Setting up your clients in LivePlan

Setting up clients in LivePlan is a two-step process. The first step is to create a business plan for your client to work on (create a company). The second step is to invite the client to access their company through your account (add a Contributor). Use the guide below to make sure that things are set up correctly:

In this article:

• Creating a company
• Adding contributors
• Viewing the status of an invitation

Creating a company

1. After signing into the LivePlan site license account for your organization, in the left-hand sidebar menu, click on the company drop-down, and then click View all companies:
   
   
   
2. This will take you to a page where you’ll name the company, set the starting forecast settings, and decide which users should have access to the plan. Make sure to click the “Create Company” icon in the top-right to complete the company setup
   
   

Adding Contributors

1. After you have created the company (you may decide to use the name of your client for their company name; you can change this name later), on the left of the LivePlan screen, click Invite Users:
   
   
   
2. Click “Add a Contributor”. An overlay will appear where you enter the email address for your client (so that they will receive an invitation to sign-in)
   
   
   
3. On that screen, you should ONLY check the following boxes:
   1. See actual financial results 
   2. Give them access to the company that you created for them
      
      
      DO NOT give the client access to “Create and manage companies” or “Add and manage users”
   3. Click Send Invitation
4. The contributor will receive an email invitation containing a link to your LivePlan account.  LivePlan also immediately displays the link for you so you can copy and paste it into your email or direct message to the person.
   
5. Once the contributor clicks the link and creates login credentials, access will be granted, and the person will be added to your list of users.
6. When your client is finished in LivePlan, make sure to archive their plan, which will free up that seat for another client to use.
   1. At the top of your LivePlan window, click on the name of your current active company. Next, click View all companies:
      
      
      
   2. Under the desired company, click Archive:
      
      

Viewing the status of an invitation

When you invite an advisor or client to your SBDC master account, the invitation remains active for 30 days. You can check on its status at any time by visiting the Users page of the master account.

1. Click the Account menu and select Manage Account:
   
   
   
2. In the sidebar of the account management page, click Users:
   
   
   
3. Scroll to the bottom of the Users page. If the user has not accepted the invitation, you'll see "Invitation Pending" along with their email address, as shown below:
   

   Note: If the invitation has expired after 30 days, you can click the Resend/Edit Invitation link to generate a new invitation.

4. If the user has accepted the invitation, you'll see their name alongside their email address, as shown below:
   
   
   
5. To exit the account management page, click I'm Done in the upper right corner:
   

For more info:

• Find additional information in our Help Center articles:
  Setting up a new company
  Adding and removing contributors and guests
  How do I accept a LivePlan contributor or guest invitation?
• Information on how to add, set up, and organize companies within LivePlan.
  Creating and Managing Companies
  Setting up a new company
  Managing your companies
• How to add and manage users within LivePlan
  Collaborating with Others
  
• Videos and articles that will help you get oriented with LivePlan -- and determine the right starting point.
  Getting Started videos - video introductions for each section of LivePlan

LivePlan Support

• Click here to visit our LivePlan Help Center.
• Our customer advocacy team is available to assist you Monday through Friday, 8am to 5pm Pacific Time. Click here to reach support.

Additional resources for starting a plan

• Information you may need to start your plan
• Finding Your Way Around LivePlan
• Bplans.com Business Planning Guide
• Article - "Advisory Support for Your Small Business Clients: Bplans.com"