Admin vs. Sponsor — Who Can Do What
Overview
Ashta has three primary user types and one auxiliary role. Knowing which one a user has determines what they can see and do across the platform.
| User Type | Who Uses It | What They Do |
|---|---|---|
| Admin | Fund administrator, operations lead, compliance officer | Everything — full platform access. |
| Sponsor | Fund manager, deal sponsor, external GP | Manage their own deals and the investors in them — scoped access. |
| Investor | The end investor (LP) | View deals, complete KYC, invest, view portfolio, download statements. |
One auxiliary role supports a specific workflow:
- EMD (Exempt Market Dealer) — Canadian compliance role used to record suitability reviews and broker assessments on transactions.
Admins see everything. Sponsors see only their own deals and the investors who invested in them. Investors only see themselves and the deals they can subscribe to.
Feature Access — Side-by-Side
The matrix below covers the access an Admin and a Sponsor each have to the main admin-side features. Investor-only features (portfolio, profile, marketplace listings) are excluded — those are accessible only to investor accounts.
| Feature | Admin | Sponsor |
|---|---|---|
| Investor Management | ||
| View the investor list | ✅ All investors | ✅ Only investors on their deals |
| Add a new investor | ✅ | ✅ |
| Review investor profiles, KYC, documents | ✅ | ✅ (scoped) |
| Add internal notes to an investor | ✅ | ✅ |
| Suspend or offboard an investor | ✅ | ❌ |
| Deal Management | ||
| Create a new deal | ✅ | ✅ |
| Edit deal details, terms, documents | ✅ | ✅ (their deals) |
| Launch a deal live | ✅ | ✅ (their deals) |
| Manage the data room | ✅ | ✅ (their deals) |
| Post deal updates and news | ✅ | ✅ (their deals) |
| Assign sponsor groups to a deal | ✅ | ❌ |
| Transactions | ||
| View all transactions | ✅ | ✅ (on their deals) |
| Record an investor commitment | ✅ | ✅ |
| Send DocuSign subscription docs | ✅ | ✅ |
| Counter-sign documents | ✅ | ✅ |
| Mark a transaction as paid | ✅ | ✅ |
| Process refunds and reversals | ✅ | ❌ |
| Compliance | ||
| Re-trigger KYC | ✅ | ✅ |
| Override a KYC result (with rationale) | ✅ | ❌ |
| Manage compliance status (Cleared / Pending Review / EDD / Suspended / Rejected) | ✅ | ❌ |
| Record an EMD / Broker Assessment | ✅ | ❌ (requires EMD role) |
| Share Registry / Cap Table | ||
| View the Share Registry | ✅ | ❌ |
| Issue, transfer, or cancel certificates | ✅ | ❌ |
| Distributions | ||
| Run a bulk distribution | ✅ | ✅ |
| Edit / delete distributions | ✅ | ✅ (their deals) |
| Upload tax documents (K-1 / T5013 / 1099) | ✅ | ✅ |
| Marketplace | ||
| Enable secondary marketplace on a deal | ✅ | ❌ |
| Settle auction trades | ✅ | ❌ |
| Communications | ||
| Create / edit email templates | ✅ | ❌ |
| Send a deal launch email | ✅ | ✅ |
| Platform Setup | ||
| Manage stakeholder / sponsor groups | ✅ | ❌ |
| Configure branding (logo, colours, email styling) | ✅ | ❌ |
| Configure CRM integration (HubSpot / Zoho) | ✅ | ❌ |
| Manage user accounts (add / remove admins / sponsors) | ✅ | ❌ |
| Reporting | ||
| Export investor list | ✅ | ✅ (scoped) |
| Export transactions | ✅ | ✅ (scoped) |
| Export cap table | ✅ | ❌ |
| Access the audit log | ✅ | ❌ |
Admin
A full-access role. There is typically a small number of admin accounts per fund — usually the fund administrator, an operations lead, and a compliance officer.
Admins can:
- See every investor, every transaction, every deal, every distribution, every certificate.
- Make any state-changing decision (cancel transactions, override KYC, suspend investors, edit cap-table entries).
- Configure the platform (branding, email templates, CRM connections, user accounts).
- Export audit logs and review the full activity history.
Use this role sparingly. Every action an admin takes is audit-logged, and admin overrides on KYC or compliance status carry regulatory weight.
Sponsor
A scoped role designed for fund managers and external sponsors who operate one or more specific deals on your platform. A sponsor is a member of a sponsor group, and a sponsor group is assigned to one or more deals.
Sponsors can:
- Manage their own deals — edit details, upload documents, post updates, define share classes, launch live.
- See only the investors who have transacted on their deals — full profile, KYC status, documents.
- Send and counter-sign subscription documents.
- Run distributions on their deals.
- Send deal launch emails to investors in their scope.
Sponsors cannot:
- See deals or investors outside their sponsor group.
- Access the Share Registry, Audit Log, or platform-wide reports.
- Configure branding, email templates, CRM integrations, or user accounts.
- Override KYC results or compliance statuses (must escalate to an Admin).
- Settle auction trades or manage marketplace toggles.
- Process refunds or transaction reversals.
This scoping is enforced at the data layer — a sponsor signing in will literally not see deals or investors outside their group anywhere in the UI.
Investor (End User)
Investors interact with the platform as subscribers, not operators. They:
- Self-register and complete the 7-step onboarding flow.
- Submit identity documents for KYC verification.
- Browse deals available to them, indicate interest, and subscribe.
- Sign subscription documents in DocuSign.
- View their portfolio, transaction history, and distributions.
- Download statements and tax documents.
- (If enabled) List shares on the secondary marketplace or bid on auctions.
Investors never see other investors' data, admin tools, or unbranded internal UI.
EMD (Exempt Market Dealer) — Canada
The EMD role exists for Canadian funds operating under the exempt market regime. EMD users record formal suitability reviews and broker assessments against investor transactions.
This role:
- Has read access to investor profiles and transactions.
- Can record an EMD / Broker Assessment on a transaction (suitability sign-off, rationale, remarks).
- Cannot modify deal data or override KYC.
If you don't operate under Canadian exempt-market rules, you can ignore this role.
How Sponsor Access Is Scoped
Sponsor access uses two concepts:
- Sponsor Group — a named team that can include multiple sponsor users. Configured under Stakeholders in the admin sidebar.
- Deal-to-Sponsor-Group Assignment — each deal can have one or more sponsor groups assigned to it.
The relationship:
Sponsor User → belongs to → Sponsor Group → assigned to → Deal(s)
When a sponsor signs in, the platform computes:
- Which sponsor groups they're a member of.
- Which deals those groups are assigned to.
- All UI is filtered to that set of deals and the investors who transacted on those deals.
Admins manage sponsor groups (create, add members, assign to deals). Sponsors cannot modify their own groups or deal assignments.
Common Scenarios
A new fund manager joins to launch a single deal. Create a new sponsor group, add them as a member, assign the group to their deal. They'll see only that deal and the investors in it.
A sponsor needs help from a compliance specialist. Add the specialist as an Admin (not a sponsor). Admins see across all deals and can advise without needing per-deal sponsor group membership.
A sponsor's deal has closed. The deal stays in their scope (so they can still pull reports), but you can revoke the sponsor group's assignment to the deal once it's been exited and no further access is required.
A user needs to record suitability reviews on transactions. Assign them the EMD role — Sponsor and Admin roles cannot record broker assessments.
Related Articles
- Status Badge Glossary — every status badge across the platform.
- ID Verification and KYC Workflow — what KYC verification a Sponsor or Admin will see when reviewing an investor profile.
For questions about a specific permission or to request a role change, contact your Ashta account team.