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

# Roles are now segments

> How partner contact roles became segments in Introw: what changed, why, and how to handle permissions, notifications, CRM-driven access, and announcements.

> Partner contact roles in the portal are now **segments**. This page explains what changed, why, and answers the questions that come up most. Nothing you set up was lost: your existing roles were migrated into equivalent segments for you.

*Shipped in the June 2026 release.*

<Note>
  **Parts of this page have been superseded.** In August 2026, permissions and notifications moved onto one organisation-wide default that segments override only when you ask them to. The sections below on default access and on how overlapping segments resolve have been updated to match, and two footguns this page warned about are gone. See [Segment defaults and overrides](/release-notes/segment-defaults-and-overrides) for the current model.
</Note>

## What changed

Segments now do what per-contact roles used to do. A **segment** is a reusable audience of partners and contacts, built either from live filters (a **dynamic** segment) or a hand-picked list (a **static** one). Segments already targeted portal tabs, content, courses, and announcements. Now they also carry the access, permissions, notifications, and task assignment that used to sit on a role.

## Why segments

A role was a single label on a contact, set by hand. A segment is a bigger idea, and it is what lets a partner program scale:

* **Many dimensions, kept live.** A segment can combine tier, region, certification, lifecycle stage, product line, and real partner behavior, and a dynamic segment updates itself as that data changes in your CRM. You target the partners you actually mean, and the audience stays right without anyone maintaining it. This is the [CRM as the system of record](/why/crm-native) deciding who sees what.
* **One concept, used everywhere.** The same segment drives portal tabs, content, courses, announcements, notifications, permissions, and tasks. You define an audience once and reuse it across the whole product, instead of setting up targeting feature by feature. Learn it once, apply it everywhere, which keeps the program [cheap to run](/why/low-tco).
* **Built for scale.** Because segments are filters over your CRM data, they run a program of thousands of partners and tens of thousands of contacts with no one hand-assigning anyone. The program grows and the targeting keeps up on its own, which is what makes segments [enterprise-grade](/why/enterprise-grade).

<Note>
  **Nothing was lost.** Your existing roles were migrated into equivalent segments automatically, including the portal tab and content restrictions that pointed at them.
</Note>

## How permissions and notifications resolve

Since August 2026 this resolves through one cascade: your organisation-wide **All partners · Default**, then the segments that opted in to overriding it, then the contact's own opt-outs.

* **Invite colleagues** and **See all shared records** come from the default, and an override segment can change either one for its members in either direction. When a contact matches several override segments that disagree, the most permissive one wins on both: one segment that grants a capability is enough.
* **Notifications** are one recipients value per event: all partners, collaborating only, or disabled. Same cascade, and the wider audience wins when overrides overlap.
* **Portal content** (tabs, assets, courses, forms, reports) - a union, unchanged. Visible if the contact is in any segment it is shared with, regardless of override switches.

<Note>
  The rule to remember: your baseline restrictions belong on the **default**, and you no longer have to mirror them into every segment for them to hold. Full detail: [Layer segments to progressively unlock capabilities](/features/partners/segments/guides/layer-segments-to-progressively-unlock).
</Note>

## Set up a default access level (your old "default role")

There is no "default role" anymore, and since August 2026 there is no default *segment* either. Its replacement is a layer of its own: **All partners · Default**, pinned above your segment list.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open the default">
    On [Segments](https://app.introw.io/settings/segments), choose **Edit defaults** on the pinned **All partners · Default** row. There is nothing to create.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Put your baseline on it">
    On the **Permissions** tab set the tightest posture for new partners (for example Invite team members off, Collaboration restricted on). On the **Notifications** tab keep only the essentials on.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Layer the rest on top">
    Each more specific segment changes this baseline only when you switch on **Override the default for this segment**, so the default is the one place your baseline restrictions belong.
  </Step>
</Steps>

<Warning>
  If you built a conditionless dynamic segment as your default under the old model, it no longer sets policy. Its settings were folded into the default for you, and the segment itself still works for targeting. A segment now needs at least one condition to override anything.
</Warning>

See [Segment defaults and overrides](/release-notes/segment-defaults-and-overrides) and [Layer segments to progressively unlock capabilities](/features/partners/segments/guides/layer-segments-to-progressively-unlock).

## Keep driving contact roles from your CRM

If you used to sync a contact's role to a CRM property, keep doing exactly that. The role still lives in your CRM as the source of truth. What changed is that a **segment** reads it, rather than the role gating access directly.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Map the role property">
    Open a partner, go to the **People** tab, select **Configure**, then on **Contact role** select **Sync** and map **Role property** to the CRM contact field that holds the role. See [Drive contact portal access and roles from your CRM](/features/integrations/crm/guides/map-contact-portal-access).
  </Step>

  <Step title="Build a dynamic segment on it">
    Create a dynamic segment whose audience filters on that contact field. The segment reproduces role-based access and targeting, and updates itself whenever the value changes in your CRM.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## See which segments a contact is in

Open a partner and go to the **People** tab. The **Segments** column shows the segments each contact belongs to, and opening a contact shows their segments on the detail panel. This is the per-contact view of membership, the reverse of the usage count shown on a segment itself.

## Deleting a segment is safe

Deleting a segment never silently widens access, but check where it is used first, because a segment is often used in more than one place.

* Before you delete, Introw shows **where the segment is used**. Review it, since the same segment may also gate tabs, assets, courses, or notifications, and those stop too.
* Deleting **archives** the segment first, so you can restore it within the retention window (currently 90 days) before it is permanently removed.
* If the segment was the **only** audience on a published announcement, that announcement is **unpublished** rather than sent to every partner. Introw never widens a published announcement to everyone.
* If the announcement had other segments too, it stays published to those.

## Segments you use only to target an announcement

This page originally warned that a segment created purely for targeting would quietly grant its members more than you intended, because every segment carried permission and notification opinions that won the merge.

<Note>
  **That footgun is gone.** Since August 2026 a segment carries no permission or notification opinion until you switch on **Override the default for this segment**, so creating one to target an announcement has no side effects at all. You no longer have to mirror your baseline into a targeting segment.
</Note>

## Learn more

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Segments" icon="users" href="/features/partners/segments">
    What segments are and everything they drive.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Set up and configure segments" icon="screwdriver-wrench" href="/features/partners/segments/technical">
    Audience, permissions, notifications, and usage.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Layer segments to progressively unlock" icon="layer-group" href="/features/partners/segments/guides/layer-segments-to-progressively-unlock">
    Exactly how overlapping segments resolve.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Restrict a tab to segments" icon="table-columns" href="/features/portal/portal-access/guides/restrict-a-tab-to-segments">
    Show a portal tab only to the segments it is meant for.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Control who gets notified" icon="bell" href="/features/engagement/notifications/guides/control-who-gets-notified">
    Scope notifications with segments.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Announcements" icon="bullhorn" href="/features/engagement/announcements/guides/send-an-announcement">
    Target announcements at the right segments.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>