pages are separate: every garage user can view their own supported records and submit their own leave request without receiving access to another employee's information.
The staff directory may be visible more widely than HR administration because workshop roles need to identify colleagues and assignments. That visibility should not be interpreted as authority to edit HR records.
Platform and support roles
Superadmin, agent, supervisor and supervisor-staff accounts operate platform administration with different scopes. Consultants are confined to the consultant queue and accepted support conversations. These roles should be assigned only to authorised MotoDesk operational staff.
Public documentation intentionally describes their purpose at a high level. Detailed platform administration and security procedures belong in controlled internal documentation.
Troubleshooting access
- Confirm the user is signed into the intended garage and account.
- Confirm the owner has activated the workspace.
- Check that the required module is included and active.
- Check the user's role and, for mechanics, the exact job assignment.
- Check the record state; some actions exist only while a job, request or invoice is in the relevant state.
- If the result still differs from this guide, use the Help Centre with the page and action that failed.