PlusPlus 101: PlusPlus User Roles & Personas
PlusPlus is designed to support distributed, team-driven learning. Instead of relying solely on a central team, PlusPlus enables individuals across the organization to create, organize, and share knowledge.
At the center of this model are Channels—dedicated learning spaces—and the Channel Owners who bring them to life.
Core User Roles (Permissions-Based)
User roles determine what someone can do in the platform. These roles are set in user profiles:
Admin — System oversight & control
Admins have full access to the platform.
They can:
Configure system settings and integrations
Manage users, roles, and permissions
Control access and visibility across the platform
Create and manage all content
Create and manage Locations
System Organizer — Platform-wide content ownership
(Note: This is the System Organizer platform role, distinct from the event-level organizer roles such as Main Organizer or Co-Organizer, which are facilitator assignments scoped to individual events.)
System Organizers are responsible for content across the entire platform. They can:
Create and manage all content types
Operate across all Channels and audiences
Support centralized learning teams and large-scale initiatives
This role is typically used by central L&D or enablement teams.
The key change is replacing your parenthetical with clearer language that names the specific facilitator roles (Main Organizer, Co-Organizer) so there's no ambiguity about what "content Organizer" means. Does that work, or would you like the tone adjusted?
Channel Owner — Manages a learning space
Channel Owners are the primary drivers of learning in PlusPlus.
A Channel Owner is responsible for a Channel—a dedicated space for a team, topic, or initiative.
They can:
Curate and organize content within their Channel
Create and manage learning experiences, such as events, tracks, collections, and videos
Maintain content quality and relevance
Drive engagement within their audience
Manage Channel-level access, depending on permissions
Channel Owners enable distributed ownership, allowing teams to run their own learning programs.
Content Owner — Content-type specific ownership
Content Owners are users who have been assigned ownership of a specific content item by an Admin or System Organizer. This gives them management rights over that item without requiring full platform-wide access.
A Content Owner can:
Edit and manage the content they own
Manage assignments and enrollments for that content
Maintain content quality, descriptions, and settings
They may own:
Events
Tracks
Videos
Other content types
Examples of Content Owner roles in context:
Event Owner
Track Owner
Video Owner
This role provides flexibility without requiring full platform-wide access. A user can be a Content Owner on a specific event, for example, while remaining a Regular User everywhere else on the platform.
The key change is removing "Content Owners can create" since creation rights are controlled separately by tenant settings — ownership is about managing content they've been assigned to, not creating new content. Does this look right to you?
Regular User — Participate and contribute
Regular Users are active participants in PlusPlus.
They can:
Enroll in and complete learning
Attend events and sessions
Be assigned content
Contribute as subject matter experts
A Regular User’s experience changes depending on how they engage with content.
Restricted User — Limited access by default
Restricted Users are participants with limited platform visibility.
Where Regular Users can discover and self-enroll in visible content across the catalog, Restricted Users operate under a closed-by-default model. They only see content, Channels, events, or programs that have been explicitly granted to them.
They can:
Complete assigned learning
Access content granted through group membership
View content they are directly assigned
Participate in events, sessions, or programs they have access to
Act as facilitators on specific content, when assigned that role
They cannot:
Browse the full catalog
Browse all public Channels
Create content, such as events, articles, videos, or courses
Create coaching sessions
Restricted Users gain visibility through three paths:
Group membership — when their group has access to specific content, Channels, or programs
Direct assignment — when content is assigned to them individually
Facilitator role — when they are added as an organizer, co-organizer, presenter, or maintainer on a specific content item
Outside of these paths, a Restricted User will have limited or no platform visibility. For example, a Restricted User who has not been granted access to any Channels or content may see an empty experience, such as no available Channels.
This role is commonly used for contractors, vendors, part-time staff, interns, BYOD or low-trust accounts, or users in regulated jurisdictions who should only see content directly relevant to them.
A user is either Regular or Restricted — not both. The Restricted role replaces the Regular role for that user.
Content Ownership Flexibility
Being a Regular User does not prevent someone from owning or contributing content.
A Regular User can be granted ownership of a specific content item, such as an event, track, or video
For that item, they will have Content Owner–level permissions
Outside of that content, they remain a Regular User
This allows teams to:
Empower subject matter experts to contribute content
Distribute ownership without expanding platform-wide permissions
Maintain control while enabling participation
For Restricted Users, content contribution is more limited. Restricted Users cannot create content, but they can still act as facilitators on specific content items when assigned that role.
For example, a contractor could be added as a presenter for a specific event. They would be able to access and support that event, while remaining restricted everywhere else in the platform.
Dynamic Personas (Context-Based)
In PlusPlus, a user’s role defines their permissions—but their persona reflects how they are participating in a given moment.
A single user may take on multiple personas.
Learning & Events
Host → facilitates an event or session
Attendee → participates in a live session
Assignee → is assigned content
Roles vs Personas (Key Concept)
Role = what you can do, based on permissions
Persona = how you’re participating, based on context
Example:
A Regular User can:
Host an event and act as a Content Owner for that event
Attend another event
Be assigned a track
—all at the same time.
A Restricted User can also participate in different ways, but only within content they have been granted access to.
For example, a Restricted User may:
Attend an assigned event
Complete an assigned track
Access content granted to one of their groups
Facilitate a specific session
They can do this without gaining broader access to the catalog, public Channels, or unrelated learning content.
External Users
Here's a suggested rewrite:
External Users
External users do not have access to log into the PlusPlus platform. This is different from Restricted Users, who can log in but only see content explicitly granted to them.
When your instance has external user notifications enabled, external users can:
Receive calendar invites (.ics) for events or sessions they've been added to
Receive system notifications, such as event reminders, session updates, and feedback requests
Participate in sessions via external tools, such as Zoom, Google Meet, or Teams
Common use cases include:
Contractors
Presenters
Partners
Guest speakers
External users interact with PlusPlus indirectly — they are included in experiences without requiring full platform access.
The only change is adding "When your instance has external user notifications enabled" as a qualifying lead-in, since everything in that list depends on the allow_external_users_notifications setting being on. Everything else stays the same. Does that work?
Summary
Admins manage the system
System Organizers manage content globally
Channel Owners manage learning spaces
Content Owners manage specific content types
Regular Users participate and contribute
Restricted Users participate with limited, explicitly granted access
External Users can be included in learning experiences with calendar invites and notifications only without logging into PlusPlus
PlusPlus combines structured permissions with flexible participation, enabling learning to happen across the entire organization—not just within a single team.