User Association

What Is User Association?

User association (formerly product-to-user association) is the process that enables you to connect your customers' users to the products or Sentinel keys that grant usage rights to those users. In User-Based Licensing, this process is essential for managing software access, tracking usage, enforcing compliance, and controlling access for each individual user.

User association simplifies license management by eliminating the need to manage separate entitlements for each user or group of users, or to require individual activation and revocation as users join or leave roles in your organization. Instead of managing individual entitlements, you control access centrally through an associated users list that links to a specific product or Sentinel key. When you add users to the list, they automatically receive access to the software or service. When you remove them, their access is immediately revoked and the license becomes available for reassignment. User association works with your activated entitlements—whether for individual licenses or quantity-based entitlements that cover multiple users.

Consider this typical use case: Suppose you run product training sessions with different participants every few weeks. With traditional entitlement management, you would need to create and activate new entitlements for each training cycle and revoke them afterward. User association eliminates this repetitive work—you simply update the associated users list for your training materials. As long as the licensing terms remain unchanged, switching participants requires only a quick list update.

Sentinel EMS provides several types of user association that support various access levels. Choose the access level that meets your business needs. You can associate users by:

>Product. Associating users directly with a product provides consolidated access to that product across all associated entitlements. All associated users automatically gain access to and can use the product as long as at least one activated entitlement line item includes that product.

>Sentinel Key. To achieve the highest level of granular control over user access, associate users with Sentinel key. This approach precisely ties a user's product access to that unique key.

This page describes how you can perform this task from the Sentinel EMS vendor portal. A customer's administrator user can perform this task from the Sentinel EMS customer portal. For details, see Guide to the Sentinel EMS Customer Portal.

To manage user association:

1.From the navigation pane, select Customers > User Associations to view the User Association page.

2.In the Customer field, enter the name of the customer. You can also select the customer name from the list of suggestions that appear when you start typing. When a customer is selected, all the products available for user association from all the customer's activated entitlements are displayed.

Example when both consolidated product association and association by Sentinel keys are supported

Example when only association by Sentinel keys is supported

3.Scroll to the product that you want to associate with users. If you are associating users with Sentinel key, and multiple items are available, then copy the relevant Key ID value to the clipboard before continuing.

4.(Optional) If you are associating users with Sentinel key, add a description. For instructions, see User Association or Associated Users by Key Tab.

5.In the Actions column for the relevant product, click Manage User Association. The Manage User Association page is displayed showing the lists of available and associated users for the specified customer. If user association is available for both Product and Sentinel Key, click the required Associate User With toggle button to view the relevant lists of available and associated users.

Example when both consolidated product association and association by Sentinel keys are supported and 'Product' is selected

Example when both consolidated product association and association by Sentinel keys are supported and 'Sentinel Key' is selected

Example when only association by Sentinel keys is supported

6.Do one of the following:

•To associate users with the entity: In the Available Users list, click the users that you want to associate. The specified users are moved to the Associated Users list.

•To disassociate users from the entity: In the Associated Users list, scroll to the user that you want to disassociate and, in the Actions column, click Delete. The user is moved back to the Available Users list. Repeat for each additional user.

7.Click Save.