Adding Lite Users | Zoho CRM - Help

Adding Lite Users

Alert
This feature is opened in a phased manner and is available only for selected users. 
In every organization, users perform different activities in CRM depending on their role. For example, a stockist will validate the product status in the inventory before an order is confirmed, while a member of the purchase order team will verify and generate POs.

Depending on the processes in the organization, they might want to limit the stockist's access in CRM to just updating products' inventory status and the PO team member's to generating orders. There may be many other users in your organization who only perform a very limited set of activities in your CRM account alongside the regular users, like your sales teams. Users who only require this limited access are referred to as Lite users in Zoho CRM.

Zoho CRM allows organizations to purchase Lite user licenses at a lower price than regular user licenses. The users who are assigned these licenses will have limited permissions in CRM.
Availability
  1. Profile permission: Users with the Manage User permission in their profile can purchase and add Lite users.
  2. Edition: Lite users can be added in the Enterprise and Ultimate editions.
  3. Org-level limitation: Organizations must have at least 25 regular user licenses in order to add Lite users.

CRM actions Lite users can perform

This table shows the activities that a Lite user can and cannot perform in CRM.

Lite users can
Lite users cannot

  1. View, create, edit, and delete records in any 10 modules. 
    (Note: If the Services module is enabled, then the Appointments module will also be enabled by default and Lite users will have access to 11 modules.) 

  2. View and customize their own profile information in CRM.

  3. Add notes, tags, and attachments to records.

  4. Mass update and delete records.

  5. Change record owners.

  6. View all public custom views, create, and share views.

  7. Review and approve records.

  8. Receive alerts through automations.

  9. Share records.

  10. Find and merge duplicate records.

  11. Enrich data with Zia.

  12. View records created via integrations.

  13. View Social Brands feeds.

  14. Interact with other CRM users via Feeds.
  1. Own records in CRM.

  2. Be added under User fields.

  3. Import and exports records.

  4. Send emails to the records manually using the "Send Email" option.

  5. Initiate Calls and Meetings.

  6. Convert Leads, Quotes, and Sales orders.

  7. View, create, edit, or delete analytics and reports.

  8. Perform macro actions.

  9. Have Admin level permissions.

  10. Be a participant in Sales Motivator or Gamescope.

  11. Make calendar bookings for themselves.

  12. Access the sandbox.

  13. Manage users, roles, and groups.

  14. Add records to the related list created as a result of integration with other products. 
    (This restriction applies even if Lite user is a regular user in other integrated products)

Purchasing Lite users

Organizations subscribed to the Enterprise or Ultimate edition can add Lite users to their CRM account.
Up to 2,000 Lite user licenses can be purchased from the Zoho Store.
Info
The cost per license is:
  1. $15 per month on a monthly subscription
  2. $12 per month on an annual subscription
Admins can purchase Lite User licenses on the Company Details page. Once licences are purchased, a system-defined profile called "Lite" will be added to the CRM account. 
To purchase Lite user license
  1. Go to Setup > General > Company Details.
  2. Under Lite User License, click Get Lite User License.
  3. In the Purchase Lite User License pop-up, click Purchase Now.
    You will be redirected to the Zoho Store page.
  4. In the Payments page, click Upgrade Users/Add-ons.
  5. In Lite Users Add-on, select the number of Lite user licenses you need from the dropdown list.
  6. Click Proceed and Make Payment.
  7. Verify the number of users and the total amount.
  8. Click Proceed to Pay.
    Once the purchase is complete, you can see the number of licenses purchased by going to Company Details and then Lite User License.
  9. Click Buy More to purchase more user licenses.

Managing the Lite Profile

Once licenses have been successfully purchased, a new profile called "Lite" will be added to your CRM account. The Lite users will be automatically assigned the Lite profile and these  users can be assigned any role in the organization. That is, they can belong to a role in the higher or lower hierarchy. For example, a Lite user can be a Sales manager, Finance Executive or a Sales rep.

Refer to the above table to learn more about actions that users under Lite profile can perform. 

Info
Note: Users with manage profile permission can modify the system-defined permission for the Lite profile as per their business requirement. 

Adding Lite users

A maximum of 2000 Lite users can be added to CRM. When the users are added, they will be sent an invitation email. They will need to accept the invitation to gain access to the CRM system and update their details. Users can be added:
  1. Manually
  2. Via Import
Notes
Points to remember during Import
  1. Lite users can be added through import but their details cannot be updated using the import option.
  2. The profile in the CSV file must be specified as Lite using either the profile name or ID to import the users successfully. When the Lite users are added, they will automatically be assigned the Lite profile.
To add Lite users manually
  1. Go to Setup > General > Users.
  2. Click the + New User dropdown arrow and select Add New Lite User.
  3. In the Add New Lite User page, enter the user details.
  4. Click Save.
    The users will be automatically assigned the Lite profile. 
To import Lite users
  1. Go to Setup > General > Users.
  2. Click the + New User dropdown arrow and select Import Users.
  3. Click Browse and select a CSV file to upload.
  4. Click Next.
  5. In the Import Users page, choose Add as New Users.
    If you want to skip duplicate records, check Skip existing users based on and select User ID or Email.
  6. Click Next.
  7. In the Map fields page, map Profile field to Profile Name or Profile ID.
    If you are mapping to the profile name, ensure that it contains the value "Lite".
  8. Click Next.
    A pop-up notification will alert you when the import is complete. Failed or skipped records will be listed with the reason they were skipped in the Import History. Records will be skipped if you have reached the Lite user license limit.

What happens if records are assigned to Lite users through automation?

Records assigned through Assignment rule

  1. As Lite users cannot be record owners, records will not be assigned to them even if they match the criteria for an assignment rule. For example, if the criteria says to assign records to sales reps, the records will not be assigned to any Lite users who have the sales rep role.

Records assigned through Workflow

  1. In workflows, there is an option to create a record and assign an owner for it. The record owner can be the currently logged in user or a user who adds, creates, or modifies the record. If a Lite user meets the criteria to become the record owner, then the owner of the parent record will become the owner of the new record instead.

Records created by Lite users through Wizard

  1. If a record detail page is created using a wizard which does not have a field to select the record owner, then the record will be assigned to the user who creates it. If the record creator is a Lite user, the record will be assigned to a regular CRM user who is in any subordinate role (subordinate role to that of the Lite user) because Lite users cannot be record owners. For example, if a stock manager who is a Lite user creates a record in the Inventory module, the record can be assigned to any subordinate regular users, like a sales rep. If there is no subordinate role, the record will be assigned to the Super Admin.

Can Lite users email address be used to send emails through automation? 

  1. As Lite users don't have the permission to send emails, even if they create a record the option to "Send Email" will be disabled for them. 
  2. However, emails can be sent from a Lite user's email address through functions. For example, a function can be written to send an email to the lead once a record is created. Based on this, if a Lite user creates record email will be sent to the lead from their email address.
  3. Automated emails can be sent from Workflows, Approval process, Review process etc. if the From is set as "Current User's Email". The current user includes both logged in user and the record creator. 
  4. Lite users can view emails of other users if they have the permission to view emails given through the Email Sharing permission. For example, assume Lite users belong to the Compliance executive role. In Email Sharing permission if the Compliance executive role is selected then the Lite users in this role will be able to view emails of other users in the organization. Read more about Email sharing permission.

Converting Lite users to regular users

Lite users can be converted to regular users as needed. However, regular users cannot be changed to Lite users. Once Lite users are converted to regular users, they will use regular user licenses. The number of regular user licenses available depends on the CRM edition your organization is subscribed to.

To convert Lite users
  1. Go to Setup > General > Users.
  2. Select the Lite user you want to convert.
  3. Click the More icon and select Convert as regular user.
  4. In the Convert popup, choose the profile for the user from the dropdown list.
  5. Click Convert.

How upgrading or downgrading your CRM edition affects Lite users

Lite users are supported in the Enterprise and Ultimate editions. If an account which has Lite users is downgraded or upgraded to an edition that does not support this user type, the following will occur:
  1. Lite profile: The system will automatically create a clone of the Lite profile. The profile will be named "Lite_Cloned". All the defined profile permissions will remain as they are. CRM admins can modify the permissions and rename the profile if needed.
  2. Lite users: All the Lite users will be deactivated and will be listed on the Lite_Cloned profile. CRM admins can reactivate them as regular users. Once these users are reactivated, they can either be kept on the Lite_Cloned profile or be transferred to another profile. If they are kept on the Lite profile, they will have the same permissions that were configured for the Lite profile, unless they are modified by the admin.
Notes
Note: The "Lite_cloned" profile will not be created if there are no active Lite users.

Disable Lite user license

If the Lite user license is disabled, all the Lite users will be deactivated. These users can be reactivated and converted into regular users manually. They will then use regular user licenses.

To disable the Lite user license
  1. Go to Setup > General > Company Details.
  2. Toggle Lite user license off.
  3. Click Disable in the pop-up alert.