# Budget Access Control

Etropo allows you to set category-based access to ensure sensitive financial information is only accessible to authorized team members. You can decide which parts of the budget each user can view and edit. There are two types of user accounts: user and admin.

## Admin

As an admin, you have full access to the budget planning system. This means you can:
- See and manage all categories and line items
- Create new categories and modify or delete existing ones
- Control who has access to which categories
- Set and adjust the total planned budget
- Work with any line item in the system
- Access filtering capabilities

## User

Your access to the budget depends on which categories you've been given permission to view. Here's what this means:
- You'll only see the categories you have access to
- You can only work with line items in your accessible categories
- You'll still be able to use filtering capabilities on the line items you can access

When you don't have access to all categories:
- You won't see any data from restricted categories anywhere in the system
- Users can't tell if there are categories they don't have access to

## How to Manage Category Access

If you're an admin, you can control access to categories:
1. Click on a category name
2. Go to "Manage Access"
3. Choose which users should have access
4. Save your changes

![Category Access Rights](https://docs.etropo.com/images/budget/editor/access-rights.webp)

## Master Category Access

For budgets that use [master categories](https://docs.etropo.com/budget-planning/structure#master-categories):
- Granting access to a master category automatically includes all child categories underneath it
- You cannot grant access to individual child categories independently
- This simplifies permission management when you group categories by channel or team
- Only admins can create or reorganize category structure

## Custom Level Access

For budgets with [custom levels](https://docs.etropo.com/budget-planning/structure#custom-levels), for example brands, divisions or regions, you can grant access on one item of a custom level instead of category by category. The steps below use a budget split by region and then by brand. With other names, the steps are the same.

1. Click the **⋯** menu on the header row of the region or brand, then **Manage access**
2. Click **Add user** and select the person

- Access on a brand includes every master category, category and line item under it
- Access on a region includes each brand in that region, and everything under those brands
- A team member who has access to a region or brand sees the budget in the budget list, even without access to a single category

## Access and Budget Versions

Access is granted per category, and categories belong to the budget rather than to any single [version](https://docs.etropo.com/budget-planning/versions) of it. So access works the same way across every version:

- Granting someone access to a category gives them that category in all versions of the budget
- Creating, switching, or activating a version never changes who can see what
- Team members can view and switch between any versions of a budget they have access to
- Only admins can create, rename, activate, or delete versions

## Good to Know

- Only admins can change who has access to categories
- Regular categories require setting access individually
- Master categories provide access to all children at once
- Regions and brands provide access to everything under them at once
- Access settings are shared by all versions of a budget

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Source: https://docs.etropo.com/budget-planning/access-control