Smartling is a collaborative platform. Everyone who is involved in the translation process can work together under one roof. New user accounts can be created free of charge.
To ensure that everyone has the right level of access, Smartling offers six user roles with different user permissions:
- Account Owner*
- Project Manager*
- Requester
- Content Viewer
- Agency Account Owner (Enterprise)
- Translation Resource Manager (Enterprise)
- Translation Resource*
* most common
Each of these user roles has access to a slightly different version of the Smartling dashboard, allowing them to focus on their own tasks and objectives.
To explore each user's default permissions, read our User Permission documentation.
Account Owner
| Help center category | Content Owner |
| Configurable permissions | n/a |
This role has the highest level of permissions.
The Account Owner is usually the Head of Localization or Localization Manager within your organization.
They typically establish and manage the entire localization process of your organization, and are responsible for defining how the account is set up, your localization team's roles and responsibilities, and which target languages and translation providers to use.
The Account Owner is typically the main point of contact on the account.
Project Manager
| Help center category | Content Owner |
| Configurable permissions | Project access |
This role has the second-highest level of permissions.
The Project Manager could also be a Localization Manager in your organization or a technical user, such as a developer.
They manage the localization process established by the Account Owner, and have similar responsibilities to the Account Owner, but on a project-level. They are focused on the configuration and activity within the projects they have access to.
Technical users, or developers, use this role to integrate the project with an external system, such as a website or CSM, using Smartling's GDN, APIs, or Connectors.
The Project Manager user needs to be provided access to specific projects, and can add any other user role (except Account Owner users) to the same projects that have access to.
Requester
| Help center category | Content Owner |
| Configurable permissions |
Project access Job management |
The Requester is typically a Content Writer, focused on getting their content uploaded to Smartling, translated, and downloaded, with minimal input into the organization’s localization process. Requesters have no access to account or project settings, and cannot add other users or modify the account in any way.
Account Owner or Project Managers must give Requesters access to the projects they can upload content into.
By default, when a Requester uploads content and creates a translation Job, it will not be authorized for translation until an Account Owner or Project Manager does so. Account Owners and Project Managers can grant Requesters Job authorization permissions if required.
By default, Requesters have minimal visibility into the activity in projects, and can only see the Jobs they created. Account Owners and Project Managers can grant Requesters Job visibility permissions if required.
Due to their limitations, Requester users cannot be added to Connector, GDN, or API projects.
For more information on how to configure permissions, read our documentation on Configurable Permissions for Requesters.
Content Viewer
| Help center category | Content Owner |
| Configurable permissions | Project access |
This role can access and filter strings in a view-only mode.
Content Viewers cannot take any actions such as creating translation Jobs, managing Linguistic Assets or downloading translated content. This role is suitable for users who need to be able to see source content and translations, but not update or download translations, add instructions, participate in Issues, etc.
Content Viewer users need to be provided access to specific projects. They cannot add any users to the Smartling account themselves.
Agency Owner
| Help center category | Agency Project Manager |
| Configurable permissions |
Linguistic Asset Management |
The Agency Owner is typically a Localization Project Manager within a Translation Agency or LSP. They monitor and manage their team of translator's capacity by delegated content for translations (assigning). They are also the main point of contact within the Agency with the Smartling Account Owner, and engage directly with the Account Owner on matters concerning workflow configuration, translation rates, and invoicing.
Agency Owners must be added to Smartling by an account's Customer Success Manager. Once added, they will then be visible in the Teams page, under Agency.
It is the Agency Owner's responsibility to add their team of translators and reviewers to Smartling, and assign them to work on workflow tasks for their clients'.
By default, Agency Owners do not have access to or cannot modify Glossaries, Style Guides, Translation Memory, or leverage. Account Owners and Project Managers can grant Agency Owners Linguistic Asset Management permissions if required.
For more information on how to configure permissions, read our documentation on Configurable Permissions for Agency Owners.
Translation Resource Manager
| Help center category |
Agency Project Manager Translator & Reviewer |
| Configurable permissions |
Linguistic Asset Management |
A Translation Resource Manager is like a hybrid of an Agency Owner and a Translations Resource user. They are similar to an Agency Account Owner in that they can assign translators and reviewers to workflow steps and languages that they also have access to. However, unlike Agency Account Owners, Translation Resource Managers can also participate in the translation of content. For this reason, the Translation Resource Manager must seek Help Center documentation in the category that best fits their motivation.
A Translation Resource Manager may also be part of the organization's Localization team (internal) or a Translation Agency (external).
Translation Resource Managers could be considered Lead Linguists within a team of translators in that they can assign content to other team members (Translation Resources) as well as completing translation tasks themselves.
For more information on how to configure permissions, read our documentation on Configurable Permissions for Translation Resource Managers.
Translation Resource
| Help center category | Translator & Reviewer |
| Configurable permissions |
Linguistic Asset Management |
A Translation Resource user in Smartling is a linguist, who may translate, edit, or review content. Translation Resources could be a professional translator or editor as part of a Translation Agency, a freelance translator (external), or a fluent/native speaker within an organization (internal).
If a Translation Resource user is added to an account by an Agency Owner or Translation Resource Manager, they work as part of that Agency, and are managed by the Agency Owner or Translation Resource Manager. If they are added to an account by an Account Owner or Project Manager, they could be a freelance translator or an internal reviewer within the organization.
By default, Translation Resource users only have access to the content in the workflow steps and languages they have been assigned to by Content Owners, Agency Owners, or Translation Resource Managers.
Translation Resources are notified when content is available for translation/review. Depending on the workflow configuration, they can either access and start translating the content directly, claim the content first, or have the content assigned to them first by a Content Owner, Agency Owner or Translation Resource Manager.
The workflow configuration also determines the translation tool the user opens when accessing the content;
- Translation workflow = CAT Tool / Review Mode
- Transcreation workflow = Transcreation Tool
For more information on how to configure permissions, read our documentation on Configurable Permissions for Translation Resource users.