Understand roles and permissions
Understand roles and permissions
Every person in your organization has a role. The role decides what they can see, what they can change, and whether they count toward your seat limit. upcoach has eight roles. Three apply at the organization level — they reach across every program. Five apply at the program level — they apply to one program at a time.
This article is the map. Each row links to a deeper article when there’s one to read.
The eight roles at a glance
| Role | Scope | What it’s for | Uses a seat? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Owner | Organization | Full control, including billing and Stripe | Yes |
| Admin | Organization | Full control except billing and Stripe | Yes |
| Implementation Admin | Organization | Time-limited assistant for upcoach or partner staff | No |
| Program Admin | Program (per program) | Runs the program end to end | Yes |
| Program Facilitator | Program (per program) | Day-to-day delivery, events, community | Yes |
| Participant | Program (per program) | Goes through the program as a learner | No |
| Program Sponsor | Program (per program) | Read-only observer who also reads what participants write, no notifications | Yes |
| Reporting Sponsor | Program (per program) | Sees content and reports, never what participants write, no notifications | Yes |
The same person can hold one organization-level role and a program-level role in each of several programs. They still only use one seat — see Seats and billing for team roles.
Organization-level roles
Organization-level roles apply across every program in your organization. A user has at most one organization-level role.
Owner
Full access to everything, including:
- Billing, plan changes, and the Stripe billing portal
- Stripe Connect setup for paid offers
- Assigning the Owner role to other users
- Deleting the organization
You can have more than one Owner. The last Owner cannot be deactivated, deleted, or demoted — there has to be at least one person who can manage billing.
Admin
Same access as Owner, with two exceptions:
- Admins cannot open Billing, change the plan, or update payment details
- Admins cannot connect or disconnect Stripe for paid offers
Everything else — Users, Programs, Reports, integrations, MCP connections, organization branding — is available to Admins.
Implementation Admin
A temporary assistant role for upcoach staff or implementation partners. Has the same access as Admin, except:
- Cannot assign the Owner role
- Cannot be made Owner
- Does not use a seat
- Is time-limited — the assignment expires automatically (1 month, 2 months, 3 months, 6 months, or forever)
- Restricted to specific email domains (the allowlist is set by your account team)
When the assignment expires, the user is removed automatically and any MCP or API tokens they hold are revoked. The original inviter and the user both receive an email.
See The Implementation Admin role for the full lifecycle.
Program-level roles
Program-level roles apply to a single program. The same user can be a Program Admin in one program, a Participant in another, and nothing in a third. You assign program-level roles when you invite someone or when you add them from inside a program’s Members section.
Program Admin
Owns a specific program. Can:
- Create, edit, and delete modules and activities
- Manage the program’s structure — left nav, sub-groups, content releases
- Manage members, including adding and removing them
- View reports for the program and for individual participants in programs they share
- Run events, schedules, and packages
- Edit Activity Settings (Participant Visibility, etc.)
Cannot manage Offers — that’s reached through the Admin Area, not from inside the program.
Program Facilitator
Day-to-day delivery for a program. Can:
- Run and moderate the feed and channels
- Create and manage events, schedules, and one-on-one bookings (only for programs they hold this role in)
- Manage their own schedules
- Add existing activities from the library and remove items they themselves added
- View reports for participants they share a program with
Cannot create new activities or edit Activity Settings — Program Admin handles that.
Participant
The role most users have in a program. Participants:
- Access and complete activities, events, and community
- Receive program notifications
- Can leave the program themselves (with a confirmation)
Participants do not see settings, reports, or admin tools — even if they happen to also be an Admin at the organization level. See Understand Admin Program Access for why an Admin who’s also a Participant in a program is “locked” to the Participant view there.
Program Sponsor
A read-only observer — typically a stakeholder, executive, or partner who needs visibility without engagement. Sponsors:
- See all content and reports in the programs they sponsor
- See everything participants write there: worksheet and check-in answers, journals, comments, the feed, and channels
- Do not receive any notifications
- Are visible in the Members app but not counted in member totals
- Cannot interact — no posts, no responses, no event RSVPs
Reporting Sponsor
A read-only role for stakeholders who need a program’s content and results, but must not read what participants write — for example a client’s HR lead in a coaching program. Reporting Sponsors:
- See the program’s content: sections, modules, activities, and events
- See Program Reports and Participant Reports, overall and per participant, and can export Program Reports to CSV
- Never see what participants write or say: worksheet and check-in answers, journals, comments, event transcripts, the feed, channels, or Impact Report themes
- Do not receive any notifications, are not counted in member totals, and cannot interact
See Program Admin, Facilitator, and Sponsor roles for the full breakdown of the program-level admin-tier roles.
Where each role lives
| Where you see it | What you can do |
|---|---|
| Admin Area > Users | Invite, change roles, deactivate, view seat usage |
| Program > Members | Add existing org members to this program with a program-level role |
| Invite modal | Pick from every role except Owner when sending invitations |
Owners and Admins manage roles. Implementation Admins can do everything except assign the Owner role. Program Admins can manage members within the programs they own.
How permissions add up
A few rules to keep in mind:
- An Admin entering a program they’re also a Participant in is locked to the Participant view. They can’t see admin tools in that program — only through the Admin Area. See Understand Admin Program Access.
- A Facilitator who’s also an Admin keeps both sets of access additively — the natural state in their own programs.
- Sponsors are read-only no matter what. Even if they’re an Admin elsewhere, in a program they sponsor they only observe. A Reporting Sponsor sees no participant answers there, even if they’re an Admin elsewhere; use the Admin Area to administer that program.
- One person, one seat — the seat count adds the person, not the role. See Seats and billing for team roles.