Roles and Responsibilities of Administrators

Roles and Responsibilities of Administrators

Administrators are key actors in the successful operation of an energy community. They connect the technical, legal, financial and community aspects, and - through the Decent.ec portal - ensure transparent, compliant and efficient day-to-day operation.

1. What is the role of an administrator in an energy community?

The main tasks of an administrator (or admin team) are to:

• manage the day-to-day operation of the community (users, groups, permissions),
• ensure legal and regulatory compliance (data handling, permits, contracts),
• configure and maintain platform settings on Decent.ec,
• support members in accessing information (statistics, billing, notifications),
• assist in preparing community decisions (data, reports, communication).

In practice, the admin acts as organiser, system operator, data steward and first-line support within the community.

2. Core administrative tasks in daily operation

Typical responsibilities of an energy community administrator include:

2.1. Member management and permissions

• Adding and inviting new members to the community.
• Modifying membership status (active, inactive, resigned).
• Managing permission levels (e.g. regular member, admin, viewer).
• Granting access to relevant groups, projects and data.

2.2. Data management and transparency

• Checking and managing access to consumption and production data.
• Configuring which statistics and reports are visible to members.
• Managing data-sharing settings (e.g. voluntary data sharing, analytics).

2.3. Communication and support

• Informing members about decisions, changes and planned developments.
• Responding to members’ questions, forwarding complaints to the right channel.
• Communicating and enforcing community rules (house rules, platform use policies).

2.4. Financial and billing-related tasks

• Reviewing and updating billing data (billing address, contact person).
• Checking invoices, fees and settlements on the portal.
• Managing token/balance or credit features where applicable.

2.5. Moderation and content management

• Basic supervision of content posted on community surfaces (posts, comments).
• Reporting or handling problematic content via the Content admin interface.
• Reviewing reported content and blocked channels (if the role allows).

3. Administrator roles on the Decent.ec portal

Within the Decent.ec portal several types of administrative roles can be distinguished. In small communities one person may perform all of these; in larger ones, they can (and should) be split between multiple people.

3.1. Community administrator

This person is the “owner” of the energy community within the portal:

• Creating the community and managing core settings.
• Adding members and assigning their permissions.
• Creating and managing groups (e.g. households, sub-projects, sites).
• Coordinating access to the modules used by the community (Statistics, Vehicles, Billing, etc.).

3.2. Content and moderation admin (Content admin)

• Managing reported content within the Content admin interface.
• Reviewing problematic channels, comments and, where necessary, restricting them.
• Ensuring that community communication remains safe and respectful.

3.3. Financial / billing admin

• Managing the Billing area:
  • reviewing balance, tokens or credits (if available),
  • setting voluntary data-sharing options,
  • updating billing and shipping addresses,
  • downloading invoices and billing documents.
• Acting as liaison to accounting, finance or external auditors when needed.

3.4. Statistics / data admin

• Reviewing the Statistics module: consumption, generation and costs, energy flows.
• Preparing summaries and dashboards for decision-makers.
• Preparing monthly or annual reports (e.g. for municipalities, management, project partners).

3.5. Technical admin (optional)

• Regularly checking that all devices and meters are sending data.
• Keeping in touch with technical service providers (e.g. inverter or EMS vendors).
• Reporting and tracking technical issues.

4. Creating a new community member on Decent.ec

One of the most important practical tasks for an admin is creating new members and configuring their permissions. Exact button labels may differ by project, but the process is typically as follows:

1. Log in with administrator rights Sign in to the Decent.ec portal with a user account that has administrator rights in the given energy community.
2. Select the community or group
   • Open the relevant Groups view or the main channel of the community.
   • Select the community or specific group to which you want to add the new member.
3. Add / invite a new member
   • Look for a button such as “Add member”, “Invite member” or similar.
   • Enter the new member’s email address and any required basic data (name, organisation/site, etc.).
4. Set role and permissions
   • Choose the role in which the new user will join:
     • regular community member (access to own data, basic statistics),
     • administrator (can manage other members and groups),
     • viewer / read-only access (e.g. municipality or project partner account).
   • If needed, assign the user to specific groups or projects.
5. Send invitation and activation
   • Send the invitation from within the system.
   • The invited user follows the link in the email to complete registration or log in, thereby activating their account.
6. Check and fine-tune
   • Confirm that the user appears in the member list.
   • Adjust permissions if necessary (e.g. data access level, module access).

Recommendation: in larger energy communities, it is best practice to distribute administrator rights across at least two people so there is always someone available to handle issues (e.g. complaints, incidents, access requests).

5. Best practices for administrators

• Document changes: keep a brief internal record of who has which admin role and when key settings were changed.
• Transparent permission management: avoid granting admin rights to everyone; align access with actual responsibilities.
• Onboarding for new admins: give new administrators a short walkthrough of Decent.ec (Statistics, Billing, Content admin, etc.).
• Regular reviews: at least once per year, review the member list, roles and access permissions.
• Data protection: ensure that only those people can access sensitive information (e.g. detailed consumption patterns, billing data) whose job requires it.