Manage users

OverviewChanging a user’s role typeChanging a user’s product accessExporting CSV of usersUsers synced from an integrationManaging users’ cardsDeactivating and reactivating users

This article refers to a feature that might not be available in your current Brex plan. If you'd like to learn more about this feature and how to unlock additional capabilities in Brex's upgraded plans, please have your account or card admin reach out to Brex Support by clicking on Support in your dashboard.

Overview

Brex offers many tools for adding and managing team members on your account. Through a few different methods, you can invite any number of users, ranging from a single employee to an entire team. Once users are invited, you’ll have everything you need to manage your team, from overseeing spend to exporting spend data about anyone on your account.


Changing a user’s role type

Account admins can update a user to any role type. Card admins can update other users to card admins, user admins, employees, and bookkeepers (if you don’t have a Brex business account). User admins can update users to AP clerks, bookkeepers, and employees by following the steps below.

Single user

In the dashboard

Step 1: Under Team, enter the cardholder's name in the search bar and click their name when it appears. Step 2: To the right of User role under the Role section, select an option from the dropdown menu to update the role type.

Multiple users

In the dashboard

Step 1: Under Team, click the checkbox to the left of any users whose role type you’d like to update. Step 2: Click Update role. Step 3: Select the new role type you’ll be applying to all selected users. If you choose Employee, check whether or not you want the user to be able to have assigned Brex cards. Step 4: Click Confirm.

Via CSV

You can change existing users’ details on Brex by uploading the CSV template after the user is activated. By using the active user’s Brex email address, you can update any fields that you wish to change.

After updating the CSV template with the user’s new details, you can upload the CSV as if inviting a new user by following the steps in this help article.


Changing a user’s product access

Account, card, user management admins, and users with the update user access capability can modify an existing user’s product access to include or exclude certain permissions.

Available product access permissions

Access to cards

Users may be either reimbursement-only (toggled off) or card-holding employees (toggled on; virtual-only or virtual and physical). Reimbursement-only permissions are suited for employees who can submit reimbursement requests and won’t have access to use any corporate cards to spend from their spend limit.

Bill pay

Users with roles that allow cash management may be granted or denied bill pay access, including the ability to approve bills and/or draft bills.

Book trips

Users may be provided the ability to access the Travel page to book trips.

Single user

Step 1: Sign in to the Brex dashboard and go to Team.

Step 2: Click the user that you want to be reimbursement-only.

Note: Confirm that their role is set to Employee. If it isn’t already, update their role type.

Step 3: In the user details pane, click Edit beside Product Access and toggle on or off desired product access permissions.


Exporting CSV of users

If you want a snapshot of your entire team, or even just a handful of users, you can export a CSV report that summarizes their information. Step 1: In your dashboard, go to Team. Step 2: Click on Export.


Users synced from an integration

From Team, admins can see another user’s sync details from a partner integration, and whether that user can sign into the Brex dashboard. To learn more about adding a user via integration, such as Navan, read this help article. You change a user’s ability to sign into Brex by following these steps: Step 1: In the Brex dashboard, go to Team and find the user. Step 2: The user’s current sign-in ability is listed in the Sign in column. Step 3a: If the user’s Brex sign in is Not allowed, click User Invite at the top of the page. Step 3b: If their Brex sign in is Suspended, click their name and, in the details window, click Restore sign-in. Note: You can also click Suspend sign-in to remove Brex access from that user. The user’s transactions on cards issued through Brex will be declined, but cards issued through partners will continue to work. Step 4: Fill out any other information and finalize the process. Under Synced, you’ll see whether the user was sourced from other integrations such as HRIS, SCIM, or a partner such as Navan. If they were synced from a partner, you can click their name and see details under Synced details. Note: If the user can’t sign into Brex due to being synced from another integration, make changes to their account from within the integration instead of within your Brex dashboard.


Managing users’ cards

For the most part, users should be encouraged to manage their own Brex cards. However, there are some scenarios where an account or card admin may want to make changes on the user’s behalf.

Requesting cards for users

Account and card admins can request a new physical or virtual card on behalf of other users by following the steps below.

Create a card for a newly invited user

When you’re inviting a user to your Brex account, you can set up an employee card, including the card limit. After you’ve sent the invitation, click Issue a card now. You can choose between issuing a virtual or physical employee card. If you choose physical, confirm your employee's shipping address, which you and other admins can see in Cards and limits > Shipping details. The employee themselves will receive an email that confirms their shipping address, or they can view it in their Wallet. If you choose virtual, the employee can optionally order a physical card in their Wallet by locating the card and selecting Order physical card. Prior to the arrival of their physical card, they can transact with their virtual card if they’ve activated their Brex account. For more information on managing cards and adding cards to virtual wallets, refer to this help article. Note: When they receive their physical card, they’ll need to activate it prior to transacting.

Create a card for an existing spend limit

Step 1: Under Cards and limits, click Issue card.

Step 2: Select the card type.

  • Employee Card: Issues a physical or virtual card, depending on your choice, which can be assigned to any spend limit and can be used within a user’s card limit. This option is only available if the user doesn’t have an employee card already.
  • Early access New for Summer Essentials Purchasing Card: Issues a physical or virtual purchasing card with a built-in limit.

Step 3: Click Create card for existing limit at the top of the page.

Step 4: Select the user you would like to create the card for and click Continue.

Step 5: Select one of their assigned spend limits and click Continue.

Note: The user’s permissions have to be set up accordingly for them to be issued a card. If you choose a physical card, you’ll be asked to confirm your delivery address. Once requested, you can review shipping details on the Cards and limits page. We’ll notify cardholders if you request a card on their behalf. They can check their Wallet for shipping updates and make purchases with their digital card, in the meantime. If you need your card sooner than 3-8 business days, click I need my physical card sooner on the Processing your delivery page in your dashboard or the Confirm your order details screen in your app.

Create a new spend limit and a new limit card

Step 1: Under Cards and Limits, click Create spend limit. Step 2: Follow the prompts to create a new spend limit and enter details such as name, limit, and recurrence. You can choose to automatically create a virtual card for all current and future users of this spend limit who have card access by toggling on Auto-create virtual cards.

Locking a user's card

Account and card admins can lock or unlock any cards that belong to other users in the dashboard by following the steps below. Note: If the admin locks the card that belongs to an employee or AP clerk, that user won’t be able to unlock their card again without account or card admin approval.

From the Cards and Limits page

Step 1: Under Cards and Limits, search the name of the user.

Step 2: Below the card, elect either Lock or Unlock.

Step 3: If locking, choose the Reason for locking this card and click Lock card.

From the Team page

Step 1: Under Team, search the name of the user.

Step 2: Click on the user to open the user details.

Step 3: Find the card in the Cards section, and click the “...”.

Step 4: Select either Lock or Unlock.


Deactivating and reactivating users

Brex account admins can deactivate or reactivate users of any role type, while card admins can deactivate/reactivate bookkeepers (provided you don’t have a Brex business account) employees, card admins, or user management admins. User management admins can deactivate/reactivate employees, AP clerks, and bookkeepers.

Single user

Step 1: Under Team, search for the cardholder using the search bar and select the “...” beside the one you want to reactivate/deactivate.

Note: To view deactivated users, click on the dropdown in the top-right of the table (with default value Excluding deactivated) and select the status Deactivated.

Step 2: Click the icon of a person to Reactivate or Deactivate. Note: Deactivating a user will block spend on all of their active Brex cards, as well as revoke their access to the Brex dashboard, but it won’t change the status of the user’s card to locked/canceled. If you wish to make this update, an account or card admin can lock or cancel a deactivated user’s card. If users are reactivated, their access to the Brex dashboard will be restored and they will be able to use their cards again.

Deactivate multiple users

Step 1: Under Team, click the checkbox to the left of any users whose role type you’d like to update. Note: These need to be active users who’ve accepted their invitation to Brex in order for this to work. Step 2: Click Deactivate and, in the popup window, click Deactivate again.

Terminating via HRIS

After employees are terminated in your HRIS, they’ll become available for removal in the Brex HRIS settings. You will always have control over when to remove an employee. By default, access to Brex is not automatically revoked when an employee gets terminated in your HRIS.

Step 1: Go to Team. If there are employees who have been terminated in your HRIS system, you will see an alert with a “Users to offboard” count in the Manage team access [HRIS Provider] settings widget. Click [HRIS Provider] settings.

Step 2: Click on the Offboarding tab.

Step 3: There will be a selection to deactivate terminated employees and you can select which employees you want to remove. The list of employees to deactivate is based on their status within your HRIS. If the employee is marked as inactive or terminated, they’ll appear in this list.

Step 4: Confirm the selection. The employee will be deactivated on Brex.

To disable/deactivate users as they are terminated from the HRIS, you can turn on automatic offboarding by following these steps:

Step 1: Click [HRIS Provider] settings in Team page.

Step 2: Click on the Offboarding tab.

Step 3: Toggle on the Automatically offboard employees from Brex when terminated in [HRIS Provider name] setting.

Offboarding a user

After an employee leaves your company, it's important to offboard them within your Brex account to keep your spend limits, approval flows, or other spend management procedures running smoothly. If the employee(s) you’re offboarding had any cards with recurring spend, you should contact your vendors prior to canceling that user’s cards to set up an alternate form of payment.

For Essentials and Smart card Essentials Smart card

Upon deactivating any number of users that are reviewers of card expenses / reimbursement approval chains, you’ll see an alert at the top of your Teams page that reads Approval chains are missing reviewers due to recent employee deactivations. Clicking Offboard users in the alert will prompt admins to transfer spend limit-related responsibilities, approval chains, and card management to active and relevant users. Account and card admins will also receive an email where they can assign new reviewers to approval chains.

For Premium and Enterprise Premium Enterprise

Upon deactivating any number of users that are reviewers of card expenses / reimbursement approval chains, you’ll see an alert at the top of your Budgets page that reads Approval chains are missing reviewers due to recent employee deactivations. Clicking Offboard users in the alert will prompt admins to transfer spend limit-related responsibilities, approval chains, and card management to active and relevant users. Account and card admins will also receive an email where they can assign new reviewers to approval chains.

Note: You won’t receive these alerts if your company has a rule for direct manager to review. Upon deactivating any number of users, we will automatically close their stipends and travel spend limits where they’re the sole spender. However, you will have to go and close spend limits for all other types.

Transfer their cards

Manually transfer their cards

If the employee(s) you’re offboarding had any cards with recurring spend, an account or card admin can transfer ownership of these cards to an active employee. This allows spend to continue without having to contact the merchant or transfer your payment method to another user’s active Brex card. The impacted cards can only be transferred one at a time. For a card to be eligible for transfer, it must have been used for online spending at least once, must currently be active, and must be assignable or currently assigned to an active spend limit. Transferred cards can only be used with previous online merchants. All other merchants and in-person transactions will be declined. Before transferring the card, review previous spend on the card to avoid any disruption or unwanted spend. If the recurring spend is no longer valid, cancel and issue a new card instead. Step 1: Sign into brex.com, locate the previous card owner on your Cards and Limits page, and click on their name. The current card owner doesn’t need to be active so long as the card itself is. Step 2: Click the three dots and choose Transfer card ownership. Review the initial card details and click Continue. Step 3: In the search bar, choose the new card owner and click Continue. The new card owner cannot be a bookkeeper or have reimbursement-only access. Step 4: Review your selection and click Submit. Step 5: The card credentials will remain the same, but future card expenses will reflect the new owner’s name. Once you’ve updated your on-file payment method with your vendors, cancel the card linked to the previous owner and use the newly transferred Brex card for payment instead. This helps to keep your account safe from unwanted spend. EssentialsSmart card You can learn more about this process by going to Teams and clicking on the offboarding alert at the top of the page. This alert will display any cards that have been used for online purchases within the last year for a deactivated user. PremiumEnterprise You can learn more about this process by going to Budgets and clicking on the offboarding alert at the top of the page. This alert will display any cards that have been used for online purchases within the last year for a deactivated user.

Automatically transfer their cards

If you know in advance that you need a specific virtual card to transfer to a new user in the event that the current cardholder leaves the limit or your account, select Automatically transfer card upon cardholder restrictions when you create or edit the spend limit that the card belongs to. Enabling this feature will automatically transfer any active card’s card ownership to either that user’s manager or, in the event they don’t have one, the spend limit manager with the longest account tenure. The card can also be manually transferred by following the steps above if necessary. Once transferred, the new cardholder can transact with any online vendor where the original cardholder has used the card before. However, it cannot be used with new vendors or to make in-person purchases. You can only automatically transfer cards that have been used for online spending at least once, are currently active, and are assigned to an active spend limit. Read more about creating and editing spend limits in this help article.

Archiving and unarchiving users

New for Summer

Users who are not yet invited to the Brex platform but have been automatically added via HRIS may be archived. Since users that are ingested from a connected HRIS system cannot be deleted without being re-added during the next HRIS sync, Brex Admins can archive users to hide them from all Brex Dashboard surfaces (e.g., the Team page default filters, from the Spend Limit employee selection dropdown, etc…).

Note: To surface archived users, you must select the Archived filter on the Team page, or select the Archived view from the dropdown.

Single user

Step 1:

  • Archiving: Under Team, search for the user using the search bar and select the one you want to archive.
  • Unarchiving: To view archived users, click on Add filter and select the status Archived from the dropdown, or select the “Archived” view from the dropdown in the top-left of the Team page table.

Step 2: At the top right of the user's details, click the icon of a person to Archive or Unarchive, or click on the “...” to the right of the user’s details in the Team page Company table and select Archive or Unarchive.

Note: Although an archived user will be hidden from all immediate surfaces, they will continue to be updated during HRIS syncs. This keeps their information up-to-date in case they are later invited to Brex.

If users are unarchived, they will return to the “Not invited” status and will become available for invite.

Multiple users

Step 1:

Archiving: Under Team, click the checkbox to the left of any users who you would like to archive.

Unarchiving: To view archived users, click on Add filter and select the status Archived from the dropdown, or select the “Archived” view from the dropdown in the top-left of the Team page table. Then, click the checkbox to the left of any users who you would like to unarchive.

Step 2: Click Archive/Unarchive at the bottom of the screen, and, in the popup window, click Archive/Unarchive again.

Spend limits

For Essentials Essentials

Step 1: In Cards and limits, click on the spend limit you want to adjust > Manage owners and members > Edit. Step 2: In the Who can spend? section, you can add an employee by typing their name under the correct column. Remove an employee by pressing the x button next to their name. Step 3: Click Continue and review the spend limit. Step 4: Finalize the changes by clicking Update spend limit. Note: Any individual or stipend spend limits of which the offboarded user was a spender will automatically close.

For Premium, Enterprise, and Smart card Premium Enterprise Smart card

Step 1: From the banner on the Teams page, click Assign new reviewers. Or, from the email, click Assign new reviewers (you’ll be asked to sign into your dashboard if you haven’t already). Step 2: You’ll see a summary of the deactivated employees to be offboarded. If all looks well, click Get started. Step 3: You’ll see a summary of an employee with complex permissions. Use the dropdown menus to assign one or more reviewers to replace the offboarded employee in all of the following sections:

  • Card expenses
  • Reimbursements

Step 4: Click Reassign approvers. Step 5: Continue on to repeat reassignment for any other users with complex permissions. Once complete, click Done. Note: Any individual or stipend spend limits of which the offboarded user was a spender will automatically close. If they were the manager, the spend limit won’t close.

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