How to Create and Manage License Pools [Beta]

This article explains how admins can efficiently manage their Udemy Business account’s licenses by creating and leveraging license pools. 

• Learn more about license pools.
• Learn how to assign license pools to learners.

Table of contents

• How to create license pools
• Editing or deleting license pools
• Granting users permission to invite from license pools
• Difference between membership and permissions to license pools
• Memberships and permissions for group admins

How to create license pools

To use the license management and allocation capabilities facilitated by license pools, there are two essential steps to take first. 

1. Create license pools to distribute available licenses
2. Grant access to these license pools for users with the ability to invite others

This section will address the first one:

To create a license pool, please follow the steps outlined below:

1. Access the license pools option from the Manage users dropdown on the left of the Admin tools.

2. Click the Create license pool button.

3. Enter the following:
   • Name: Give your license pool a name.
   • Number of Enterprise licenses: Number of enterprise licenses to be assigned to users. Bear in mind this number represents the limit of licenses for this license pool. The maximum number accepted in this field is the number of enterprise licenses available in the main Enterprise subscription.
   • Number of Pro licenses: Number of Pro licenses available to be assigned to users. This information is only visible to customers who purchased a Pro subscription. This number represents the limit of licenses for this license pool. The maximum number accepted in this field is the number of Pro licenses available in the main Pro subscription. Note: you cannot add more Pro licenses than Enterprise licenses to a license pool.

4. Once you've entered the required information, the initially gray "Create license pool" button will become active, changing its color to black. Proceed by clicking on the now active "Create license pool" button.

After the license pool has been created, you can grant invite permission specifically for this license pool to group admins. This allows them to allocate licenses directly from this license pool. You can also move active users to this license pool to accurately reflect the pool's available license balance.

Editing or deleting license pools

To delete a license pool, change its name, or update its license limits, click on the ellipses icon (three-dots) next to the license pool name. Next, select the desired action. 

• When choosing the Edit license pool option, you will have the opportunity to define the following parameters, similar to the creation process:

• Name: Only unique names will be accepted in this update
• Number of Enterprise licenses: When increasing the license limit, the number of licenses added must be available in the Default pool. When decreasing the license limit, the number of licenses must not be lower than the number of active users in the license pool.
• Number of Pro licenses: Same as above.

• When choosing the Delete license pool option, the available licenses and associated users from the deleted pool will be assigned to the Default License Pool. 

Granting users permission to invite from license pools 

After license pools are created and licenses are distributed, it is time to grant access to the users who will allocate these licenses and invite users. This permission is available only to group admins and to configure it, admins must follow the steps outlined below:

1. Select Manage users from the Manage dropdown or select All users or Licensed users 
2. Begin typing the user's name you want to grant the permission to in the search users bar. The user list below will update as you type to display relevant results
3. Once you locate the desired user, click on the ellipses icon (three-dots) to the right of the user’s name
4. Select Edit role and permissions.

5. The user will need to be granted the group admin role. If the user is already a group admin, click Next

6. Select the groups this group admin will administer. Please note that when this user invites a new user they will have to be assigned to one of these groups as well. 

7. Grant this user  permission to invite and deactivate users within the groups they manage by selecting the checkbox. Once this option is selected, you will see a dropdown where you can specify the license pool this group admin can draw licenses from.

8. Finally, click on the 'Select license pool...' dropdown option and choose the license pool from which this group admin can allocate licenses to other users, as well as assign them a pro license. Once selected, click the Save changes button.

Difference between membership and permissions for license pools

Membership: When an active user is moved to a license pool or joins Udemy Business via a group admin invitation, their licenses are drawn from that pool, making them members. We also refer to members as users assigned to a license pool. Admins can view users assigned to license pools at any point by either using the license pool filter in the manage users section or from the license pools page.

• Learn how to assign license pools to learners.

Permissions: When an admin grants a group admin permission to allocate licenses and invite users from a license pool, this group admin now has permission to invite and assign licenses from this license pool. Admins can view a group admins’ permissions using the Edit role and permissions menu option for the user in the manage users section.

Memberships and permissions for group admins

Group admins can be granted permission to a single license pool and as a user they can be assigned to one license pool only. It is important to know that these license pools may not necessarily be the same. For example, a group admin may be a member of the Learning and Development license pool and have permission to send invites from the Sales license pool.