---
title: "Collaboration — users, shares and statistic accounts"
description: "How the three collaboration mechanisms differ — network users, entity shares, and auto-created statistic accounts — and which one to use for each job."
type: "concept"
audience: [network-manager]
keywords: [collaboration, users, shares, statistic user, statistics account, access, overview]
ui_path: "Account → Shares / Users / Referral program / Preferences"
---

Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://epom.com/ad-server/docs/llms.txt. Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. Append .md to any documentation page URL to get its markdown version.

# Collaboration — users, shares and statistic accounts

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](#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](https://epom.com/ad-server/docs/guides/collaboration/ai-assistant.md), and
  [Get the most out of the AI assistant](https://epom.com/ad-server/docs/guides/collaboration/ai-assistant-tips.md) for how to ask and example prompts.

## Steps — decide what you need

1. Ask: does the person already have a login?
   - **No** → create one in **Account → Users** ([Manage network users](https://epom.com/ad-server/docs/guides/collaboration/account-users.md)),
     or, if all they need is read-only stats for one site/advertiser, use a
     [statistic account](https://epom.com/ad-server/docs/guides/collaboration/shares.md#statistic-accounts) instead.
   - **Yes** → continue.
2. Ask: what should they access?
   - Specific sites or advertisers → [share those entities](https://epom.com/ad-server/docs/guides/collaboration/shares.md) with *Can Edit*
     or *Can View*.
   - Everything a role can reach → adjust their role instead (see
     [Users and roles](https://epom.com/ad-server/docs/guides/admin/users-and-roles.md)).
3. If the same people should get access to every entity you create going forward, add them
   under **Default sharing settings** in [Preferences](https://epom.com/ad-server/docs/guides/collaboration/preferences.md).

## 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.

## Related

- [Share sites and advertisers with users](https://epom.com/ad-server/docs/guides/collaboration/shares.md)
- [Manage network users](https://epom.com/ad-server/docs/guides/collaboration/account-users.md)
- [Referral program](https://epom.com/ad-server/docs/guides/collaboration/referral-program.md)
- [Preferences](https://epom.com/ad-server/docs/guides/collaboration/preferences.md)
- [Work with the AI assistant](https://epom.com/ad-server/docs/guides/collaboration/ai-assistant.md)
- [Get the most out of the AI assistant](https://epom.com/ad-server/docs/guides/collaboration/ai-assistant-tips.md)
- [Sharing & permission model](https://epom.com/ad-server/docs/concepts/sharing-permission-model.md)