Who Can Access Market Development Funds
MDF access is granted in two independent ways. A colleague can be given authority over the whole module, or over individual fund programs. Most organizations use both: a small central team manages the module, and channel managers get access only to the programs they own.
The Two Routes
| Route | Granted on | Scope | Typical holder |
|---|
| Enable MDF Management Access permission | The user's Security Role | Every program, request and claim | Channel marketing lead, MDF administrator |
| Program audience | An individual fund program | That program only | Channel account manager, regional marketing manager |
System administrators always have full access, regardless of either setting.
Access also depends on your licence and product. MDF requires the Market Development Funds licence and the partner portal product. Without both, the module does not appear for anyone, including administrators.
Granting Module-Wide Access
- Open the roles list in Setup.
- Open the role you want to grant, or create a new one.
- Switch Enable MDF Management Access on and save.
Holders can create and edit fund programs, allocate budget, configure activity types, approve or reject any request, activity or claim, verify proof of performance, and see every report - across every program and partner.
Grant this sparingly. It carries no program-level limit: a holder can approve a request against any program and any partner. For a channel manager who should only handle their own partners, use a program audience instead.
What Enable MDF Management Access does not cover
| Action | Required |
|---|
| Enabling or disabling the module | Administrator |
| Changing module settings - claim rules, notifications, terms | Administrator |
| Building or editing the approval chain | Administrator |
| Issuing or reversing a reimbursement | Administrator |
| Migrating activity types | Administrator |
Reimbursement being administrator-only is worth planning around: a channel manager can approve spend but cannot pay it, which keeps approval and payment separate.
Granting Access to One Program
A fund program has its own audience. Adding someone there gives them authority over that program alone - its allocations, its requests, its claims - and nothing else. This is the right tool for a channel manager who owns a region or a partner tier.
What Partners See
Partners see only their own account: their allocation, their requests, their activities and their claims. They cannot see another partner's budget or requests under any circumstances, including partners in the same program.
A partner needs both an allocation and the program shared with them. With only one of the two, they see nothing. See The Partner Experience.
Who Gets Nothing
Internal users without Enable MDF Management Access and without a program audience, and customer-type users, have no MDF access at all. The module does not appear for them.
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