User roles and user groups

User permissions are managed on two levels.

1. A users' role
2. The user groups a user is member of

It is very important to understand the difference between both, as this has a huge impact on how permissions are managed. Luckily, the difference is very simple ;-)

Role

There are three roles possible:

1. User: a user that has access to the installation and that can access information (pages, assets, smart templates,...) based on the permissions defined for the user groups he is member of.
2. Admin: someone who has access to the editor to create and manage pages, as well as has access to the admin console to manage the platform settings, extension configuration,... Admins can also change permission schemes and invite users.
3. Account owner: someone who can do exactly the same as the owner, but also has access to the "My plan and billing" page.

To put it differently: a user can see the frontend, based on the permission scheme, an admin (or owner) can also access the editor and admin console.

Important to know is that even though admins have access to the entire platform configuration, what they can see and do in the frontend is based on their user groups.

User groups:

User groups can be created for the permissions that you have in mind. What a user can and can not see or do is based on the sum of all groups a user is member of. Permissions are always defined per user group.

This means that even though a user is admin and can manage the entire setup, what this user can see and do is based on the user groups he is member of. This might sound strange, but since an admin can update his users' groups with just a few clicks, this also explains why Kadanza does not offer a user impersonation feature for admins to validate permissions.