diff --git a/roles/odcs/backend/tasks/main.yml b/roles/odcs/backend/tasks/main.yml
index 7d132a2436..6773f25dbd 100644
--- a/roles/odcs/backend/tasks/main.yml
+++ b/roles/odcs/backend/tasks/main.yml
@@ -27,3 +27,14 @@
   tags:
   - odcs
   - odcs/backend
+- name: add the odcs user to the apache group
+  user:
+    name: odcs
+    group: apache
+    groups: apache
+    append: true
+  notify:
+  - restart odcs-backend
+  tags:
+  - odcs
+  - odcs/backend