Setting Up a Read-Only Reporting User

Last updated: October 19, 2026

This article explains how to create a read-only reporting role in Xenia for stakeholders who need access to operational data. You will learn how to configure permissions and assign users to provide secure, view-only access.

Identify Stakeholder needs

A Read-Only Reporting User is anyone who needs visibility into Xenia's data but has no operational responsibilities within the platform. Common examples:

  • Executives / C-suite: CEO, COO, CFO who want to see operational health without managing day-to-day work
  • Investors or Franchisors: Stakeholders who need visibility into compliance, completion rates, or quality scores
  • Data/Analytics users: Someone whose job is to pull reports and build insights but who isn't part of daily operations
  • Finance or Legal observers: People who need access to specific submission records for compliance or audit purposes
  • Regional VP: Someone who reviews data across all locations but doesn't personally complete tasks

The defining characteristic: they look at data, they don't create it. They should see dashboards and reports scoped to their locations, but they should never see task assignment flows, template builders, or operational controls.

Start Role Creation

Go to Settings → Roles → Create Role

Start Role Creation

Set Role Title and Description

Role Details:

  • Name: "Reporting Viewer," "Executive Viewer," "Analytics User," or your org's preferred title
  • Reports To: Leave blank or set to Admin/Owner — this role doesn't participate in operational escalation chains

Set Role Title And Description

Turn OFF Task and Template Access

Permissions — turn OFF everything operational:

Permission Setting Why
Access Tasks ❌ OFF Hides the Tasks tab entirely — they have no task work to do
Access Work Orders ❌ OFF No work order involvement
Access Operations Templates ❌ OFF Hides the Templates tab — they don't submit checklists
Manage Templates ❌ OFF No template editing
Add/Remove Users ❌ OFF Admin only
Manage Teams ❌ OFF Admin only
Manage Custom Roles ❌ OFF Admin only
Add/Edit/Delete Locations ❌ OFF Admin only
Assign to Any User ❌ OFF Not applicable
Configure Workspace ❌ OFF Admin only
Manage Billing ❌ OFF Admin only

Turn Off Task And Template Access

Enable Reporting Permissions

Permissions — turn ON only reporting:

Permission Setting Why
View Dashboard Templates (Preset Dashboards) ✅ ON Access to Xenia's built-in reporting dashboards
Manage Custom Dashboards ✅ ON (view only) Access to custom dashboards built for their role
Access Locations (view) ✅ ON (optional) If they need to see location details in reports
Access Announcements ✅ ON (optional) If announcements are company-wide

Enable Reporting Permissions

Assign Users

Next, assign any users who belong to this role.

Assign Executive Users

Assign Homepage Layout

Homepage Layout: Select a Custom Dashboard built specifically for this role — a leadership or executive dashboard showing the KPIs they care about (completion rates, flagged items, audit scores, benchmark comparisons across locations). This becomes the first thing they see when they log in.

If you don't have a custom dashboard yet, set it to the Preset Custom Dashboard view and build theirs over time.

Assign Homepage Layout

Create Role

Click on Create Role.

Create The Role

Invite Users after Role Creation

 Invite the User and Set Location Membership

  • Assign the Reporting Viewer role
  • Location Membership: Assign all locations this person needs visibility into
    • For an executive who oversees everything: all locations
    • For a regional executive: all locations in their region
    • For a franchisee: only their franchise locations

Their dashboard will automatically scope to their location membership. One executive will see all data; a regional viewer will see only their region's data — no configuration difference needed between them. Just adjust location membership.

Invite Users After Role Creation

Select Role And Location

Enable All Submission View

For any template whose submission data this person should be able to see:

Operations → Templates → [Template Name] → Settings → Access → Submission Access

Add the Reporting Viewer role and set it to:

  • Tier 3 (View all) if they need cross-org visibility
  • Tier 2 (Own + at their locations) if their visibility should be scoped to their location membership

They won't be able to submit the template (their role isn't in Can Submit), but they can view all completed submissions.

Enable All Submissions View

Set Template Submission Access

Confirm Read-Only User Setup

What the Read-Only Reporting User Sees

When logged in:

  • ✅ Their custom dashboard as the home screen — KPIs, completion rates, charts
  • ✅ Reporting section — preset dashboards and any custom dashboards assigned to them
  • ✅ Submission data from templates where they have Submission Access configured
  • ❌ No Tasks tab
  • ❌ No Templates tab (no checklist builder or submission form)
  • ❌ No Settings, Users, or admin controls
  • ❌ No ability to create, edit, or change anything

It's a clean, read-only view of operational health scoped to exactly the locations they oversee.

Confirm Read-Only User Setup

Use Cases for Reporting Role

The most common error when setting up reporting users is accidentally leaving operational permissions on — giving them Access Tasks or Access Templates out of habit. This adds confusing empty tabs (the user has no tasks to see, so Tasks just shows nothing) and can allow accidental submissions.

Keep it clean: reporting users get reporting permissions only. Turn off every operational permission.

This article explains how to set up a read-only reporting role in Xenia, enabling stakeholders to view operational data without operational permissions. For more information, see related articles on role management and dashboard configuration.







Need Help?

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