Fluid offers different licence types so that everyone who takes part in your projects and portfolio can be in Fluid - from the people who run the portfolio, to the people who deliver the work, to the wider business who request work and follow its progress.
A user's licence type sets the boundary of what they can do in Fluid. Within that boundary, their roles and their permissions on individual projects, portfolios, boards and meetings decide what they can actually see and change.
Two related settings are separate from the licence:
Roles and permissions - a licence does not grant access on its own. A Licensed user still only sees the projects and features their roles and permissions allow.
Utilization Type - whether a person counts towards resourcing and capacity planning is set on their resource plan, not by their licence. See the Utilization Types article.
The licence types at a glance
Licence type | Who it is for | In one line |
|---|---|---|
Licensed | Project managers, PMO, portfolio managers, resource managers, finance, administrators | Run your projects and portfolio, with every capability Fluid offers |
Collaborator | Team members and contributors who deliver the work | Collaborate in your project ecosystem - boards, meetings, workhubs, actions, timesheets |
Community | The wider business and external participants | Connect the wider business to your PMO - work requests and project health reporting |
Unlicensed | People you plan and assign work to who do not need to use Fluid | Allocate them to projects and assign them tasks - without a sign-in |
Licensed (full licence)
The Licensed tier is for the people who manage projects and portfolios and who configure Fluid. It includes every capability, subject to the user's roles and permissions:
Manage projects and programmes - as project manager, editor or owner.
Manage portfolios, portfolio dashboards and reporting.
Financials, benefits and resourcing, including resource management and capacity planning.
Approving timesheets and managing resources.
Owning and managing Delivery Teams.
Configuring and administering your Fluid site.
Everything a Collaborator can do.
Choose Licensed when the person runs a project or portfolio, manages money or people, or administers Fluid.
Collaborator
The Collaborator tier lets people collaborate in your project ecosystem without the project and portfolio management capabilities of a full licence. Think of it as the equivalent of a work management licence - boards, meetings and task collaboration - connected to your projects.
Collaborators can:
Create, own and manage boards.
Create, own and facilitate meetings.
Create, own and work in workhubs.
Create actions and decisions, and update the ones assigned to them.
Submit timesheets.
Take part in projects they have been added to, and work on items assigned to them - for example a schedule task, risk or issue they own.
Collaborators cannot manage projects, portfolios, money or people. They do not have access to financials, resourcing or benefits, cannot be a project manager or editor, cannot approve timesheets, and cannot own a Delivery Team.
Roles. A Collaborator can only hold the User, Project access and Timesheet Exempt roles. When you change someone to Collaborator, Fluid removes any other roles they had, and other roles cannot be added while they remain a Collaborator. This is what keeps financials, resourcing, benefits and project creation out of reach. To change which roles Collaborators can hold on your site, contact Fluid support.
Choose Collaborator when the person delivers work - including people who only need to record time - but does not manage a project or portfolio.
See the Collaborator Licence article for details.
Community
The Community tier brings the wider business into your PMO processes - your PMO's reach shouldn't stop at licensed users.
Community users sign in to a single page - the Community Portal - where they can:
Raise and follow work requests on the boards you publish to them.
View a read-only project health summary for projects that have been shared with them.
They can be assigned to items such as schedule tasks and actions, but cannot see or update them. Nothing else is available to them. This restriction is enforced by Fluid, so a Community licence is safe to give to large populations and to people outside your organisation.
Choose Community when the person requests work, sponsors it or needs to follow a project's health - but does not work in Fluid day to day.
See the Community License article for details.
Unlicensed
The Unlicensed tier is for people you want to allocate to projects or assign to tasks, but who do not need to sign in to Fluid themselves - for example contractors or team members whose work is planned and tracked by someone else.
An Unlicensed user:
Can be allocated to projects as a resource and counted in capacity planning.
Can be assigned to schedule tasks and other project items.
Cannot sign in, so they cannot be given the User role.
Is not counted towards your licence usage - see How licences are counted below.
Resource records and user records. Everyone in Fluid has a resource record, which holds details used for planning - name, role, department, capacity, rate card. Giving someone a licence that lets them sign in adds a user record, which controls their sign-in and roles. An Unlicensed person has a resource record only, so their details are still available for planning, allocation and reporting.
Choose Unlicensed when you need the person in your plans and assignments, but they will not use Fluid. If they later need to sign in, change their licence - their allocations and assignments are kept.
What each licence is designed for
Licensed | Collaborator | Community | |
|---|---|---|---|
Raise and follow work requests | Yes | Yes | Yes - from the Community Portal |
Boards - create, own, manage | Yes | Yes | No - but they can be assigned to work requests, which appear in their My requests. |
Meetings - create, own, facilitate | Yes | Yes | No |
Workhubs - create, own, manage | Yes | Yes | No |
Actions and decisions | Yes | Yes | No |
Submit timesheets | Yes | Yes | No |
Approve timesheets, manage resources | Yes | No | No |
Take part in projects - work on assigned schedule tasks, board tasks and risks & issues | Yes | Yes | Can be assigned to schedule tasks or risks and issues, but cannot see or update them |
Manage projects - project manager, editor | Yes | No | No |
View shared projects | Yes - in the full application | Yes - in the full application | Read-only health summary |
Portfolio management and dashboards | Yes | Health reporting only | No |
Financials, resourcing, benefits | Yes | No | No |
Delivery Teams | Member and owner | Member only | Member only (if utilization type is set to Include) |
Configure and administer Fluid | Yes, with admin roles | No | No |
All access is still subject to the user's roles and permissions.
Choosing the right licence
Each licence includes everything the licences below it can do - a Licensed user can do everything a Collaborator can, and a Collaborator can raise and follow work requests just like a Community user. The table shows the minimum licence each person needs.
The person... | Licence |
|---|---|
Manages a project, programme or portfolio | Licensed |
Is a senior stakeholder or executive who needs access to all dashboards, or takes part in governance workflows such as approvals and stage gates | Licensed |
Manages budgets, benefits or resources, or approves timesheets | Licensed |
Configures or administers Fluid | Licensed |
Works on project tasks, boards or meetings | Collaborator |
Only needs to record time | Collaborator |
Raises requests or needs to follow a project's health | Community |
Is an external stakeholder, sponsor or auditor who needs a view of a project | Community |
Needs to be allocated to projects or assigned tasks, but will not sign in | Unlicensed |
Senior stakeholders need a Licensed user. Executives, sponsors and portfolio leads who need to see all dashboards - including financials, resourcing and portfolio reporting - or who take part in governance workflows need a Licensed user. A Collaborator licence is designed for people delivering the work and does not give access to those areas. If a senior stakeholder only needs to follow the health of specific projects, a Community licence may be enough.
If someone's role changes, change their licence - their history, requests and assignments are kept.
Setting a user's licence
Individually - go to Administration Console > User & Resource Management, edit the user and choose their licence type.
In bulk - the resource import accepts a licence type for each user.
Through your identity provider (recommended) - with SCIM, add the user to the group in your identity provider (for example Entra ID or Okta) that matches the licence they need. Adding a user to a group sets their licence type in Fluid automatically.
Identity provider group | Licence type |
|---|---|
| Licensed |
| Collaborator |
| Community - requires Community licences to be turned on |
| Unlicensed - removes the user's ability to sign in |
These groups must be created in your identity provider. See the SCIM provisioning and licence groups article.
What licence new users receive. If you don't choose a licence for a new user yourself, Fluid gives them a default one:
How the user is created | Default licence | With Community licences turned on |
|---|---|---|
They sign up themselves | Collaborator | Community |
They sign in via SSO for the first time | Licensed | Community |
They accept an invitation | Licensed | Community |
They are provisioned via SCIM without a licence group | Licensed | Community |
An administrator creates them in the Administration Console | Licensed | Licensed |
Users provisioned via SCIM who belong to a licence group, such as Fluid Collaborator User, receive that group's licence. You can change any user's licence afterwards. See the Community License article for more on turning Community licences on.
How licences are counted
Licence usage is counted from the licence type on each user record. Each licence type - Licensed, Collaborator and Community - is counted separately, against its own allowance:
A user counts towards a licence type if that licence type is set on their record at any point during a calendar month.
Counting is based on the licence type only - not on whether the user is active, inactive or locked. A deactivated user who still has a Licensed, Collaborator or Community licence type continues to count.
Capacity does not affect counting. A user whose capacity is set to zero still counts if they have a Licensed, Collaborator or Community licence type.
Unlicensed users are not counted.
If your organisation has unlimited Community licences, Community users are not counted.
To stop a user being counted, change their licence type - to Unlicensed if they should no longer sign in.
Good practice
Always update leavers. When you deactivate a user, change their licence type to Unlicensed at the same time.
Review usage regularly. Check user records and licence types periodically to make sure they reflect who actually needs access.
Use SCIM where you can. Managing licences through identity provider groups keeps licence types in step with your directory as people join, move and leave.