Primary owners vs. operational contacts
For: an admin managing tool ownership. Takes about 5 minutes.
What this means
Stacktic gives a tool two separate roles. That's because "who decides" and "who handles the day-to-day" aren't always the same person.
- The primary owner is the accountable decision-maker. Every tool should have one.
- The operational contact is an optional second role. It's for the routine stuff that doesn't need a decision-maker's attention.
Primary owner
The primary owner is who Stacktic holds accountable for a tool. They get Signals: the missing-admin, no-owner, and other gaps Stacktic flags. They're also the one who makes config decisions about the tool. Every Managed tool should have a primary owner. It's one of the things Stacktic checks for.
Any member with a Stacktic login can be a primary owner: Owner, Admin, or User. Being primary owner is about accountability, not access. Every Owner, Admin, and User can already manage every tool. See Roles and permissions for the full permission picture.
The primary owner can't also be one of the tool's admins. Admins are the backup for the owner. They're the people who can still manage access, billing, and configuration if the owner is unavailable. So:
- Stacktic won't add the owner to the tool's Admins list.
- When you make an existing admin the primary owner, they move off the Admins list.
If that leaves the tool below your minimum, the Not enough admins Signal will flag it, so you can add someone else.
Operational contact
The operational contact is where access requests, day-to-day questions, and offboarding tasks route instead of to the primary owner. Setting one is optional, and most tools don't need it. Stacktic's own copy on the tool page puts it plainly: "Where access requests, day-to-day questions, and offboarding tasks route. Signals and config decisions continue to go to the primary owner."
Use this role when an outsourced IT firm or a shared helpdesk handles the operational side of a tool, but shouldn't be the one making business decisions about it. Set the primary owner to whoever actually owns that call. Then add the outsourced contact as the operational contact, so the routine requests land with them instead.
You set the operational contact on the tool's own Overview tab. If none is set, the card doesn't show at all. Routine work just goes to the primary owner by default.
Operational delegation
Operational delegation is different from both of the above. It's not something you set on a tool. You set it on your own Settings profile, for when you're stepping away: on leave, on vacation, or otherwise. It routes your tool responsibilities to a teammate instead. That covers access requests, questions, offboarding tasks, and Signals.
It has two modes:
- one delegate for everything;
- a different delegate per tool.
Either way, it's time-boxed. Everything routes back to you automatically once the window ends.
While the window is open, the requests and Signals for the tool(s) they're covering go to your delegate. Delegation ends the moment the window does. It ends sooner if you stop being that tool's primary owner.
What you'll see
A tool with an operational contact set shows a small card on its Overview tab naming that person. It's separate from the primary owner card. If that contact has their own active operational delegation, you'll see a note showing who's covering for them and until when.