Agents & Roles

The Agents directory, how Deskuss maps WordPress users to staff, and the four access scopes (All Access, Expanded, Limited, View only) that control what an agent can see and do.

Two Distinct Concepts

Deskuss has two separate role systems, and they're easy to confuse:

Both are needed. A user must have a WordPress role that includes the deskuss_staff capability and be assigned a Deskuss access scope before they can effectively work in the helpdesk.

WordPress Roles

Deskuss registers two custom WordPress roles on activation and adds the deskuss_staff capability to two built-in roles:

Deskuss auto-grants the deskuss_staff capability to administrator and editor during activation. This means a new WP user with either of those roles can immediately log into the helpdesk at /deskuss/.

To grant access to a custom role, add the capability programmatically (must-use plugin):

add_action('init', function () {
    $role = get_role('custom_support_role');
    if ($role && !$role->has_cap('deskuss_staff')) {
        $role->add_cap('deskuss_staff');
    }
});

Access Scopes

Access scopes are Deskuss-internal. They determine what a staff member can see and do inside the helpdesk. They are separate from WordPress roles — a WP administrator with the "View only" access scope can still access WordPress core, but inside Deskuss can only read tickets.

Deskuss ships with four seeded scopes:

The Agents List

The Agents top-level menu shows every WordPress user with the deskuss_staff capability. From here you can:

• View all staff in a sortable, filterable table
• Add a new agent (creates a WP user + Deskuss access record)
• Edit an existing agent's access scope and department assignments
• Deactivate an agent (keeps the WP user but revokes staff access)

Adding an Agent

1. Go to Deskuss → Agents
2. Click Add New Agent
3. Search for an existing WP user, or fill in name + email to create a new one
4. Choose an access scope (default: Limited)
5. Assign to one or more departments
6. Optionally assign to a team
7. Click Save

Editing an Agent

1. Go to Deskuss → Agents
2. Click the agent's name
3. Modify the access scope, department assignments, or team
4. Click Update

Removing an Agent

Removing an agent from Deskuss does not delete their WordPress user account. It only revokes the deskuss_staff capability and marks the Deskuss staff record as inactive. Any tickets previously assigned to that agent remain assigned — reassign them to another agent before removal for continuity.

Teams

Teams group agents for collaboration. A team can span multiple departments and is useful when you want a set of agents to work on related tickets collectively. The "Level I Support" team is seeded by default.

Creating a Team

1. Go to Deskuss → Agents → Teams (or via Manage → Teams)
2. Click Add New Team
3. Enter a team name (e.g., "Escalation Team", "Enterprise Support")
4. Select a Team Lead — this agent receives notifications when tickets are assigned to the team
5. Add agents to the team
6. Click Save

Teams vs. Departments

Teams are for internal grouping; departments determine customer-facing routing. A ticket is assigned to a department, not a team. Teams help with collaboration, escalation, and workload balancing within and across departments.

Permission Matrix

What each access scope can do:

Where to Find Agents in the Sidebar

The "Agents" top-level menu is a single page that combines the list of agents, the team list, and the access-scope editor. Use the dropdown at the top of the page to switch between views.