What you'll achieve
You will understand the free seat, paid Collaborator allocations and Participant capacity, then make an attributable account-level decision without confusing licensing with permissions.
Who this is for
This guide is for an Organisation Administrator with the permission or assigned action described below. If the navigation or action is missing, check the selected organisation, effective account level, feature state and role before assuming the product is unavailable.
Before you start
Check that you have:
- Authority to view or manage billing and licences.
- The approved number of paid seats.
- The people who need full Collaborator access.
- The effect of any reduction on current allocations and Participant capacity.
1. Read the billing summary
Open Settings > Organisation > Licensing. Review purchased seats, allocated seats, the permanent free-seat holder, Participant usage and any payment or recovery notice.
2. Separate eligibility from permission
A paid allocation makes a person eligible for Collaborator functionality. It does not give them a role. Organisation administration additionally requires the organisation.admin permission.
3. Allocate full access intentionally
In Licence allocation, find an active User seats licence with an available seat. Under Allocate an active member, choose the person and select Allocate seat. Check that their name appears in the allocation table and the available count falls by one. Then verify their role. The permanent free holder stays assigned; that allocation has no Deallocate action.
4. Use Participant access for scoped actions
Participants currently have scoped access for policy and asset attestations. They should not be used as a workaround for a licensed workflow that requires full collaboration.
5. Review reductions before confirming
Use Deallocate beside a paid allocation when that person no longer needs the seat. Check the resulting allocation and available-seat counts. A subscription quantity change is separate: read its preview and effective date before confirming, and tell affected people when access will change. Do not deallocate the permanent free holder.
6. Handle recovery separately
If the page shows billing recovery, follow the recovery route. Do not change roles or repeatedly invite people to work around an entitlement restriction.
Check it worked
- Purchased, allocated and available quantities reconcile.
- The free-seat holder is still identified.
- Each Collaborator has an approved role after allocation.
- Participants can reach only the scoped actions intended for them.
If something goes wrong
| What you see | What to do |
|---|---|
| A seat is available but the user is restricted | Check membership status, allocation status and effective dates before changing permissions. |
| A Participant cannot open a full feature | That is expected when the feature requires Collaborator access. Decide whether a paid allocation is justified. |
| The organisation is overdue | Use the billing recovery information. Do not describe provisional access as paid or settled. |
| Counts do not reconcile | Stop making allocations and raise a support case with the displayed counts and organisation context. |
Human judgement, security and privacy
A licence is commercial eligibility; a permission is authority. Keep both decisions explicit. Never grant administration merely to make a page appear.
What's next
After an allocation change, run the relevant access diagnosis and ask the member to confirm their first intended task.
Need help?
Use your organisation's approved Backstory support route. Include the organisation, page and action that failed, but do not include passwords, invitation links, secret keys or unnecessary personal or confidential content.