People vs Users
UniAsset keeps two separate records for humans, and the distinction is the one most worth understanding.
| Person | User | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A human your organization deals with | A sign-in account |
| Can log in | Not necessarily | Yes, that is the point |
| Counts toward your user limit | No | Yes |
| Assets are assigned to | This one | No |
| Checkouts are made to | This one | No |
The rule
Every user has exactly one Person. Not every Person has a user.
When someone is invited and accepts, a Person record is created and linked to their account automatically. You never have to do it.
Why it works this way
Think about who an asset can be assigned to:
- A contractor who borrows a drill twice a year
- A warehouse operative who has never needed a login
- An employee who left three years ago but still appears in the maintenance history
All three are people. Only some of them are, or were, users.
If assignments targeted login accounts, then deleting a departed employee's account would orphan three years of history — or you would have to keep paying for a seat to preserve it. Because assignments target People, custody survives someone leaving.
What this means in practice
You can assign an asset to someone with no login. Create the Person; no seat is used.
Your user limit only counts sign-in accounts. A 5-user Nova organization can have hundreds of People.
When you invite someone who already exists as a Person, link the invitation to that Person. They become a user without becoming a second record, and their existing assignment history follows them.
Deactivating a user does not remove the Person. History stays attributable.
Where each lives
- Dashboard → People — everyone, whether or not they can sign in
- Dashboard → Users — sign-in accounts, Owner and Admin only
What a Person record holds
Name, phone, employee ID, designation, and department — plus their assignment and custody history.
Employee ID is unique within your organization when set.
People are archived, never deleted
Archiving keeps history attributable. An archived person cannot receive an assignment or borrow an asset, which is what makes archiving a safe way to handle a leaver.
Common mistakes
Creating a user account for a contractor who only needs to be assignable. Create a Person. It uses no seat.
Inviting someone who is already a Person without linking the invitation. You end up with two records for the same human and split history.
Trying to delete a person who has left. Archive them. Deleting would break the attribution of everything they did.
Assuming assigning an asset gives someone access. It does not. Assignment records responsibility; access comes from a user account and its role.
Troubleshooting
A person isn't available for assignment. They are archived. Archived people cannot receive assignments or borrow assets.
I can't invite someone — I'm at my user limit. Only sign-in accounts count. If they do not need to log in, create a Person instead. Otherwise see Why can't I create more users?.
Someone appears twice. They were probably invited without linking to their existing Person record. Archive the duplicate.
I can't reach Dashboard → Users. Users is Owner and Admin only. People is available more widely.
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