Why can't I assign a user to a brief?

To assign a user to a brief, you have to make sure that they meet the following:

1. The user is assigned to the project containing the brief that you want to assign to them.
2. The user has the appropriate role.
3. The user's role is assigned to an appropriate workflow status.

One of the most common reasons why you can't assign a user to a brief or a particular workflow status, or why a user can't claim a brief from the Briefs page is that your user has a custom role.

By default, a custom role is not assigned to any workflow status. Make sure that your custom role is assigned to an appropriate workflow status after creating it. Also, keep in mind that every project has its own workflow setting so the changes you made in one project will not affect others.

Assigning a Custom Role to a Workflow Status

All custom roles are not assigned to any workflow status upon creation. You need to manually assign them to one.

To assign a role to a workflow status, select the project (#1) that you want to work on from the project selection dropdown in the sidebar, then under the configuration section, go to Workflow (#2).

From there, select the workflow status you want to assign to your custom role. More info can be found here.

How to Allow Users to Claim Briefs?

Assigning a role to the Draft workflow status (or whatever the first status's name is) allows a user with that role to claim briefs from the briefs page provided that they also have the View briefs permission.

Remember that every project in your account has its own workflow settings so you will have to repeat these changes on a new or different project.

Custom Roles: Permissions and Workflow

Getting the right mix of permissions and workflow status assignments is key to making your custom role function as intended.

Even if a role is linked to the correct workflow status, it won't perform as expected if the necessary permissions aren't granted.

For instance, let’s revisit the earlier example. Suppose your custom role is assigned to the "writing" workflow status. Without the View Briefs permission, users in this role wouldn’t be able to access the briefs page, effectively preventing them from claiming any brief.

That said, you can still assign them to briefs manually, or someone with the appropriate permissions can handle this. This setup works well if you prefer to control brief assignments.

Combining permissions with workflow assignments allows for precise control over team operations. The flexibility to adapt this system to your needs is vast. If you’d like assistance in setting up custom roles, we’re here to help!

Next, why don't you...

Learn more about the workflow page.

Have a detailed look at the explanation of every permission to help you decide which ones should be activated for your custom role.

Check out the overview of user roles and permissions.