Unit4 volume metrics are the units in which Unit4 measures how much of a Service a customer may use. The General Terms of Business do not fix a single metric. Instead they define Authorised Users as “Users or units of the relevant Volume Metric permitted to Use the Service as set out in the Sales Order”, and a Volume Metric as “a specific volume metric or unit of measure (e.g. FTE employee or type of user) used by Unit4 in connection with the Service”.[2] The metric actually bought is therefore always found in the Sales Order. Unit4’s contracting guide describes SaaS subscriptions as based on number of employees, or another metric such as FTE employees or other types of user.[4]
Where the metric is FTE Employees, a separate policy on the Unit4 terms page, the FTE Employee Calculation, explains how to count.[8] This article covers that policy, the definition of Use, the legacy user types from the 2018-2020 framework and the technical allowances that scale with the purchased FTE quantity. For the general concepts see named user licensing and effective license position.
Editions
Volume metrics apply across Unit4 products rather than to editions. The Cloud Service Descriptions for Unit4 ERPx, Unit4 Talent Management and Unit4 Source-to-Contract size storage “per each purchased FTE”, which shows that these products are sold per FTE.[6][10] The descriptions for Unit4 FP&A, Unit4 T&E and Unit4 Financials by Coda do not name a metric, so the Sales Order is the only source for those products. See Unit4 cloud products, environments and limits.
Metrics
| Metric | Catalog row | Where defined | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Authorised Users | Authorised Users | General Terms of Business s.16[2] | Current |
| Volume Metric | Volume Metric | General Terms of Business s.16[2] | Current |
| FTE Employee | FTE Employee | FTE Employee Calculation v1.1[1] | Current |
| Enterprise User | Enterprise User | Appendix B – Definitions v1.3[5] | Legacy framework |
| Professional User | Professional User | Appendix B – Definitions v1.3[5] | Legacy framework |
| Self-Service User | Self-Service User | Appendix B – Definitions v1.3[5] | Legacy framework |
User and Use. A User is “all users (of whatever nature) permitted access to or Use of the Services”. Use is “any and all use of and/or access to the Services by Customer whether such use or access is direct or indirect”, including multiplexing, pooling or access through any API connection.[2] For a user-type metric, this means that people who reach Unit4 data through a portal, integration or pooled account can still count. The definition matters less for an FTE metric, because the FTE count is based on the workforce, not on who logs in. Catalog: Use includes indirect access, multiplexing, pooling and API access.
Counting / floors
The FTE Employee calculation
Unless an Order Form says otherwise, the FTE Employee Volume Metric is calculated by “multiplying the number of workers in each category (full-time, part-time, temporary, volunteers etc.) by the applicable percentage rate specified for each category, and then adding the resulting numbers for each category of worker together for a total sum”.[1] The policy defines four categories:
| Category | Definition in the FTE Employee Calculation[1] |
|---|---|
| Full-Time Equivalent | A worker, employee or contractor, regularly scheduled for more than 24 hours per week, whatever the payment method, actual hours worked or benefit eligibility. Non-temporary if hired for more than 4 months in a year. |
| Part-Time Equivalent | A worker, employee or contractor, regularly scheduled for 24 hours per week or less, on the same basis. Non-temporary if hired for more than 4 months in a year. |
| Temporary | Hired to work for less than 4 months in a given year, whatever the hours worked. |
| Volunteer | Works unpaid for less than 2 months, or at most 4 hours per week. |
The policy’s worked example (an image in the PDF) applies 100% to Full-Time Equivalents, 75% to Part-Time Equivalents, 50% to temporary workers and 10% to volunteers. Workers are counted per type “for coming 12 months”. In the example, 1,000 full-time, 200 part-time and 200 temporary workers (1,400 people) give 1,250 FTE Employees.[1] An Order Form may set different rates. Catalog: FTE Employee count is a weighted sum of worker categories; Temporary and volunteer categories are time-bound.
The burden of proof is on the customer. The policy states that “it is the Customer’s responsibility to provide evidence that a worker should be calculated in a lower category, otherwise all workers will be considered Full-Time Equivalents”.[1] Three consequences follow for a licence manager:
- Contractors count. All four categories cover employees and contractors alike. A headcount taken only from payroll will understate the FTE figure.
- Schedules, not hours worked, decide the category. The test is the regular schedule, regardless of hours actually worked, so overtime and short weeks do not move a worker between categories.
- Records must exist before an audit. Without HR evidence of schedules and contract lengths, every worker defaults to a Full-Time Equivalent. Keep a dated extract by category at each anniversary of the Subscription Start Date.
Catalog: All workers count as Full-Time Equivalents unless the customer proves otherwise.
Committed quantity
The quantity on the Sales Order is a floor for the whole term. The customer may not reduce Authorised User numbers during any Minimum Term or Renewal Term.[2] Unit4’s guide says the same in plain terms: “Subscription fees may not be reduced during the contract term”.[4] Growth is handled by adding subscriptions at Prevailing Rates, prorated to the end of the current term.[2] A falling workforce does not lower the bill until the end of the term. A rising one requires a purchase. Catalog: No partial termination or reduction of Authorised Users during a term; Add-on subscriptions are prorated and co-terminate.
User-type metrics
The SaaS Terms grant a licence “to permit the agreed number of Authorised Users to Use the Service”. The customer must keep the maximum number of Authorised Users it permits to access the Service within the number of subscriptions in the Sales Order.[3] Each User must have a unique account and may not use another User’s account.[3] Shared logins therefore breach the terms, whatever the metric. Catalog: Use may not exceed the Authorised Users in the Sales Order; Each User must use a unique account.
Legacy user types (2018-2020 framework)
Agreements signed on the older appendix framework may use three user types defined in Appendix B – Definitions:[5]
- Enterprise User: trained employees or sub-contractors who need access to all core functionality, including configuration of the application, data, processes and delivery model.
- Professional User: trained employees or sub-contractors who need access for data input and reporting, or managers and service professionals using the product in their role.
- Self-Service User: all people with an Active Business Record in the product who need functionality to service their individual needs. The list expressly includes employees, students, consultants, contingent workers, independent contractors, retirees, citizens, prospective students and alumni.
An Active Business Record is a record of an individual “which is in use and periodically accessed by either the Customer or that individual”.[5] For Self-Service Users, the licensed population is defined by the records held, not by logins. Inactive records should be archived or closed so that they no longer count. The same appendix defined a Usage Limit as limits on Users or other metrics such as FTE in an Order Form, and limits on cloud storage, API calls and Transactions set in Service Descriptions.[5]
Allowances that scale with FTEs
Several technical allowances grow with the purchased FTE quantity, which can help when reconciling a Sales Order:
- Unit4 ERPx transactional storage is 15 GB plus 100 MB per purchased FTE, with 250 GB of document storage.[6]
- Unit4 Talent Management document storage is 250 GB plus 2 GB per purchased FTE.[10]
- For Unit4 ERP CR and ERP7, customers may qualify for one extra report queue at no charge for every 1,000 FTE Employees or 300 named users, up to four extra queues.[7]
Catalog: ERPx and S2C storage allowance is 15 GB plus 100 MB per purchased FTE; Talent Management storage allowance is 250 GB plus 2 GB per purchased FTE; One extra report queue per 1,000 FTE Employees or 300 named users, up to four.
Virtualization & partitioning
Not applicable. Unit4 metrics count people or workforce units, not hardware. For on-premises software the licence is for the number of Authorised Users in the Sales Order, on a single installation.[9]
Cloud / BYOL
The same metric definitions apply to SaaS and to on-premises software, because both refer to Authorised Users in the Sales Order.[3][9] No document was found that converts on-premises entitlements into SaaS quantities.
Programs
No volume or tiered discount program is published. Audit exposure is set by the General Terms. Use above the Authorised Users is charged for the entire period of non-compliance at Prevailing Rates at the audit date.[2] For a per-FTE subscription, an audit is in effect a test of the FTE count by category. Catalog: Annual audit with back-charging for the whole period at Prevailing Rates. See software license audit.
Out of scope
- Whether the example percentages are binding rates or illustrations; the policy calls them “the applicable percentage rate specified for each category” but shows them only in the example.
- Metrics in individual Sales Orders, which may define other user types or units.
- Regional products and third-party (ISV) products with their own metrics.