Summary and recommendation
LearnUpon user management can be run manually, but complexity usually increases with role models, licensing gates, and offboarding dependencies. This guide gives the exact mechanics and where automation has the biggest impact.
LearnUpon is a role-based LMS built for teams of 50 or more, with four fixed roles: Administrator, Manager, Instructor, and Learner. There are no granular permission toggles or custom roles on standard plans - every user lands in one of these buckets.
Managers can be scoped to specific user groups, but their permission set within that scope is fixed and cannot be adjusted further.
User provisioning is manual by default. LearnUpon does not offer native SCIM; IdP-connected portals rely on SAML 2.0 JIT provisioning, which creates accounts on first login but does not pre-provision or deprovision users automatically.
For every app in your stack that handles offboarding automatically, LearnUpon will require a separate manual step or API call to deactivate departing employees.
Quick facts
| Admin console path | Portal Settings > Users (accessed from the top navigation bar after logging in as an Administrator) |
| Admin console URL | Official docs |
| SCIM available | No |
| SCIM tier required | Enterprise |
| SSO prerequisite | No |
User types and roles
| Role | Permissions | Cannot do | Plan required | Seat cost | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Administrator | Full portal access: create/edit/delete courses, manage all users, configure portal settings, view all reports, manage integrations, assign roles, manage groups and learning paths | Cannot be restricted to a subset of portal functions without using a Manager role instead; no partial admin scoping on standard plans | All plans | Counts as a licensed seat | Administrators have unrestricted access to all portal data including all user records and completion data; there is no read-only admin variant on standard plans |
| Manager | Can manage a defined group of users (their direct reports or assigned group), view reports for those users, enroll users in courses, and send messages to their group | Cannot create or edit course content, cannot access portal-wide settings, cannot view users outside their assigned group | All plans | Counts as a licensed seat | Manager scope is limited to assigned user groups; a Manager cannot see learners outside their group, which can create blind spots if group assignments are not maintained |
| Learner | Access assigned courses and learning paths, view own transcript and certificates, participate in forums if enabled | Cannot access admin console, cannot view other users' data, cannot create content | All plans | Counts as a licensed seat; primary billable user type | All active learners consume a seat regardless of login frequency; there is no read-only or observer seat type |
| Instructor | Can be assigned to courses as a facilitator, can manage ILT (instructor-led training) sessions, can mark attendance and grade submissions for assigned courses | Cannot create courses from scratch without additional admin permissions, cannot access portal-wide user management | All plans (ILT module required for full instructor functionality) | Counts as a licensed seat | Instructor role is primarily relevant for ILT sessions; without ILT sessions assigned, the role has limited differentiation from a standard learner |
Permission model
- Model type: role-based
- Description: LearnUpon uses a fixed set of predefined roles (Administrator, Manager, Instructor, Learner). Managers can be scoped to specific user groups. There are no fully custom roles with granular permission toggles on standard plans. Portal-level settings and feature access are determined by the assigned role.
- Custom roles: No
- Custom roles plan: Not documented
- Granularity: Role-level only; no per-feature permission toggles. Manager scope can be narrowed to specific user groups, but the permission set within that scope is fixed.
How to add users
- Log in as an Administrator
- Navigate to Users in the top navigation bar
- Click 'Add User' (or 'Invite User' depending on portal configuration)
- Enter required fields: First Name, Last Name, Email address
- Assign a Role (Learner, Manager, Instructor, or Administrator)
- Optionally assign the user to one or more Groups
- Click 'Save' to create the account; the user receives an email invitation to set their password
Required fields: First Name, Last Name, Email address
Watch out for:
- Email address must be unique within the portal; duplicate emails are rejected
- If SSO is enforced, manually created users may be unable to log in with a password and must authenticate via the IdP
- Users are active and consuming a seat immediately upon creation, even before they log in for the first time
- Group assignment at creation time is optional but recommended; users without a group may not be auto-enrolled in any courses
| Bulk option | Availability | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| CSV import | Yes | Users > Import Users (CSV upload option within the Users section of the admin console) |
| Domain whitelisting | No | Automatic domain-based user add |
| IdP provisioning | Yes | Available on plans that include SAML SSO; JIT provisioning creates user accounts automatically on first SSO login. No native SCIM provisioning; JIT via SAML is the primary automated provisioning method. |
How to remove or deactivate users
- Can delete users: Yes
- Delete/deactivate behavior: LearnUpon supports both deactivation and deletion. Deactivating a user suspends their access while preserving all historical records (completions, transcripts, certificates). Deleting a user permanently removes the account and associated data. Deactivation is the recommended approach for compliance and audit trail preservation. Deletion is irreversible.
- Navigate to Users in the admin console
- Search for and open the target user's profile
- Click the 'Deactivate' option (found in the user profile actions menu or status field)
- Confirm the deactivation; the user is immediately unable to log in
| Data impact | Behavior |
|---|---|
| Owned records | Deactivation: all completion records, transcripts, and certificates are retained and remain reportable. Deletion: all user data including completions and certificates is permanently removed. |
| Shared content | Course content created or contributed by the user (e.g., forum posts) remains in the portal after deactivation; behavior on deletion may vary and should be confirmed with LearnUpon support before proceeding. |
| Integrations | Deactivated users are excluded from active user counts in integrations; SSO sessions are terminated. Deletion removes the user record from the portal entirely, which may affect integration sync if the IdP still holds the user record. |
| License freed | Deactivating a user frees the seat and reduces the active user count against the license limit. Deleted users also free the seat. |
Watch out for:
- Deletion is irreversible; all learning history is permanently lost, which may create compliance issues if completion records are required for audits
- Deactivated users still appear in historical reports, which is the primary reason to prefer deactivation over deletion
- If a deactivated user is reactivated, they consume a seat again immediately
- Bulk deactivation via CSV import is possible by updating the user status field in the import file
License and seat management
| Seat type | Includes | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Active User Seat | All active users regardless of role (Administrator, Manager, Instructor, Learner) consume a seat. There is no distinction between role types for licensing purposes. | Approximately $6–$9 per user per month depending on plan and volume; Essential plan starts around $900–$1,350/month for up to 150 users. Premium and Enterprise pricing is custom. |
- Where to check usage: Admin console > Reports > User Reports, or check the portal dashboard which may display active user count against license limit; exact path varies by portal configuration
- How to identify unused seats: Run a User Activity report filtered by last login date to identify users who have not logged in within a defined period. Deactivate users who have not logged in to reclaim seats.
- Billing notes: LearnUpon licenses are based on active user count within the portal. Pricing is tiered by user volume. Essential plan supports up to 150 users. Exceeding the licensed user count requires upgrading to the next tier. Annual contracts are standard; month-to-month availability is not confirmed in public documentation. Deactivating users reduces the active count and may allow downgrading at renewal.
The cost of manual management
Every active user - regardless of role or login frequency - consumes a licensed seat immediately upon account creation. A user who has never logged in still counts against your limit from day one. There is no read-only or observer seat type to reduce cost for infrequent users.
Identifying unused seats requires running a User Activity report filtered by last login date, then deactivating inactive accounts one by one (or via CSV import). Bulk deactivation via CSV is possible but requires exact column formatting; error messages on failed imports are reported by administrators as insufficiently descriptive.
Seat reclamation only affects renewal, not mid-contract billing, based on standard annual contract structure.
What IT admins are saying
Administrators on G2 and Capterra consistently flag the same friction points. The Manager role cannot be scoped to specific course catalogs - only to user groups - which forces workarounds in organizations with complex reporting structures.
The absence of a middle-ground permission tier between full Administrator and scoped Manager is the most frequently cited limitation.
Bulk CSV imports are functional but brittle: column formatting must be exact, and import error messages often do not identify the specific row or field causing the failure.
Reviewers also note that the user deletion confirmation UI does not prominently surface the warning that all learning history will be permanently lost - a meaningful risk for compliance-sensitive teams.
Common complaints:
- Users report that the Manager role has limited flexibility and cannot be scoped to specific course catalogs, only to user groups, which creates workarounds for complex org structures
- Reviewers on G2 and Capterra note that there are no granular permission controls; admins either have full access or are restricted to the Manager role with no middle ground
- Some administrators report that bulk CSV imports require exact column formatting and that error messages on failed imports are not always descriptive enough to diagnose the issue quickly
- Users note that deleting a user is irreversible and that the UI does not prominently warn about permanent data loss before confirming deletion
- Reviewers mention that the lack of native SCIM provisioning means user lifecycle management requires manual effort or reliance on JIT provisioning, which only creates accounts on first login rather than pre-provisioning them
The decision
LearnUpon fits teams that need a structured LMS with SCORM/xAPI support, ILT session management, and group-based enrollment automation. The fixed role model is sufficient for straightforward org structures where Administrators need full access and Managers need scoped visibility into their direct reports.
It is a poor fit if your IT or HR team expects automated provisioning parity with the rest of your stack. JIT provisioning only activates accounts on login; it does not handle pre-boarding or offboarding.
Teams with high employee turnover or strict deprovisioning SLAs will carry ongoing manual overhead unless they build against the REST API.
Bottom line
LearnUpon delivers a capable LMS for mid-market teams willing to accept a fixed permission model and manual provisioning overhead.
Every app in a modern stack that handles user lifecycle automatically will expose LearnUpon's gap: no native SCIM means deprovisioning is never automatic, and every departing employee requires a deliberate deactivation step to stop consuming a seat and revoke access.
For teams with stable headcount and simple org structures, the manual workflow is manageable. For teams with frequent onboarding and offboarding cycles, the operational cost compounds quickly without API automation in place.
Automate LearnUpon workflows without one-off scripts
Stitchflow builds and maintains end-to-end IT automation across your SaaS stack, including apps without APIs. Built for exactly how your company works, with human approvals where they matter.
