User Types are similar to Contact Types because both these types are assigned to users, rather than companies. The difference is that User Types define a user's relationship to the organization, rather than to a company. Company Admin and Contact Types are associated with roles that provide administrative access to Company areas and data, whereas User Types are associated with roles that provide access to data at a global, site-wide level.

Unlike Contact Types, the only auto-assigned User Types are types assigned through Individual Memberships. These usually convey the 'member' role and access to the Members area.

User Types that convey privileged administrative or editor roles are assigned to users manually through Admin Area tools such as Manage a User. User Types assigned to staff and administrators usually provide higher-level access than access inherited through their company's Company Types.

This document assumes you are familiar with Roles, Types and>.

Every organization that offers memberships for individuals must have a set of custom types that correspond to their Individual Membership Types and are automatically assigned through membership. Depending on the membership structure, there may be a one-to-one correspondence between these types (so that every Individul Membership Type has a single corresponding User Type), or a single User Type may correspond to multiple Individual Membership Types or several User Types may be assigned through a single Individual Membership Type. It is important that the User Types provide meaningful labels for use in searches.

Once the corresponding User Type(s) exist, a Super Admin adds an Individual Membership Type and associates it with the appropriate User Type(s) so it is automatically assigned to an individual when that type of membership is acquired.

User Types assigned through Individual Membership Types are usually associated with roles that confer basic access privileges, such as the default 'member' role that grants access to Member areas of the site. They may also be associated with roles that grant access to areas of the site reserved for use by members of that type, such as a 'board' role assigned through a 'Board' User Type when an individual acquires a Board membership.

These User Types usually confer high-level editorial or administrative access. Administrators selectively assign these types to users as necessary.

User Types can be used to model other classification systems in use within the organization that are not directly based on membership. This may include generic types used to group nonmembers (e.g., 'nonmember'), geographic region, market sector or any other classification that is meaningful to the organization.

Kavi Members installs a few highly privileged User Types by default, including 'Organization Admin, 'Organization Editor' and 'Report Admin'. These types are associated with the 'org_admin,' 'Editor' and 'report_admin' roles, respectively.

Even though these are default types and cannot be deleted, they can be edited with the Edit a User Type tool.

The most basic example of custom-defined user types is a set of User Types designed to be granted through membership for organizations that offer memberships to individuals. These types are generally named after the membership types to which they correspond (e.g., 'Supporting', 'Sponsor', 'Academic', etc.), which allows users holding these types of memberships to be retrieved by the corresponding User Type. This kind of User Type is usually associated with roles conferring general access to the Members area (i.e., 'member') and custom roles conferring access privileges to areas used specifically by this type of member (e.g., 'board').

Another kind of custom-defined User Type is defined without any associated roles or access permissions solely for the purpose of grouping users according to type, such as User Types representing geographic regions or other user classes of interest to the organization. Once defined and assigned to users, these types can be used in searches and to apply business logic to specific groups of users.

A User Type cannot be deleted if it is in use. If you wish to remove a custom-defined type and the Delete tool link is not displayed, this indicates the type is in use and it will be necessary to use the User Data Report to get a report of users who have been assigned this type, then use the Edit a User tool to remove this type from each user's record.

Custom types can be added as required and deleted if no longer needed. To add a custom User Type, use the Add a User Type tool.

These types belong in the category 'General (only through membership)'.

Many User Types assigned through membership correspond 1-to-1 to an Individual Membership Type, but this isn't applicable to all membership structures. Some organizations assign multiple User Types through a single membership type, and others assign a single User Type through multiple membership types.

Create whatever types make the most sense for your organization's membership structure. For example, if there are multiple types at the same level that have only slight differences, the same User Type might be appropriate for all. If your memberships grant different privileges to the same member type depending on some other variable, such as region, you might have one User Type assigned to all these members, then create a set of User Types, one for each of the regions. Users with this type of membership would be assigned two types, one that is assigned to everyone with this type of membership and a second type assigned only to members in their region.

Since User Types are displayed in pulldown lists for searches and reports, the name of the type should mirror the name of the membership type or be otherwise meaningful so that it will be instantly recognizable. If the type provides any access, this should be included in the description.

At least one of the User Types assigned through membership should be associated with the 'member' role to grant access to the Members area. If there are custom areas that this type of member needs to be able to access, associate the role that controls this area as well.

These types are usually created to be assigned to individuals who hold certain positions in the organization and to provide them with the access they need to fulfill their responsibilities.

The name should imply the kind of access that is being conferred by including terms such as 'admin' or 'editor'. The use of terms specific to Contact Types should be avoided, so don't use 'company' or 'contact' in your name. The description can provide a fuller account of the kind of access being conferred.

This kind of User Type can be used to convey highly privileged roles, since they will be assigned manually by administrators. The 'super_admin' role is the only role that probably shouldn't be assigned through any custom type.

The organization may classify individuals independently of membership, even if it doesn't track nonmembers. The most common use case of this kind of classification is geographic region.

Organizations that allow nonmembers to sign up and login require User Types that classify registered individuals and confer the 'member' role.

The name should be succinct and follow the organization's classification system. Since access is rarely provided through these types, the type description should explicitly include any access provided by these types.

If a User Type is to be assigned to nonmembers who need Members Area access, it must be associated with the 'member' role and any other custom roles required to provide basic access to the site. Otherwise types used for classification seldom need associated roles.