Users, Administrators and Impersonation

Shapeshift has two separate types of account: Users, who access the learner-facing LMS, and Administrators, who access the CMS.

These accounts are managed separately and can have different permissions and responsibilities.

Users

A User is an account for the learner-facing LMS.

Users are managed through Content Manager > User in the CMS.

A User may be:

• A learner completing Courses and other learning content
• An Organization Owner with additional management responsibilities
• Both a learner and an Organization Owner

The information stored against a User depends on the implementation. Standard information includes details such as name and email address, while additional profile or integration fields may also be configured.

Users can be connected to Organizations, enrollments and other platform records.

Administrators

An Administrator is someone with access to the CMS.

Administrator accounts are managed separately from LMS Users through the administration settings in the CMS.

Administrators can be given different roles and permissions, allowing their CMS access to be restricted to the areas and actions appropriate to their role.

The roles and permissions available will depend on how your implementation has been configured.

Giving someone a CMS Administrator account does not automatically create an LMS User account, and giving someone an LMS User account does not provide CMS access.

If the same person needs both, they require separate accounts for each part of the platform.

Organization Owners

Organization Owners are LMS Users, not CMS Administrators.

They can be given responsibility for managing an Organization and can access the Management Dashboard through the LMS.

Depending on the implementation, this may allow them to manage learners, enrollments and reporting for the Organizations they are permitted to access.

This provides management functionality without exposing the wider CMS or platform data.

See Organizations: The Management Dashboard for more information.

Impersonating a User

Authorized CMS Administrators can use Impersonation to access the LMS as a particular User.

This is particularly useful when investigating support issues because it allows an Administrator to see the platform from that User's perspective.

For example, Impersonation can help investigate:

• Which Courses or Learning Paths the User can access
• The User's Dashboard and Course Library
• Course and Module progress
• Organization-specific experiences
• Navigation or content visibility issues

Impersonation is intended as an administrative and support tool.

Starting Impersonation

Impersonation is started from the User's record in the CMS.

Once started, Shapeshift opens the LMS using that User's account and permissions.

The Administrator can then navigate the learner experience in the same way as that User.

Because actions performed while impersonating a User can affect their account and learning activity, avoid completing learning activities or making unnecessary changes while investigating an issue.

When to Use Impersonation

Impersonation is useful when the CMS data alone does not explain what a learner is experiencing.

A typical troubleshooting process is:

1. Find the User in the CMS.
2. Review their account, Organization membership and enrollments.
3. Impersonate the User.
4. Confirm what they can see and access in the LMS.
5. Investigate the relevant content or enrollment records if the experience differs from what is expected.

For enrollment-specific troubleshooting, see Managing and Troubleshooting Enrollments.