Teams

Colabmacs3/17/26About 3 min

Teams

Teams are the top-level organizational units in Colabmacs.

They represent billable entities and group together projects, users, and financial responsibility. Every project — and therefore every charge — belongs to a team.

If projects represent work, teams represent ownership.

What Is a Team?

A Team typically represents:

A research group or lab
A department
A company or external client
A funded organization or cost center

Teams are used to:

Own projects
Track financial responsibility
Control who can create and manage projects

Every team has exactly one Team Owner.

Team Owner (Financial Responsibility)

Each team has a single Team Owner.

The Team Owner:

Is financially responsible for all charges accrued under the team’s projects
Cannot be removed or transferred
Has full visibility into team projects, usage, and charges

Financial Responsibility

All usage and charges generated under projects belonging to a team roll up to the Team Owner.
Facilities should ensure this role is assigned deliberately.

Team Roles

Teams support role-based management.

Common Roles

Team Owner
- Singular and immutable
- Financially responsible
Team Manager
- Assigned role
- Manages users, join requests, and projects
Team Member
- Relationship, not a role
- Participates in one or more projects

Info

Permissions may vary by facility configuration and dynamic rules.

Joining a Team

Users may join teams in two ways.

1. Join Requests (User-Initiated)

When users first register, they can browse public teams and request to join.

Requests appear in Teams → Team → Pending Join Requests
Team Owners or Team Managers can:
- ✅ Accept
- ❌ Deny

Pending Team Join Requests

Project Membership

Joining a team does not automatically add the user to any projects. Project membership is managed separately by Team Owners or Managers.

Note: Users do not need to belong to a team to be added to any of their projects.

2. Invitations (Manager-Initiated)

Team Owners or Team Managers can invite users directly.

Invitations are sent through the system
Managers can choose a project for the invitation
The invited user accepts the invite
No approval step is required after acceptance

If a project is selected, the invited user is added to that project when they accept.

If no project is selected, the invitation grants team access only and project membership can be assigned later.

New Users

If the invited person does not already have an account:

They receive the invitation email
They register from the invitation link
They bypass the standard team onboarding flow
After accepting terms, they are taken directly to Accept Invitation

This makes the setup process much shorter for invited users.

Existing Users

If the invited person already has an account:

They can receive an in-app notification
They can accept the invitation directly
If they are already a member of the team, accepting the invitation adds them to the selected project automatically

This is especially useful when someone is already on the team but needs access to an additional project.

Invitation Project Defaults

If the team has a default project, invitation forms will typically preselect that project for convenience. Managers can keep it, change it, or clear it.

Creating & Managing Projects

Projects live inside teams.

Team Owners and Team Managers can:

Create new projects
Assign users to projects
Set project-level limits
Set the team’s default project

Projects are where actual work happens — but teams define who owns the work.

Team Default Project

Teams can have a default project.

Team Managers and Team Owners can set this from the team management UI.

The default project is useful because it provides a convenient project choice when:

Inviting new team members
Switching into a team context

It does not override project permissions. Users must still belong to the project for it to be used as their current project.

Removing Team Members

When a Team Owner or Team Manager removes a user from a team through the front end:

The user is removed from the team
The user is also removed from all projects that belong to that team

This keeps team membership and project membership aligned and prevents users from remaining attached to team-owned projects after they leave the team.