Assigning Operators to Operations

An Operator is the person who is going to do the work on an Operation. On a solo case the Operator is almost always you. On a team or subcontracted case, the Operator field is how you say who is in the field, who is at the desk, and who is on call. This article explains who can be an Operator, how assignment works, and how it interacts with Case roles.

Who can be an Operator

Anyone who is a member of the Case with the Investigator, Admin, or Owner role can be assigned as an Operator on its Operations. Viewers and Clients cannot be Operators. To add someone to the Case in one of the eligible roles, follow Case roles: Owner, Admin, Investigator, Viewer, Client.

Operators are not a separate user type — they are simply the Case members chosen for a given piece of work. The same person may be the Operator on every Operation in a small Case, or different Operators may rotate across days, shifts, or specialties.

Assigning an Operator

You can assign Operators when you create the Operation in the wizard, or later from the Operation panel. Open the Operation, click into the Operator field, and pick from the eligible Case members. You can assign one Operator or more than one — useful for two-person surveillance details or for an investigator and a backup.

If the person you want is not in the picker, they are not a member of the Case yet. Add them first under the Members tab. NearbySpy never lets you assign work to someone outside the Case, because that would also imply granting them access to the Case's Subjects and Evidence — and access has to be granted intentionally.

Unassigned Operations

It is fine to leave an Operation without an Operator while it is still being planned. Unassigned Operations show up in the Operations list with a clear empty state and are easy to filter for. Many teams use unassigned as a queue: triage the work first, assign once you know who is free.

Reassignment and history

You can change the Operator at any time from the Operation panel. Reassignment is logged automatically in the activity stream so the Case has an honest record of who owned the work and when it changed hands. The previous Operator does not lose access to the Case — they just stop being the Operator on that specific entry. See Comments and activity on an Operation for what gets recorded.

Permission rules

Owners and Admins can assign and reassign Operators freely. Investigators on the Case can assign themselves and edit Operations they are part of, but they cannot reshape Case-wide permissions. Viewers and Clients cannot edit Operations at all. The full role hierarchy is in Case roles: Owner, Admin, Investigator, Viewer, Client.

What Clients see about Operators

If you have shared an Operation with the Client, they see the Operator's display name and role. They do not see internal team notes, comments, or contact information. To control which Operations a Client sees in the first place, see Controlling what Clients see on Operations.

Best practices

• Assign as soon as the work is real. Unassigned work tends to drift.
• For high-risk or court-bound work, two Operators is cheap insurance — one to do, one to corroborate.
• If you bring in a subcontractor, add them to the Case as an Investigator first, assign them as Operator, and remove them when the engagement ends.