A child account is a sub-account of a main account. Child accounts are a good way for a large organization to segment its smaller units. For example, a national organization could have multiple child accounts, one each for its regional (e.g., state or province) chapters. Admin users can access the main account and all of the child accounts.
Permissions & access notes
- Users of the main account can access all child accounts if they have been granted the appropriate permission.
- This is set via Settings > Users > [select_user] > Permissions > Tools > Access Sub-accounts in the Admin interface.
- Child account permissions are an "all or none" setting (i.e., for all child accounts); they cannot be assigned piece-meal per individual child accounts.
- Users can be set up to be in just a child account, in which case you should create their login in the relevant child account. These users will not be able to access the main site.
Benefits
Child accounts allow admins to have separate accounts for smaller units of their larger account. This enables them to, for example:
- Provide the child accounts with branded email options so that their messages reflect their unique information (e.g., regional office address and phone number).
- See and manage membership data that is unique to their child account which makes the data easier to manage on a "local" level, but have it still be accessible to the main account admins.
Is a child account right for me?
Child accounts are not necessary or even beneficial to all accounts. Review the following list to determine whether a child account would be a beneficial add-on to your main account.
- I want to prevent some users from seeing and accessing some account data
- I want to restrict access to account data more so for some users than for others
- I want the ability to include distinct physical addresses in our account messages
- I want to have an unsubscribe workflow that is separate from the main account
- I want to restrict access to account templates, messages, images, and campaigns (i.e., some users should have access to only a sub-set of these)
If you want to introduce some of the above-mentioned measures, but the permissions options in your current account structure do not meet your needs, you might benefit from one or more child accounts.
Child account alternative
If you have determined that a child-account setup isn't right for you, or you feel it might be too complex or time-intensive, Higher Logic offers an alternative. The Enterprise Teams feature allows admins to assign users to teams so that each team member's assets can be shared with the team and collaborated on by other team members only.
NOTE: The Enterprise Teams feature is free and can be enabled in your account by a Customer Support agent. Create a case for more information and to request the feature be enabled.
The Enterprise Teams feature differs from a child account in that everything remains associated with the main account, but some assets (such as messages and campaigns) are locked to a subset of users based on their membership on a given team.
To learn more about the Enterprise Teams feature, see Enterprise Asset Permissions.