Admin vs Staff Role Comparison

What's Covered

This video walks through Our Cat Herder side by side, comparing what an Admin user sees versus what a Staff user sees across every area of the portal. See also Roles, Permissions & Access and the Members Can't See... guides.

Applies to More Than Just Staff

While this video uses the Staff role for the comparison, the same experience applies to all roles that share the same underlying access level: Member, Ordinary Member, Other, Ex-Officio, Auditor, and Guest. If your users have any of these roles, what they see will match the Staff side of this video. See the Roles overview for a full comparison.

Dashboard

The dashboard layout is the same for both users — discussions, decisions, upcoming meetings, and actions. The content differs though. Each user only sees their own assigned actions, the decisions they are invited to, and the discussion groups they belong to. The calendar view works the same way.

Members

Both users can view the member list. The Admin can edit profiles, resend invitations, and reset MFA. The Staff user sees limited profile information and cannot manage other members.

Discussions

The Admin sees all discussion groups on the portal. The Staff user only sees groups they are invited to, plus any open groups. Open groups show an unlocked padlock icon; closed groups show a locked padlock. If you have joined a group the icon is filled, otherwise it is unfilled. Staff users can join open groups themselves. Inside a group, both users can add topics and manage their own notification settings, but the Admin also has options to download content, adjust settings, and see subscriber lists.

Links

Everyone on the portal can view all links. Admins can manage every link. Staff users can only manage links they created.

Documents

Document access is controlled at the folder level. Top-level files are visible to everyone, but subfolder access depends on whether the user has been granted access. If a Staff user tries to access a folder or file they do not have access to, even via a direct link, they get redirected or see an error.

Admins can manage all folders and files. Staff users can only manage folders they created.

Granting Folder Access

To give a user access to a folder, open the folder's Access Members settings and add them. You can choose to apply access to subfolders as well. This is a very common area where new members report they cannot see documents — usually they simply have not been granted folder access yet.

Decisions

Both users see decisions they are invited to. The Admin sees all 121 past decisions on the portal. The Staff user sees only the 28 they are invited to. The Admin can create proposals; the Staff user cannot.

Actions

The Admin can see all 148 actions on the portal. The Staff user only sees the 25 they are assigned to. Staff users can still filter, contribute to their own actions, and send action reports for meetings they have access to.

Registers

Registers are probably the most complex area for permissions. A Staff user sees only registers they are directly invited to. Registers linked to a meeting type (e.g. Annual General Meeting) are also accessible to users invited to meetings of that type, even if the register does not appear in their list.

Access levels for registers can be set per user:

• Viewer — read-only access
• Contributor — can add entries
• Manager — full management access

Meeting Type Linkage

When a register is linked to a meeting type, any user invited to meetings of that type gains viewing access to the register. This is a common source of confusion — the register may not appear in the user's list, but they can still access it via a direct link.

Meetings

Both users see meetings they are invited to. The Admin sees over 100 past meetings; the Staff user sees 19. If a Staff user tries to access a meeting they are not invited to via a direct link, they get redirected away.

New members often report they cannot see any meetings. Usually they just have not been invited to any yet. Use Batch Add on the Meetings page to invite them to multiple meetings at once.

Any user except guests can create meetings and becomes a mini-admin for meetings they create. Only Admins can manage meeting types, use Batch Add, or access the meeting agenda alignment planner.

Settings, Activity Log, Billing & Reports

These areas are restricted to Admin users only. Staff users who try to access them — even via a direct URL — are redirected away.

The main things to remember

The Admin role has full portal access. The Staff role (and similar roles) restricts users to what they are specifically invited to or given access to.

Document access is at the folder level — use Access Members on the folder and apply to subfolders as needed.

Registers linked to a meeting type are accessible to users invited to meetings of that type, which can be confusing if you are not expecting it.

New members need to be invited to things. The most common onboarding issue is simply that they have not been added to meetings, folders, or decisions yet.

Direct links respect permissions. Sharing a URL to a file, meeting, or register will not bypass access controls.

For detailed permission breakdowns by role, see the Admin role and Staff role pages.