Summary
User Types (Core, Productivity and View) and Service Seats are related to access levels in Planhat, and are assigned to Roles (which are like permission sets) and Users (of Planhat - i.e. you and your colleagues)
Each Role is associated with a specific User Type, and either has a Seat applied or not. This is selected during Role creation, and can't be changed at a later date. The User Type and Seat status determines the maximum permissions that can be enabled in that Role
Each User has a User Type and potentially a Seat selected. This can be specified at User creation, and also changed later on. The User Type, and whether a Seat is selected, sets the maximum access that can be given to that User in a Role. This means you can't assign a Role with the Core User Type to a View User, for example
The number of each User Type and Seat available to assign to Users in your Planhat tenant is limited, based on your contract
Who is this article for?
Planhat builders/admins (e.g. CS Ops) who manage Planhat for their organization
Potentially HR professionals, if they manage Roles and Users within Planhat
Article contents
Introduction
"Roles" are a central concept within Planhat, when it comes to access levels for your Users - that is, you and your colleagues (i.e. users of Planhat). Roles are similar to the "profiles" or "permission sets" you may be familiar with from other tools. They are a quick and easy way for you to assign a set of permissions to a group of Users, such as CSMs, or Sales. You can read more about Roles in general here, and Role permissions here.
In October 2025, we have introduced two related concepts: "User Types" and "Seats":
Each User Type is associated with a particular level of access. The options are:
Core
Productivity
View
A Service Seat is an add-on, corresponding to Service Delivery functionality
The maximum number of each of these available for Users in your Planhat tenant is determined by your contract and configured by Planhat staff within "Admin Settings". If you reach a limit, you won't be able to assign that User Type or Seat to additional Users.
Each Role is associated with a User Type and a Seat status (i.e. whether a Seat is applied or not). The User Type and Seat status determine the maximum permissions of the Role, but then you can customize the Role by disabling your choice of permissions.
A User Type and Seat status is also applied to each User. This caps which Roles can be applied to the User, as you cannot give a User a Role with more permissions enabled than permitted by their User Type and Seat status.
In this article, we will look at User Types and Seats in more detail, and explain how they relate to Roles, and then examine how all of this applies to individual Users.
User Types
What are User Types?
There are three User Types, and with your Planhat contract you will have access to a set number of each of these. Each User Type is effectively a maximum/cap/limit on the permissions that can be enabled for a Role and also an individual User.
Core
This is the standard/main User Type, and Roles you had prior to the release of this functionality (such as Administrator and Manager) will be automatically assigned this User Type by default
This User Type has the highest level of access. This means full access to all features/functionality made available in the purchased Planhat plan*
*This does not include the full features/functionality controlled via the Service Seat (which we discuss separately here). If your Planhat plan/tenant has Service Delivery and your Role is a Core User but does not have the Service Seat add-on, you will have View access to Service Delivery functionality, but you will need the Service Seat for full functionality
You typically pay for a certain number of Users with this User Type within your Planhat plan
Productivity
This is the intermediate User Type
Productivity Users have full View access across Planhat (like View Users), but additionally, they can:
Create/update notes and other Conversations
Create/update comments
Create/update tasks
Create/update Pages
Sync their email/calendar with Planhat
Receive personalized notifications
This User Type does not have full access to create/update etc. records of other Planhat data models
You typically pay for a certain number of Users with this User Type within your Planhat plan
View
This User Type has full View (read-only) access across Planhat
This means, for example, that Roles with this User Type cannot create/update records
It's free to have Users of this User Type. At time of writing, you can effectively have unlimited Users of this Type, although the quantity can technically be limited within your tenant
Where do you see User Types in Planhat?
When you create a new Role in Planhat, you assign it a User Type (as shown in the screenshot below). We talk through this in more detail later in this article. You'll also see User Types assigned to existing Roles.
When you add a new User to Planhat, you assign that person a User Type. The User Type (and whether or not there is a Seat assigned) then limits the Roles that are available to assign to this User (via a dropdown menu lower down in the form), so that only suitable Roles can be applied - i.e. you can't assign a Role with more access than that User Type and Seat status. We discuss this in further detail later in this article. In your Planhat tenant, you'll also see User Types applied to existing Users.
Seats
What are Seats?
Seats are add-ons that can be applied in combination with Core Users and Productivity Users (but not View Users). Each type of Seat provides additional functionality for a specific use case.
At the time of writing, there is one type of Seat, and that is "Service". This corresponds to the "Advanced Service" line item in a Planhat contract - the Service Delivery package/functionality - e.g. the ability to create Time Entries and Timesheets.
If you do have Service Seats as part of your package, you will typically have a certain number of these Seats available to assign to Users in your Planhat tenant.
📌 Important to note
If your organization does not have this package, Service Seats are not relevant to you, and you will not see them as an option for Roles or Users in your tenant.
Where do you see Seats in Planhat?
Like we have just shown for User Types, when you create a User Type or Role, you can select if a Service Seat is included (as shown in the screenshot below) - remembering that this Seat can only be used in combination with Core or Productivity User Types. Like we saw above, whether a Service Seat is selected or not will affect which Roles can then be assigned to a new User, to make sure the permissions are aligned. Remember, we will go into this in more detail later in this article. In your Planhat tenant, you can also view the Seats assigned to existing Roles and Users.
User Types and Seats applied to Roles
Let's take a closer look at how User Types and Seats apply to Roles.
📌 Important to note
Here we are talking specifically about the Roles that are applied to "Users" (i.e. you and your teammates, also sometimes called "Team Members" in Planhat).
There is a separate (but related) concept of "External Roles", which you apply to End Users who you have invited to Portals - you can learn more about that in our separate article here.
As a reminder, Roles are sets of permissions.
Each Role is now associated with a specific User Type and a Seat status (i.e. whether a Seat is applied or not).
Historically, Roles have represented particular jobs/departments - "Administrator", "CSM", "Manager" and "Developer" etc. - although with the introduction of User Types and Seats, you may now choose to set up Roles that explicitly refer to these instead, such as "Productivity + Service".
When it comes to how User Types and Seats affect Roles, the main aspects to be aware of are:
🔑 Key points
The User Type of a Role, and whether a Seat is added or not, applies limits to the permissions that can be enabled in that Role (with "Core + Service" being the maximum permissions)
This means if you create a Role for "Core + Service", and a Role for "Viewer", and so on, those Roles will automatically have different permissions, without any further intervention from you
You can further customize each Role, but the User Type and Seat status will always determine the maximum permissions you can enable - e.g. you can't have a Role with the "View" User Type and then turn on Create and Edit etc. permissions
User Types and Seats when creating a new Role
Brand new Role
This particular article is not focused specifically on how to create a Role, but as a summary/reminder, you go to the "Settings" Global Tool (in the "System Admin" dropdown menu in the top left of your tenant), scroll down to the "Users & Roles" category, and then click on "Roles". Once in the Roles screen, click on the button with a symbol of a person and a plus. This is shown in the screenshot below.
Click the image to view it enlarged
When you click on the "person plus" symbol to create a new Role, it will open up a modal like so:
After giving your Role a name (and optionally a description), you need to choose:
Which of the 3 User Types this Role will correspond to
... remembering that the User Type you select will apply a limit to the permissions you can have enabled within this Role (with "Core" being the maximum level)
Whether or not that Role has the Service Seat applied
... remembering that this add-on will allow additional permissions to be enabled
Note that you will only have the option to add a Service Seat if:
You have selected a "Core" or "Productivity" User Type (i.e. not "View")
Your tenant has the Service Delivery package activated (i.e. you have the "Advanced Service" line item)
📌 Important to note
Make sure you carefully consider which User Type and Seat status to select for each Role, as you won't be able to change this after the Role is created.
Once you click "Save", this will create your new Role with the maximum permissions for that User Type and Seat (if applied) - this pre-populating of permissions saves you time (rather than needing to enable each permission individually). You can then customize the permissions in the right-hand panel (e.g. by disabling specific permissions). As a reminder, Roles consist of three types of permissions:
You can click the links above to learn more about each of these types of permissions.
If a particular permission is not available for that particular User Type and Seat combination, then you simply won't see it to enable for that Role. For example, for the "View" User Type, your data model permissions (before your customization) will look like the screenshot below. As you can see, only the "View" checkbox is available.
Duplicating (copying) Roles
You can also create a Role by duplicating (copying/cloning) an existing Role.
This can be useful if you would like to create a Role with permissions based on another existing Role you already have set up, rather than just considering the User Type and whether a Seat is applied.
To do this:
Mouse over a Role in the list, to show its ellipsis button
Click "Duplicate"
Use the modal/form (example below) to adjust the Role name, and description (if applicable). Note that you can select a different User Type and Seat status than the Role you copied
Click "Save" to create the Role. As usual, you can modify the Role's permissions (although not the User Type or Seat status) in the right-hand panel
User Types and Seats for existing Roles
You can view the User Type, and whether or not a Seat is applied, for each Role within the Role list (see left-hand green rectangle below) and also in the Role details you see when you click to open up a Role (see right-hand green rectangle below).
Click the image to view it enlarged
Remember that User Type and Seat status cannot be changed for a Role once it's created, so if you would like a Role with a different User Type and Seat status, you should create a new Role.
User Types and Seats applied to Users
Now you're familiar with how User Types and Seats influence Roles, we'll next take a look at how they affect Users. We'll particularly focus on how the combination of User Types and Seats plus Roles ultimately determines the access levels (permissions) for each User.
📌 Definition
"User" is the Planhat model representing users of Planhat - i.e. you and your colleagues (teammates). You may also see this written in some places in the Planhat app as "Team Member".
In upgraded Planhat (ws.planhat.com), you add and manage Users in the "Settings" Global Tool - scroll down to the "Users & Roles" category, and select the "Users" tab.
📚 Additional resource
We have a separate article specifically on:
adding (creating) Users
and managing (e.g. editing) them
so for full details on these topics, see here.
Users in Planhat are assigned ...
... a User Type ("Core", "Productivity" or "View")
... potentially a "Service" Seat (if applicable)
... usually one Role (although occasionally it may be multiple)
Click the image to view it enlarged
🚀 Tip
To show the specific columns from the screenshot example above, you can use the slider icon to customize your columns.
One significant difference between how User Types and Seats apply to Roles v. Users is:
you cannot change the User Type or Seat status for a Role
but you can change the User Type or Seat status for a User
(where "Seat status" means whether or not a Seat is applied).
So how do User Types and Seats apply to combinations of Roles and individual Users?
🔑 Key points
For each User: the User Type chosen, and whether a Seat is applied, acts as a limit on which Roles can be assigned to that User
The Role assigned to the User then defines the permissions that are enabled for that User
For example, if the User is assigned a Service Seat, but then is given a Role without the Service Seat, then that User will not have access to the Service Seat permissions
Each User's particular User Type, and whether a Service Seat is applied, determines which Roles you can select to apply to that User. These User properties act as a cap (maximum) for permissions. You can only apply a Role when the User has the matching (or higher) User Type and Seat status.
Remember, the hierarchy of User Types is:
"Core" is at the top, with the highest level of access
"Productivity" is the middle level of access
"View" is the most limited access level
... and Service Seats add additional access.
Let's illustrate this with some practical examples.
Imagine you have Roles for every combination of User Type and Seat:
Core with Service Seat
Core without Service Seat
Productivity with Service Seat
Productivity without Service Seat
View
If you then have a User with the Core User Type and a Service Seat, you can apply any of those Roles to them, as that User is eligible for all the Roles. Note that the User having Core and Service itself doesn't directly give that User access to features via permissions - it's the Role you apply that gives access to features via permissions. So a User who's Core and Service but only assigned a View-level Role would only have View permissions.
If you have a User with the Productivity User Type and no Service Seat, then you could apply the "Productivity without Service Seat" Role or the "View" Role to that User, but the other Roles would be grayed out in the dropdown menu. You can mouse over any unavailable option to see why you're not able to select it for a particular User - for example:
Tip - "View"/"Core" Users
If you had set up Roles before the introduction of User Types and Seats, you may have intended to create a "View"-type Role but instead given it some additional permissions. In the product release, such Roles would have been assigned the "Core" User Type if they included permissions that require Core access, and Users with that Role assigned would have been set to be Core Users. You may not want this, as the number of Core Users available in your Planhat tenant is usually limited.
If you would like to change these Users to View Users with View permissions, then you can follow these steps:
Create a new Role by duplicating (copying/cloning) your old "View"-type Role (we talked through how to do this above), but this time set the User Type to be "View"
This will copy the permissions of the old Role, excluding any out of the scope of the "View" User Type
Filter your Users list (in the "Settings" Global Tool) by "Roles / Any Of / [your old Role name]"
Apply the new "View" Role to those Users, and remove the old Role from them
Change the User Type of those Users from "Core" to "View"
In the Users table, you can use the checkboxes to select multiple Users, and then click on "Set Field" at the bottom to change the User Type in bulk