Tutorial 7 — Bring in your staff
Time: about 10 minutes. You will add a staff member, give them exactly the access they need, and understand what they will and will not be able to do.
The goal is simple: your shop assistant should be able to record a sale without being able to see your profit margins, your customers' balances, or your bank details.
What a staff member can and cannot do
This is set by three things, and only the first one is yours to change.
| Controlled by | Who decides | |
|---|---|---|
| Which screens they can open | The business — fixed | Not changeable by you |
| What they can do in a screen | The rule you attach | You |
| What they can see at all | The plan | Not changeable by you |
The fixed part: five screens, and only five
No matter what rule you create, staff can only work in:
| Screen | What it is for |
|---|---|
| Sales & Transactions | Recording sales, purchases and expenses |
| Contacts | Adding and editing customers and suppliers |
| Inventory | Viewing products, and adjusting stock |
| Debts | Viewing who owes what, and recording payments |
| Staff | Viewing the staff list — read-only |
Everything else is yours alone: Reports, Invoices, Supplier Invoices, and all of the business-type screens.
This surprises people who pick the Accountant template — see the table below. It is not a mistake in your setup, and there is nothing to fix. Those screens are reserved for the owner, whoever holds the rule.
The part you control: what they can do
Within those five screens, you decide the actions:
| Screen | Actions you can grant |
|---|---|
| Sales & Transactions | View · Record · Edit · Delete |
| Contacts | View · Create · Edit · Delete |
| Inventory | View products · View cost prices · Create · Edit · Delete · Adjust stock |
| Debts | View · Record payment |
| Staff | View staff list |
Two to notice:
- Record is what lets them record a sale. Without it they can only look.
- View cost prices is off by default. Turn it on only for someone who needs to know what you paid — a stock manager, maybe. Everyone else never sees your margins, even in a transaction breakdown.
Part 1 — Add the staff member
Go to Staff → Add staff member.
| Field | Required? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Name | Yes | |
| Phone number | Yes | This is their username |
| 4-digit PIN | Yes | Their password |
| Rule | No | What they can do — see Part 2 |
Two things about the phone number
- It is their login. They sign in with the phone number and the PIN. Not an email.
- It is unique across the whole platform. The same number cannot be a staff login at two different businesses, and it cannot be your own account's number.
If someone leaves, deactivate them rather than deleting them. Deactivation switches off their login and keeps their transaction history, so the record of who recorded what survives.
Part 2 — Give them a rule
A rule is a named set of permissions. You attach one to each staff member.
The templates
There are six ready-made rules. Tap Staff rules → From template to create one.
| Template | Who it is for |
|---|---|
| Basic | A new employee who has not been assessed yet |
| Cashier | Someone who only sells and takes payments |
| Sales Rep | Someone who also handles enquiries and customers |
| Inventory Manager | Someone who manages stock |
| Accountant | Someone doing invoices, supplier bills and reports |
| Manager | Someone running operations |
⚠️ What the templates actually give you
This is worth reading carefully, because two of the templates grant more than they can deliver:
| Template | Actually grants | Not effective |
|---|---|---|
| Basic | Contacts (all) · Transactions (view, record) · Inventory (view) · Debts (view, record payment) · Staff (view) | — |
| Cashier | Transactions (view, record) · Contacts (view, create) · Debts (view, record payment) · Inventory (view) | — |
| Sales Rep | Cashier's access, plus Transactions (edit) and Contacts (edit) | Leads — owner-only in practice |
| Inventory Manager | Inventory (all, including cost prices) · Transactions (view) | Reports — owner-only in practice |
| Accountant | Debts (view, record payment) · Transactions (view) | Invoices, Supplier Invoices, Reports — all owner-only |
| Manager | Transactions, Contacts, Inventory, Debts, Staff | Ten other modules, including all the owner-only ones |
The "not effective" column is not a fault in the template. It is the five-screen limit above. A rule can name a module, but staff cannot reach owner-only screens whatever the rule says.
So the Accountant template gives a debts-and-transactions clerk, not an accountant. If you need someone to do invoices, that has to stay with you or another owner. It is worth knowing before you hand someone the role and they find they cannot open it.
The good news: you can build your own rule from scratch, and it will only contain what staff can actually reach. Start from a template and adjust, and what you see is what they get.
Building a rule from scratch
Staff rules → New rule.
- Name it something they will recognise — "Cashier - Ada", not "Rule 3".
- Add a description so you remember what it is for.
- Tick the actions screen by screen.
A rule is shared
Everyone on the same rule has exactly the same access. Give three people the "Cashier" rule and you cannot let one of them also edit contacts — it would change the other two as well.
If people need different access, give them different rules. That is the whole reason to create more than one.
Cost prices
View cost prices is a single tick, and it is the most important one to think about. Ticked, they see what you paid for every product. Unticked, it is stripped from everything they see — the product list, the product page, and every transaction line.
You cannot delete a rule that someone is using
Detach the staff members first, or deactivate them.
Part 3 — What happens when you change a rule
Almost immediately. The change is written straight through, so you do not have to reassign anyone.
If a staff member is mid-sale, it takes a second or two to take effect. Close enough that you do not have to think about it.
Part 4 — A staff member with no rule
If you add a staff member and leave the rule empty, they can do nothing at all. They will see a message asking them to ask you for a rule.
That is deliberate. NairaFlow does not quietly assume what a new employee should be allowed to do — you decide.
Part 5 — What staff cannot do, ever
Worth being explicit, because these come up:
- See reports. No dashboard, no cash book, no period summary, no exports.
- See or create invoices. No customer statements, no bank details.
- See or create supplier invoices.
- See cost prices, unless you tick it.
- Manage other staff. They can see the staff list; they cannot add, change or remove anyone.
- Change your business settings. Not the profile, not the plan, not the type.
- Access another business. A staff login belongs to one business only.
What you have now
Your business runs without you needing to be at the counter.
Next: the end-of-month routine that turns all of this into decisions.
If something did not go as expected
| What happened | What to do |
|---|---|
| "Phone number already registered" | That number is already a staff login somewhere, or it is your own account. Use a different number |
| A staff member cannot record a sale | Their rule does not include Record on Sales & Transactions |
| A staff member cannot see a customer they should | Check they have Contacts → View |
| A staff member cannot see costs | That is deliberate. Tick Inventory → View cost prices if you want them to |
| A staff member cannot see Reports | Owner-only. It is not a rule problem |
| A staff member with a rule still cannot do anything | They may not have been assigned one. Check that the rule is attached to them |
| I cannot delete a rule | Staff are still attached to it |
| I changed a rule and it did not take effect straight away | It takes a second or two. Sign them out and back in if it is still not right |
| A staff member left | Deactivate them. Do not delete — it keeps their transaction history |
| I need a staff member to do invoices | Not possible today. Invoices are reserved for owners |