Understanding roles

Every user in a Northwise tenant has exactly one system role. Roles are tenant-scoped — the same person can be an Architect in one tenant and a Reader in another.

The four roles

Super-admin

The super-admin role is for Northwise platform administrators. It is not a regular user role — tenant members never hold it. You will not encounter this role in your tenant.

Architect

Architects author canonical content. If it can be seen by the whole organisation and is meant to represent the authoritative view, Architects create it.

Architects can:

• Create, edit, and delete Landscape elements and relationships
• Publish viewpoints
• Import and export AMEFF files
• Create, edit, and publish Principles
• Create and update Deliverables
• Author Architecture Decisions and Requirements
• Create Technology Catalogue entries
• Configure the Decision Matrix and assessment sections
• Manage the tenant (invite members, manage billing, configure settings)
• Run and configure Plumbline assessments
• Submit, claim, and decide reviews
• Raise and resolve Findings
• Create and manage Initiatives

Use Architect for: Lead architects, solution architects, domain architects, enterprise architects — anyone who is responsible for producing and maintaining architecture artefacts.

Contributor

Contributors participate without authoring canonical content. They can engage in the governance process without being able to change the model or the standards.

Contributors can:

• Browse everything a Reader can see
• Raise Findings
• Comment in review threads
• Respond to Plumbline assessment questions assigned to them
• Participate in review cycles (as a reviewer, when assigned)

Contributors cannot:

• Create or edit Landscape elements
• Create or edit Principles, Deliverables, Decisions, Requirements
• Configure tenant settings

Available on Team and above

Use Contributor for: Delivery leads, senior developers, BAs, security officers, product managers — people who need to engage with architecture governance without owning the model. Also suitable for auditors who need to submit evidence.

Reader

Readers have read-only access to everything in the tenant. They can browse every module, download deliverables, and view assessment results — but cannot create, edit, or comment.

Reader access is free on every plan. You can invite unlimited readers without affecting your billing.

Use Reader for: Business stakeholders, delivery team members, executives, external auditors, consultants. The whole organisation can see what architecture decides — this is intentional.

Role comparison

| Action | Reader | Contributor | Architect | | ----------------------------- | ------ | ----------- | --------- | | Browse Landscape elements | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | | Browse Principles / Standards | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | | View assessment results | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | | Download Deliverables | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | | Raise Findings | — | ✓ | ✓ | | Comment in reviews | — | ✓ | ✓ | | Create / edit elements | — | — | ✓ | | Author Principles | — | — | ✓ | | Configure tenant settings | — | — | ✓ | | Manage billing | — | — | ✓ |

Choosing between Contributor and Architect

The most common decision point is whether someone should be a Contributor or an Architect. A simple heuristic:

• They produce output that the rest of the organisation acts on? → Architect
• They engage with governance but don't own the model? → Contributor
• They just need to see the output? → Reader

If in doubt, start with the more restricted role. You can always promote later — it takes effect immediately.

Changing roles

Only Architects (with tenant-admin rights) can change roles. To change a user's role:

1. Go to Settings → Team
2. Find the user
3. Click their current role to open the role selector
4. Choose the new role and confirm

Role changes take effect immediately. If you're downgrading from Architect to Contributor or Reader, any content they've already authored remains attributed to them — they just lose the ability to edit going forward.

Seat limits

Contributor seats are only available on Team and above. On the Free plan, only Reader and Architect seats exist (and only one Architect seat — you). See Understanding your plan for plan details.