---
title: "Roles Overview"
slug: "roles-overview"
description: "What SysTrack roles are, how they relate to configurations, and how to create or import a role."
status: "update"
updated: 2026-10-26T10:40:25Z
published: 2026-10-26T10:40:25Z
canonical: "documentation.lakesidesoftware.com/roles-overview"
---

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

# Roles Overview

A role is a set of settings, such as alarms, views, tool schedules, surveys, and performance counters, that you configure once and reuse on many systems. A configuration is an ordered list of roles (see [Create a New Configuration](/documentation/docs/system-configuration-create-a-new-configuration)). To apply roles to systems, add them to a configuration, and then assign the configuration to systems in **Assignments**.

> [!NOTE]
> **NOTE:** In SysTrack On-Premises, the **Roles** page also has a **Policies** tab. See [Roles Page Tabs](/documentation/docs/onpremises-configure-differences-from-cloud#roles-page-tabs) in Differences in Configure for On-Premises.

Because a configuration can hold several roles, systems with different configurations can share a role. For example, a laptop configuration and an Exchange server configuration may be very different, but both can include the same enterprise security role for identical security tracking.

[Configurations and Roles](https://player.vimeo.com/video/917129506?h=d51e4d0779&badge=0&autopause=0&player_id=0&app_id=58479)

## Create a Role

1. Go to **Configure** > **System Configuration** > **Roles**.
2. Click the lock icon in the upper-right corner to unlock Configure for editing.
3. (Optional) Click **Show Factory Roles** to add SysTrack factory roles to the drop down list on the left. Although factory roles cannot be edited or deleted, using a duplicate can provide a good starting point when creating a new role.

![Roles page](https://cdn.document360.io/87d11426-6b1f-4b19-b593-b71e55a81af3/Images/Documentation/configure-roles.png?sv=2026-02-06&spr=https&st=2026-11-08T16%3A44%3A37Z&se=2026-11-08T17%3A44%3A37Z&sr=c&sp=r&sig=XJLHxbGyC%2BTi2%2FS%2FqqVIndC6VSKwD%2F2XUHisul%2BsNws%3D)
4. To configure a new role, click the **+** (plus) icon to display the **Create New Role** dialog. Alternately, you can click the ![](https://cdn.document360.io/87d11426-6b1f-4b19-b593-b71e55a81af3/Images/Documentation/duplicate_icon.png?sv=2026-02-06&spr=https&st=2026-11-08T16%3A44%3A37Z&se=2026-11-08T17%3A44%3A37Z&sr=c&sp=r&sig=XJLHxbGyC%2BTi2%2FS%2FqqVIndC6VSKwD%2F2XUHisul%2BsNws%3D) (duplicate) icon and rename and amend an existing role to your specifications.
5. Enter a name for the role, and click **Create**.

## Import a Role

1. Go to **Configure** > **System Configuration** > **Roles**.
2. Click the lock icon in the upper-right corner to unlock Configure for editing.
3. Click the import icon next to the role list.
4. In the dialog box, click **Import** and select the role file. To give the role a new name, select **Use new name for imported data** and enter the name.
5. Go to **Configure** > **System Configuration** > **Configurations**, and select the configuration to add the role to.
6. Search for the imported role, and drag it from **Available Roles** to **Assigned Roles**.
7. Click **Save Changes**.

Systems with that configuration apply the change the next time they read their configuration. To apply it right away, run **Read Configuration** on those systems. See [Operations: Command Dashboard](/documentation/docs/operations-command-dashboard).

## Role Settings

The Roles page shows the following settings for the selected role:

- [Alarms](/documentation/docs/roles-alarms)
- [Views](/documentation/docs/roles-views)
- [Tool Schedules](/documentation/docs/schedule-automations)
- [Survey Scheduler](/documentation/docs/survey-scheduler)
- [Services](/documentation/docs/services) or [Policies](/documentation/docs/configure-policies), depending on your environment.
- [Additional Settings](/documentation/docs/additional-settings): every other role setting, such as Privacy, Tray App, and Logging.