Account Structures

In this article:

• Explanation of Parent account, sub-accounts and users
• Details of account functionality
• Explanation of roles
• Explanation of the Parent and Sub-Account relationship

Admins of post-paid parent accounts can create "Level 1" sub-accounts, which are basically subsidiaries of the parent account. Each sub-account can have its own Admin and User set, without having visibility of other sub-account activity, while any administrator of the parent account will have visibility of all sub-account activity. 

This is an example of a basic account structure, with four sub-accounts below the parent account, each having it's own set of users:

In turn, admins on a Level 1 sub-account (or admins of the parent account who log in to the sub-account) can create Level 2 sub-account - and so on - all the way down to Level 5. As with the relationship between parent and Level 1 sub-accounts, each sub-account can only see it's own activity and that of it's associated lower-level sub-accounts.

This is an example of a more complex account structure, with three levels of sub-accounts, each with it's own set of users:

Note: 

• You can have multiple accounts at each level
• All accounts (Parent and all sub-accounts) can have multiple users assigned to them
• The Parent account has visibility of all Sub accounts (levels 1 to 5)
• Each sub-account can only see it's own activity and that of it's associated lower-level sub-accounts

Why would you need sub-accounts?

Depending on how your organisation is structured, you can use sub-accounts to help improve visibility of campaigns and costs by creating separation between various divisions or subsidiaries. For example, if you want to use your MessageMedia account to send messages relating to Marketing, Sales, Finance and Rostering, then you could create a sub-account for each purpose. This way you can have separate invoice lines for each sub-account/department as well as having separate inboxes and reporting - which may make it a lot easier to manage campaigns and engagement.

Why would you need "grandchild" accounts?

Imagine a national retail chain with a central head office and multiple regional offices, each managing its own group of stores, and each store using SMS messaging for marketing, sales support, and rostering. In that example, the company HQ holds the parent account, each regional office is a level 1 sub-account, each store is a level 2 sub-account (beneath it's respected regional office) and each department is a level 3 sub-account under their respective stores. This means that the HQ parent account can have a very granular view of SMS activity across the business, and each regional office can see clearly the SMS activity within their region by both store and department.

Parent Account

Every top-level customer account is referred to as a Parent Account as this is the overarching account with the ability to manage sub-accounts. An administrator accessing the parent account can conduct the following tasks:

• Create and manage sub-accounts
• Invite Users to the Parent Account or any Sub-Account(s)
• Access Billing Data
• Send messages
• Inbox management
• Create & manage contacts and contact groups (and share with sub-accounts)
• Create, manage and share Templates
• Email to SMS registrations
• Manage account settings
• Create automation rules
• Create and manage API keys
• Create and manage webhooks

Account functionality and user permissions

Level 1 Sub-Account

A Level 1 sub-account can be created by an administrator of the Parent Account. Sub-accounts can have one or more users and have the following attributes:

• The sending entity - messages are sent on behalf of an account so reporting can be conducted on an account
• Inbox management
• Groups and Contacts
• Templates
• Email to SMS registrations
• Settings
• Automation Rules
• API Keys
• Webhooks

All users associated with a sub-account have access to the information above, so team members can access the same information without having to share with employees working outside the team. One of the major benefits of using sub-accounts is that team members needing to access the same information (e.g. monitor an inbox), don't have to share credentials. If a user leaves the organisation, they can simply be removed from the account without impacting any data or other users.

Level 2-5 Sub-Accounts (aka "Grandchild" accounts)

Additional levels of Sub-account are created by an administrator of a higher level sub-account. All sub-accounts have the same attributes and functionality; however, Level 5 sub-accounts cannot create other sub-accounts.

Users

A user is simply a profile with access to login to the MessageMedia web portal, be it to the parent account or a sub-account. A user can be invited to one or more accounts by an account administrator, and can have one of the following access permissions:

• Administrator (Parent Account level)
  • Create and manage sub-accounts
  • Invite users to the parent and/or sub-accounts
  • Manage billing data
  • Prepaid top-ups (prepaid accounts)
  • Share groups
  • Report on sub-accounts

• Administrator (Sub Account level)
  • Invite users to that specific sub-account
  • Manage Account Settings
  • Manage Email to SMS registrations and settings
  • Resubscribe an unsubscribed contact
  • Create and manage API keys
  • Create Webhooks
  • Create Automation Rules

• Advanced User
  • Send messages
  • Report on current account usage
  • View inbox
  • Create groups and contacts
  • View user

• Basic User
  • Send messages
  • View inbox (only replies to their own messages)
  • View reports (own message data only)
    • Cannot export reports

Users can be added or removed without impacting the account.

Not what you're after? Try these articles...

• Creating sub-accounts
• Account Settings
• Adding / Managing Users
• Resetting a Password
• Topping up your pre-paid account