Roles let you define responsibilities (e.g., Bookkeeper, Tax Preparer) and attach the right people or teams to client records and tasks. Tasks now have separate Roles and Assignees fields, so you can assign by role and still add one-off assignees when needed.
Plan required — Canopy Pro
Roles are available on Canopy Pro. If you don’t see Settings > Team Organization > Roles or the Roles field on tasks, your firm isn’t on Pro. To use Roles, please upgrade to Canopy Pro (contact your account owner or Support).
Why it matters
Keep client work moving even if someone is out—roles map work to a function, not a single person.
Assign once at the client record and reuse across tasks and templates.
Use roles to staff recurring work without manual reassignments.
Support queued work: a role (e.g., Bookkeeper) to a task so any available role member can pick it up; roster changes won’t require manual reassignment.
Table of Contents
Understand Roles (common use cases)
Match work types: Bookkeeper, Auditor, Tax Preparer (Jr./Sr.), Payroll, Partner, Client Relationship Director.
Team-based delivery: Assign a team (e.g., 1 bookkeeper + 1 tax preparer) to a client on full-suite services.
Resilience for small firms: Roles prevent work from stalling—multiple members can share the same role and pick up tasks when others are out.
Navigate the Roles tab
Click your profile picture/initials (bottom-left).
Select Settings.
Go to Team Organization.
Click the Roles tab.
Review the three columns:
Role — role name.
Date Created — who created it and when.
Applied To — number of client records using this role.
Use the three stacked dots to Edit or Delete a role.
Create a Role
In Settings > Team Organization > Roles, click Create role (top-right).
Enter a Role name.
Click Save.
Assign a Role from a Client Record
Open a Client Record.
Click the blue Manage Assignments button (top-right).
Select the team members you want associated with each role.
Click Save.
Saving here links the selected team members to the client’s roles for use across tasks and templates.
Bulk Assign Roles from the Client List
Go to Client List.
Check the boxes next to one or more clients.
Next to the folder icon (top-right), click the three stacked dots.
Select Manage assignments.
Add the team members you want for the role(s).
Click Save to apply to all selected clients.
Edit or Delete a Role
In Settings > Team Organization > Roles, click the three stacked dots next to a role.
Select Edit or Delete.
Edit - Change the Role name, then click Save.
Delete - A pop up appears with a message: “This role is currently assigned to (X) users and (X) team on (X) client records. All users assigned to this role will maintain access to client records, but they will no longer be associated with this role.” Click Confirm to delete.
How Roles interact with Tasks (Roles vs. Assignees)
When you create or edit a task, you’ll see two separate fields: Roles and Assignees.
This setup supports both direct assignment and queued work.
Direct Assignment (one person per client)
Use when a single person consistently handles a role for a client.
Example: Sally is the Bookkeeper for ABC Company.
When you assign the Bookkeeper role to a task for ABC Company, Sally is automatically added as the Assignee.
A checkbox appears under the Roles field, automatically toggled on. This applies the role member directly to the task as the assignee.
A second checkbox appears under the Assignee field, click the checkbox to apply the assignee to all subtasks.
Tasks for that client always route to her unless reassigned.
Queued (or Pooled) Work (shared team responsibility)
Use when multiple people share the same role across clients.
Example: Matt, Darren, and Mell are all Bookkeepers across several clients.
When adding the Bookkeeper role to a task, uncheck “Set role members as assignees.”
The task appears with the role listed but no direct assignee.
Any team member in that role can pick up the task when available.
Why This Matters
Separating Roles and Assignees allows for:
Automatic routing for client-specific assignments.
Team-based queuing where available members can claim work.
Consistent visibility into both the function (Role) and the individual (Assignee).
Control Auto-Assignment Behavior
When adding a role, you’ll see a checkbox:
Set role members as assignees.
Checked (default): Automatically adds role members as assignees; stays synced with role changes.
Unchecked: Assigns only the role label; does not auto-assign people. Perfect for queued work.
Subtasks and Client Requests
You can apply the same setup to subtasks and client requests.
(Optionally use Assign to all subtasks and client requests to push role-based assignments down.)
Manage Roles and Assignees in the Task List
After tasks are created, track assignments from Work > Task List.
You’ll need two columns:
Assignee(s): Shows the person(s) directly assigned to the task (used in direct assignment).
Role Members: Lists everyone tied to the role for that client (used in queued work).
How to Use It
Go to Work > Task List.
Use the Role Members filter to see all work available to a specific role/team.
Filter or sort the Assignee column to view:
Tasks with assignees → Direct assignments.
Tasks without assignees → Queued tasks ready to claim.
Click into the Assignee field to add yourself or another teammate.
Tip: This dual-column view helps identify open tasks at a glance—so teams can self-assign efficiently without having to remove other team members from the task.
Troubleshooting
I can’t remove a specific assignee that came from a role.
Remove the Role (or uncheck Set role members as assignees when adding the role). Then add individuals manually.Assignees changed after I updated the Role’s members.
That’s expected with Set role members as assignees checked—the task stays in sync with the role.Subtasks didn’t get the people I expected.
Make sure you checked Assign to all subtasks after setting assignees on the parent task.
Summary
Roles connect client work to functions (bookkeeping, tax prep, etc.) so you can assign the right people quickly and keep work moving. With the new Roles vs. Assignees separation on tasks, you get both the scale of role-based staffing and the flexibility to add individuals when needed.
Need Help?
Contact Support or ask Penny, our AI Support Bot, for assistance.