> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://learn.nextedy.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Manage User Groups

> Create and manage Polarion user groups to control which users have active Nextedy RISKSHEET editing access and which users receive read-only access.

export const LastReviewed = ({date}) => {
  if (!date) return null;
  const formatted = new Date(`${date}T00:00:00Z`).toLocaleDateString("en-US", {
    year: "numeric",
    month: "long",
    day: "numeric",
    timeZone: "UTC"
  });
  return <p className="mt-10 text-sm text-gray-400 dark:text-zinc-500 not-prose">
      Last reviewed on {formatted}
    </p>;
};

## Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure you have:

* Polarion server administrator privileges
* A valid Risksheet license (named / active-user)
* Access to the Polarion **Administration** panel

## Understanding How User Groups Control Access

Risksheet uses Polarion user groups to determine which registered server users count as active (editing) users versus read-only users. This distinction is critical for license compliance because Risksheet license counts are based on **all registered users on the Polarion server**, not just users who hold Polarion licenses.

<Frame>
  <img src="https://mintcdn.com/none-17b4493f/yWl5nA2D0IzEnZC1/risksheet/diagrams/guides/licensing/user-groups/diagram-1.svg?fit=max&auto=format&n=yWl5nA2D0IzEnZC1&q=85&s=b196106ce4863fbc2ffab09ba18aa759" alt="diagram" style={{ maxWidth: "620px", width: "100%" }} width="620" height="100" data-path="risksheet/diagrams/guides/licensing/user-groups/diagram-1.svg" />
</Frame>

The server user count includes every registered account on the Polarion server, regardless of whether that account holds a Polarion ALM license, a Polarion REVIEWER license, or no Polarion license at all. This means an organization with 203 registered server accounts and only 7 Polarion licenses still has 203 server users from the perspective of Risksheet licensing.

<Warning title="Server Users vs. Polarion Licenses">
  Risksheet counts **all registered server users**, not just Polarion license holders. If your Polarion server has 203 registered accounts but only 7 Polarion licenses, your Risksheet license must cover all 203 server users. Users who no longer need access should be deactivated at the server level to reduce the license count. Simply removing a user from the Risksheet group does **not** reduce the server user count -- it only changes their access from edit to read-only.
</Warning>

<Steps>
  <Step title="Create the Risksheet User Group">
    1. Log in to Polarion as a server administrator.

    2. Navigate to **Administration** > **User Management** > **User Groups**.

    3. Click **Create Group**.

    4. Enter the group name exactly as follows:

       ```
       nextedy_risksheet_users
       ```

    5. Provide a description such as "Active Risksheet editing users" to help other administrators understand the group's purpose.

    6. Save the group.

    <Tip title="Group Name Must Be Exact">
      The group name `nextedy_risksheet_users` is a system convention that Risksheet recognizes internally. Using a different name (such as `risksheet-editors` or `risk_users`) will not grant editing access. The name is case-sensitive and must be entered exactly as shown.
    </Tip>
  </Step>

  <Step title="Add Users to the Group">
    1. Open the newly created `nextedy_risksheet_users` group.
    2. Click **Add Members** or **Edit Members** (depending on your Polarion version).
    3. Search for users by name or email address and add each user who should have active editing access to Risksheet.
    4. Save your changes.

    Only users added to this group will be able to create, edit, and save risk items in the Risksheet grid. All other registered server users retain read-only access -- they can view risk analysis tables, navigate the grid, and export data, but they cannot modify any values.

    When deciding which users to add, consider the following:

    | User Role                                     | Add to Group?       | Access Level                                                            |
    | --------------------------------------------- | ------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------- |
    | Safety engineer performing FMEA/HARA analysis | Yes                 | Full edit access to risk items, formulas, and columns                   |
    | Quality manager reviewing risk assessments    | Depends on workflow | Edit access if they need to modify items; read-only if they only review |
    | Project manager viewing risk status           | No                  | Read-only access is typically sufficient                                |
    | External auditor                              | No                  | Read-only access for compliance review                                  |
    | Test engineers adding verification results    | Yes                 | Edit access to update test status and link test results                 |
  </Step>

  <Step title="Refresh the License Page">
    After adding or removing users from the group, you must refresh the license configuration for the changes to take effect. This is a critical step that is frequently overlooked.

    1. Navigate to **Administration** > **Nextedy Risksheet** > **License**.
    2. Close the License page completely (navigate away to any other Administration page).
    3. Reopen the License page by navigating back to **Administration** > **Nextedy Risksheet** > **License**.

    The License page reads group membership at load time and updates the internal permission cache. Without this refresh cycle, the system continues using the previous group membership snapshot.

    <Warning title="Critical: License Refresh Required">
      Simply adding a user to the `nextedy_risksheet_users` group is **not enough**. You **must** close and reopen the Administration > Nextedy Risksheet > License page after every group membership change. This step overwrites the internal license permissions. Without this step, newly added users will see an access error when attempting to edit, even though they appear in the group. In some environments, a full Polarion service restart may be required if the License page still shows stale data after reopening.
    </Warning>
  </Step>

  <Step title="Verify User Access">
    After refreshing the License page, perform these verification checks:

    1. Confirm the **Named Users** count on the License page reflects the number of users in the `nextedy_risksheet_users` group.
    2. Ask one of the newly added users to open a Risksheet document.
    3. Have the user attempt an edit operation, such as changing a cell value or adding a new risk item.
    4. Verify the edit saves successfully without permission errors.
    5. Additionally, verify that a user **not** in the group can view the Risksheet but receives a read-only indicator when attempting to edit.

    If any user reports access issues after being added to the group, refer to the troubleshooting section below.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Managing the Powersheet User Group

If your environment also includes Nextedy POWERSHEET, an additional user group is required for license alignment. When both Risksheet and Powersheet are installed with production licenses, the system reads active user assignments from the Powersheet group.

### Creating the Powersheet Group

1. Navigate to **Administration** > **User Management** > **User Groups**.

2. Create a new group named:

   ```
   nextedy_powersheet_users
   ```

3. Add all users who need edit access to **both** Risksheet and Powersheet.

4. Save the group.

5. Navigate to **Administration** > **Nextedy Risksheet** > **License** and close/reopen the page to refresh.

<Warning title="Upgrade to v25.11.0+ with Powersheet">
  When upgrading Risksheet to version 25.11.0 or later in an environment where Powersheet is also installed, the `nextedy_powersheet_users` group becomes **mandatory**. If this group does not exist, the License page will show **0 named users configured** and all licenses as inactive, even though users are correctly assigned to `nextedy_risksheet_users`. Create the `nextedy_powersheet_users` group and add your users to resolve this issue immediately after the upgrade.
</Warning>

### Migrating Between Groups

If you are transitioning from a Risksheet-only deployment to a combined Risksheet + Powersheet deployment:

1. Create the `nextedy_powersheet_users` group.
2. Copy all members from `nextedy_risksheet_users` to `nextedy_powersheet_users`.
3. Navigate to **Administration** > **Nextedy Risksheet** > **License** and close/reopen the page.
4. Confirm the named user count reflects the `nextedy_powersheet_users` membership.
5. Once verified, you can optionally clean up the old `nextedy_risksheet_users` group, but keeping it populated is harmless.

<Tip title="Keep Both Groups Synchronized">
  Until you confirm the migration is complete, keep both groups populated with the same members. This provides a safety net if you need to roll back the Powersheet installation. You can remove the old group assignment after verifying that the License page correctly reads from `nextedy_powersheet_users`.
</Tip>

## Removing Users from the Group

When a team member no longer needs editing access:

1. Navigate to **Administration** > **User Management** > **User Groups**.
2. Open the `nextedy_risksheet_users` group (or `nextedy_powersheet_users` if Powersheet is installed).
3. Remove the user from the group membership.
4. Navigate to **Administration** > **Nextedy Risksheet** > **License** and close/reopen the page to refresh permissions.

The removed user will lose editing privileges on the next page load and revert to read-only access. Any unsaved changes in an open Risksheet session will fail to save.

<Tip title="Deactivate vs. Remove">
  Removing a user from the Risksheet group changes them from edit to read-only, but it does **not** reduce your server user count for licensing purposes. To reduce the total server user count (and potentially reduce license costs), you must deactivate or delete the user account at the Polarion server level.
</Tip>

## License Count and the SMB Discount

Risksheet offers a Small and Medium Business (SMB) discount tier for organizations with 50 or fewer registered server users. Understanding how server users are counted is essential for maintaining SMB eligibility.

| Factor                | Details                                                                                              |
| --------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Server user count     | All registered accounts on the Polarion server, regardless of Polarion license type or active status |
| SMB threshold         | 50 server users maximum to qualify for SMB pricing                                                   |
| Active user group     | Controls who can edit; does **not** reduce the server user count for licensing                       |
| Deactivating accounts | Removing unused server accounts at the Polarion level reduces the total server user count            |
| Locked accounts       | Locked (but not deleted) accounts still count as registered server users                             |

<Tip title="Reducing License Costs">
  To stay within the SMB discount threshold or reduce your overall license cost, audit your Polarion server for inactive, locked, or test accounts. Deactivating or deleting these accounts at the server level (not just removing them from the Risksheet group) is the only way to reduce the total server user count that your Risksheet license must cover.
</Tip>

## Troubleshooting Common Issues

**User cannot edit after being added to the group**

* Confirm you closed and reopened the License page after adding the user (see Step 3).
* Verify the user is added to the correct group: `nextedy_risksheet_users` for Risksheet-only deployments, or `nextedy_powersheet_users` if Powersheet is installed.
* Check that the user's Polarion account is active and not locked.
* In some environments, a Polarion service restart may be required if the License page still shows stale data after reopening.

**License page shows 0 named users after upgrade**

* If Powersheet is installed alongside Risksheet v25.11.0 or later, create the `nextedy_powersheet_users` group and add all relevant users.
* Close and reopen the License page to trigger a permission refresh.
* If the count remains at 0, restart the Polarion service.

**Server user count exceeds expectations**

* Audit the Polarion server for deactivated, locked, or test accounts that remain registered.
* Each registered account counts toward the Risksheet license total, even if the account has never logged in or has no Polarion license assigned.
* Service accounts and API-only accounts also count as registered server users.

**Powersheet features not available despite license**

* Risksheet automatically detects and unlocks additional features when a valid Powersheet **production** license exists. Evaluation and trial Powersheet licenses do not enable these enhancements.
* License changes are detected automatically -- when the Powersheet license status changes (activated, expired, or upgraded from evaluation to production), Risksheet features adjust accordingly without requiring a server restart.

## Verification

You should now see:

* The `nextedy_risksheet_users` group (and optionally `nextedy_powersheet_users`) listed under **Administration** > **User Management** > **User Groups**
* The correct count of active named users displayed on the **Administration** > **Nextedy Risksheet** > **License** page
* Group members able to open, edit, and save changes in Risksheet documents
* Non-group members restricted to read-only Risksheet access with no ability to modify data

## See Also

* [Understand License Types](/risksheet/guides/licensing/understanding-licenses) -- overview of the server-user / active-user model and the read-only Connect license, and how server users interact with each type
* [Assign Active Users](/risksheet/guides/licensing/assigning-active-users) -- step-by-step guide for assigning individual active users to specific license slots
* [Choose License Tier](/risksheet/guides/licensing/license-tiers) -- compare license tiers and SMB discount eligibility
* [Configure Permissions](/risksheet/guides/administration/permissions) -- Polarion role and permission configuration for Risksheet access control
* [Update Risksheet](/risksheet/guides/administration/update) -- version upgrade procedures that may affect user group requirements

<LastReviewed date="2026-06-29" />