Systems administrator. Owns the configuration spine — stage gates, Scorecards, KPIs catalog, gate review board membership, and the integrations health. Not the day-to-day cycle operator.
Can
Configure master records and manage integrations within the workspace
Business decisions and immutable history remain guarded by their named roles
Manage RBAC and role assignments
Configure stage gates, gate criteria, Scorecards, scorecard dimensions, the gate review board membership (user on gate review board toggle), the strategic goals catalog, and the Portfolio target-mix percentages
Configure inbound feeds (Project Management, Idea Intake form, Finance, optional OKR sync) and outbound feeds (email, calendar, document store, BI warehouse)
Co-sign next-cycle stage gate / Scorecard revisions with Portfolio Manager
mid-cycle edits are blocked
corrections require a separately authorized linked replacement review
Can't
Overwrite a Closed gate review
Portfolio Manager
The PMO Lead — owns the function. Curates Portfolios, organizes Programs, owns the Backlog ranking, runs the quarterly portfolio reviews, facilitates gate reviews, and owns the rebalance decisions.
Can
CRUD on Portfolios they own, Programs, Initiatives, Proposals, Backlog (rank order), strategic goals (org-wide read; create / edit gated to Admin co-sign), gate reviews (as Facilitator), roadmap snapshots (trigger manual snapshots), and portfolio reviews
Trigger stage-gate-promotion (manually flip Status: Ready for gate; open the related gate reviews at in review), roadmap-recompute (manual snapshot), and quarterly-portfolio-review (manual packet regen)
Reviews and approves
Approve or reject funding allocations jointly with Finance
Can't
Modify stage gates or Scorecards mid-cycle (Admin gate)
Bypass Finance on a funding allocations approval
Starts on: Funding Requests Awaiting Decision
Program Manager
Owns one Program (and any nested sub-Programs) — the Initiatives within it, the cross-Initiative Dependencies, the rolled-up Program KPIs.
Can
CRUD on Programs where Owner = self
CRUD on Initiatives where initiative program IN (own Programs) including initiative projects and goal alignments line items
Read on own Program’s KPIs, KPI measurements, Risks, Dependencies, budget allocations (own Initiatives only — Amount masked beyond own Initiatives), funding allocations (own scope only)
Read on own Program’s gate reviews and gate scorecards (post-Closed only — pre-decision Reviewer scores masked)
Can't
Modify Initiatives outside own Program
Facilitate a gate review (Portfolio Manager only)
Finalize portfolio reviews
Starts on: Gate Pipeline
Initiative Owner
Owns one Initiative end-to-end — authors the Proposal, prepares gate packets, owns the KPIs catalog for the Initiative, requests funding, raises Risks and Dependencies, and reports KPIs (or delegates to the named project manager).
Can
CRUD on own Proposals (where Submitter = self) while Status is Backlog
read-only once it enters under review
CRUD on own Initiatives (where Owner = self) including initiative projects and goal alignments line items
CRUD on KPIs for own Initiatives
Read own KPI measurements (CRUD on own-reported rows)
CRUD on Risks for own Initiatives (self as Owner or named Owner)
CRUD on Dependencies for own Initiatives (raise, mark resolved)
CRUD on funding allocations where Requester = self until Status: Submitted, then read-only
Read own budget allocation amount
Read own gate reviews (own Initiatives) — but gate scorecard score remains masked until gate review status: Closed
Read on strategic goals, Scorecards, stage gates org-wide
Can't
View other Initiatives’ estimated cost / estimated benefit
Edit Backlog rank
Facilitate a gate review
Starts on: Open Risks Heatmap
Gate Reviewer
A reviewer-only role layered on the user — when assigned to a gate scorecards row (via the stage-gate-promotion workflow), gains read access to the gate packet and write access to own gate scorecards rows.
Can
Read own gate scorecards rows (where Reviewer = self)
CRUD on own gate scorecards rows until Status: Submitted, then read-only
Read on the parent gate reviews header, the linked Initiatives (Name, Description, estimated cost, estimated benefit, alignment score, health score, attached deliverables), the linked Initiative’s Risks and Dependencies (read-only), and the gate scorecard’s Scorecard and scorecard dimensions
No access to Backlog, portfolio reviews, funding allocations, budget allocations
Can't
See other Reviewers’ gate scorecard score until the parent gate review status: Closed
Starts on: Gate Reviews I Need To Score
Project Manager
Read-only on Portfolio context for own Projects (so a delivering PM can see how their Project fits the Initiative narrative) and write on KPI measurements they are named owner of.
Can
Read on Initiatives where Initiative IN (Initiatives joined via initiative projects WHERE project ref IN own Projects) — but estimated cost and estimated benefit are masked
Read on KPIs for those Initiatives
CRUD on KPI measurements where KPI.Owner = self (typically when the PM is named the KPI Owner for delivery-stage KPIs)
Read on Risks and Dependencies for those Initiatives (no edit)
Read on parent Programs and Portfolios (Name, Charter, Owner only)
No access to Proposals, Backlog, gate reviews, gate scorecards, Budgets, budget allocations, funding allocations, portfolio reviews
Starts on: Roadmap (Latest Snapshot)
Executive
Read-only dashboard view — the CEO / COO / business unit GM who consumes the portfolio output without operating the system.
per-Initiative budget allocation amount masked unless executive sponsor on the Portfolio
No write anywhere
Lands on the Portfolio Health home dashboard
Can't
Trigger workflows
Starts on: KPIs At Risk
Finance
Read-only on Portfolio context with write on Budgets and co-approver on funding allocations. The reconciliation seat between Portfolio plan and the GL.
Can
Manage Budgets (set total amount, approve, lock, close) and read budget allocations
allocation corrections use the same jointly approved, idempotent reconciliation service and cannot overwrite approved amounts directly
Read org-wide on Portfolios, Programs, Initiatives (including estimated cost, estimated benefit), and portfolio reviews
Read on KPIs and KPI measurements with financial flavor (Currency / Numeric measure type)
No access to Proposals, proposal scores, gate reviews, gate scorecards, Risks (narrative), or Dependencies (narrative)
Owns the inbound actuals feed back onto budget spent amount
Reviews and approves
Approve / reject funding allocations jointly with Portfolio Manager
Starts on: Funding Requests Awaiting Decision
Set up Portfolio Management your way.
Start free, then use Proto to change fields, steps and approvals before your team goes live.
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