Whenever I want to add something like this I usually do it in my global.php.
I have a button appear on the top of my header for my moderators to link to the moderator cp. In my global.php I entered this code
PHP Code:
if (($bbuserinfo[usergroupid]==6 or $bbuserinfo[usergroupid]==5 or $bbuserinfo[usergroupid]==7)) {
$modbutton="<a href=\"http://www.abudokan.com/mod_directory/index.php\"><img src=\"http://www.abudokan.com/images/top_mod.gif\" border=\"0\" alt=\"Moderator Panel\"></a>";
} else {
$modbutton='';
}
above
I hope I read your question right and was able to answer for you.