Collaboration — users, shares and statistic accounts
How the three collaboration mechanisms differ — network users, entity shares, and auto-created statistic accounts — and which one to use for each job.
You rarely run an ad network alone. Publishers need to see their sites’ numbers, ad-ops colleagues need to edit campaigns, and clients want a login that shows only their own inventory. The platform gives you three mechanisms for this, and picking the right one up front saves cleanup later.
Who this is for
Network managers and account owners who invite other people into their account. The tools are not equally distributed: Shares and the statistic-account shortcut belong to network managers; a publisher or advertiser gets them only when the network grants the share permission (the stock roles do not hold it). Users needs the User Management UI permission, which the stock Publisher and Advertiser roles do not hold either, and Referral program belongs to nobody until your network administrator turns it on. See Per-role notes.
The three mechanisms
| Mechanism | What it is | Where | Use it when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Users | Full login accounts with a role (permission set). A user sees whatever their role and their shares allow. | Account → Users | A colleague or client needs their own login. |
| Shares | Access grants that connect an existing user to a specific site or advertiser, with a level: Is Owner, Can Edit, or Can View. | Account → Shares (bulk) or the Sharing settings card on a site / advertiser edit page and the Conversion Action Sharing card on a conversion action (single entity) | An existing user should see or manage specific entities that are not their own. |
| Statistic accounts | A shortcut that creates a user and a Can View share on one site or advertiser in a single step, then emails an invitation with a single-use set-password link. | Create user & share in the actions menu of a site or advertiser edit page (the dialog is titled Create statistic account) | A client only needs read-only stats for one entity and doesn’t have a login yet. |
Two supporting features round the picture out:
- Default sharing settings (Account → Preferences → Default sharing settings): users who should automatically get a share on every site, advertiser, template and conversion action you create in the future, with an optional one-click “apply to existing entities”.
- Referral program (Account → Referral program): not access control, but the other collaboration surface — inviting new clients to the platform and earning a share of the revenue they generate.
- AI assistant (Account → AI assistant): a chat that works in the account as the signed-in user, with that user’s permissions — see Work with the AI assistant, and Get the most out of the AI assistant for how to ask and example prompts.
Steps — decide what you need
- Ask: does the person already have a login?
- No → create one in Account → Users (Manage network users), or, if all they need is read-only stats for one site/advertiser, use a statistic account instead.
- Yes → continue.
- Ask: what should they access?
- Specific sites or advertisers → share those entities with Can Edit or Can View.
- Everything a role can reach → adjust their role instead (see Users and roles).
- If the same people should get access to every entity you create going forward, add them under Default sharing settings in Preferences.
Corner cases and gotchas
Corner case: shares and roles multiply, they don’t override. A user with a Can View share still can’t open the entity if their role lacks the matching view permission — and a generous role can see beyond what you shared if it has “all entities” grants. When access looks wrong, check both sides.
Corner case: a statistic account is a real user — it appears in your Users grid (first name statisticsAccount) and counts as a login. Deactivate or delete it there when the client no longer needs access; a publisher or advertiser has no Users tab, so their network manager does that.
Per-role notes
- Network manager — Users and Shares once your network administrator grants them; with Share at all width you can give away anything you can see.
- Publisher and advertiser — no Shares or Users tab on the stock roles. Once the network grants sharing: only entities you hold as Is Owner, only to users you created.
- Everyone — Referral program is absent until your network administrator turns it on.
- Can View recipient — edit fields are read-only and the entity cannot be shared on.
