> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.mercora.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Mercora by role

> What operators, finance, workspace admins and developers do in Mercora day to day, which areas and permissions they use, and what to read first.

Everyone in your workspace works on the same trades, documents and numbers. What differs is where each person spends the day and what their role lets them change. Find your job below for the areas you'll use, the permissions they need and a short reading list. To see the whole flow first, [walk through a trade](https://docs.mercora.io/getting-started/walkthrough.md).

## Built-in roles

Every member has one role. Each workspace starts with three, and admins can adjust them or create their own. See [Roles and permissions](https://docs.mercora.io/concepts/roles-and-permissions.md).

| Role | What it can do | Usually for |
| - | - | - |
| **Admin** | Everything, plus members, roles, settings, modules, integrations and API keys. | Workspace admins |
| **Operator** | **Edit** on every area, except **User access**, **Email** and **Files**. | Operators, finance |
| **Viewer** | **View** on every area, and **Use** for the Copilot, except **User access**, **Email** and **Files**. | Anyone who follows the book without changing it |

A role only opens areas whose [module](https://docs.mercora.io/concepts/modules.md) is turned on for the workspace.

## Your role

**Operators**

You get each trade's documents filed against the right trade, checked and approved.

**Day to day**

* Upload documents, or let them come in by email, and work the Inbox's **Needs you** tab from top to bottom.
* Confirm the trade for documents Mercora couldn't match, and check the fields it read against the original.
* Decide on each discrepancy: approve the difference, decline it and request a correction, or add a note.
* Approve contracts to create trades and their legs, and keep shipments and the expected-documents checklist current.

**Areas:** Inbox, Upload, Trades, Contracts, Shipments, Counterparties.

**Permissions:** the **Operator** role covers it. Reviewing and approving documents, including the contracts that create trades and legs, needs **Documents** at **Edit**. Changing a trade or its expected-documents checklist needs **Trades** at **Edit**, and changing a shipment needs **Shipments & logistics** at **Edit**.

![The Inbox: tab strip, document rail, PDF and review panel](https://mintcdn.com/placeholder-f4ffdeec/22McaegbdDRSI41b/images/documents/inbox-overview.png?fit=max\&auto=format\&n=22McaegbdDRSI41b\&q=85\&s=08a78a63d07bbb6434a97deae54c8349)

The Inbox, where operators spend most of the day: the documents waiting on you, the original and the fields Mercora read.

**Read in this order**

1. [Quickstart](https://docs.mercora.io/getting-started/quickstart.md)
2. [Walk through a trade](https://docs.mercora.io/getting-started/walkthrough.md)
3. [The Inbox](https://docs.mercora.io/documents/inbox.md)
4. [Matching documents to trades](https://docs.mercora.io/documents/matching.md)
5. [Discrepancies](https://docs.mercora.io/documents/discrepancies.md)
6. [Trades overview](https://docs.mercora.io/trades/overview.md)
7. [Shipments](https://docs.mercora.io/trades/shipments.md)

**Finance**

You keep invoices, payments and margins in line with what was actually billed and paid.

**Day to day**

* Follow receivables and payables across the book on **Financials**, and spot overdue invoices.
* Record payments and adjustments on a trade's **Financials** tab, and net AR against AP.
* Read realized and open margin on the **P\&L** by commodity, book and delivery month, and export it.
* Check counterparty balances, and run the overdue-payments and cashflow reports.

**Areas:** Financials, P\&L, Reports, Counterparties, and the Financials tab on each trade.

**Permissions:** **Financials** at **Edit** to record payments and adjustments, **Reports** at **View** for the P\&L and reports, and **Counterparties** for balances. Approving invoices in the Inbox also needs **Documents** at **Edit**. There's no built-in finance role: use **Operator**, or ask your admin for a custom role such as "Trade finance".

![The P\&L page with the four tiles, toolbar and grid](https://mintcdn.com/placeholder-f4ffdeec/22McaegbdDRSI41b/images/finance/pnl.png?fit=max\&auto=format\&n=22McaegbdDRSI41b\&q=85\&s=e788a4ba1146eaac28c5be844bd45782)

The P\&L for FY 2026: +\$999 on the sugar trade VCS-S-2026-0714, realized on its invoices.

**Read in this order**

1. [Walk through a trade](https://docs.mercora.io/getting-started/walkthrough.md)
2. [Financials](https://docs.mercora.io/finance/financials.md)
3. [Trade financials](https://docs.mercora.io/trades/financials.md)
4. [P\&L](https://docs.mercora.io/finance/pnl.md)
5. [Reports](https://docs.mercora.io/finance/reports.md)
6. [Counterparties](https://docs.mercora.io/records/counterparties.md)

**Workspace admins**

You decide which parts of Mercora the team uses, and who can see and change what.

**Day to day**

* Invite teammates, give each one a role, and remove people who leave.
* Turn modules on or off, and set the company profile, reporting currency and reporting year.
* Create roles that fit your team, and decide deliberately who gets **User access**, **Email** and **Files**.
* Connect integrations such as an email inbox, Microsoft 365, WhatsApp or Google Sheets, and create API keys for your developers.

**Areas:** Settings: **Members**, **Roles**, **Workspace**, **Integrations** and **API**.

**Permissions:** the **Admin** role, or any role with **Workspace admin** on. To let someone change members' roles without making them an admin, give their role **User access**.

![Settings → Members with the members table and Invite member](https://mintcdn.com/placeholder-f4ffdeec/22McaegbdDRSI41b/images/admin/members.png?fit=max\&auto=format\&n=22McaegbdDRSI41b\&q=85\&s=a57f09ebffac49a613602cae8864cc9e)

Settings → Members: invite teammates and set each one's role.

**Read in this order**

1. [Members](https://docs.mercora.io/admin/members.md)
2. [Roles and permissions](https://docs.mercora.io/concepts/roles-and-permissions.md)
3. [Modules](https://docs.mercora.io/concepts/modules.md)
4. [Workspace settings](https://docs.mercora.io/admin/workspace-settings.md)
5. [Integrations](https://docs.mercora.io/integrations/overview.md)
6. [API keys](https://docs.mercora.io/admin/api-keys.md)

**Developers**

You connect your firm's own systems, such as an ERP or an internal script, to Mercora.

**Day to day**

* Read hedge books and positions, send hedge requests and check where they stand, through the API.
* Start runs of automations that are set to run from the API, and hand a waiting run what it's waiting for.
* Follow what reaches your CTRM when your workspace pushes reviewed work to it.

Whatever a call creates lands in the Inbox for a person to decide on: the API never bypasses review.

**Areas:** the [Mercora API](https://docs.mercora.io/api-reference/introduction.md), Automations, and Settings → **API** for the connection details.

**Permissions:** API calls use a workspace API key, not a member's role. Only admins create keys, one per calling system, each scoped to **Hedge requests**, **Automations** or both. Building automations in the app needs **Automations — management**.

![The API keys section of Settings → API](https://mintcdn.com/placeholder-f4ffdeec/22McaegbdDRSI41b/images/admin/api-keys.png?fit=max\&auto=format\&n=22McaegbdDRSI41b\&q=85\&s=45bc12a2e8e1b3d38f57b53dff4d6182)

Settings → API: one key per calling system, scoped to Hedge requests and Automations.

**Read in this order**

1. [API introduction](https://docs.mercora.io/api-reference/introduction.md)
2. [API keys](https://docs.mercora.io/admin/api-keys.md)
3. [Automations](https://docs.mercora.io/workflows/automations.md)
4. [Hedging](https://docs.mercora.io/workflows/hedging.md)
5. [External systems](https://docs.mercora.io/integrations/external-systems.md)

## Next steps

> **[Walk through a trade](https://docs.mercora.io/getting-started/walkthrough.md)**
>
> Follow one trade from its first documents to its P\&L.

> **[Roles and permissions](https://docs.mercora.io/concepts/roles-and-permissions.md)**
>
> What each permission covers, and how to build a custom role.

> **[Quickstart](https://docs.mercora.io/getting-started/quickstart.md)**
>
> Accept your invite, sign in and upload your first document.


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