How to Invite External Members to the 3DEXPERIENCE Platform
The 3DEXPERIENCE platform makes it easy to invite external collaborators to your platform to collaborate and share files. This guide will detail the steps to invite these external team members.
Note: prior to inviting external members, verify the following setting for administrators is turned on. Platform Management > Members >Configure Members Options > ‘Allow administrators to grant roles without automatically assigning the associated license’
Invite External Members
From your tenant, select Members Management > Members > Invite & Grant Roles > Invite Members
For User Email, enter the email address of the external member you would like to invite. From the ‘User right’ dropdown, select External. This option marks the invitee as a user who’s already on the 3DEXPERIENCE platform but is from a different tenant. Click Next to assign roles.
Assign Roles to the External Member
Next, you’ll be designating roles for the external member. While this might appear redundant, as they’re using their own licenses, this action essentially sets permissions on which licenses they’re allowed to use within your tenant or what licenses they are allowed to use from theirs.
At a minimum, assign the roles 3DSwymmer and Collaborative Industry Innovator. If they’re tasked with design functions, you’ll also need to assign either Collaborative Designer for SOLIDWORKS or 3DEXPERIENCE SOLIDWORKS, based on their specific licenses. During this process, you have the discretion to either share your licenses or enforce the use of their own. If you prefer to enforce them using their own licenses, make sure to uncheck the box next to Assign Licenses.
Here is an overview of the license types on the 3DEXPERIENCE platform:
Assigned Licenses: Full access licenses. In scenarios where external members require regular access to the platform, you might opt to assign them a specific license from your organization.
Externally Owned Licenses: Often, external partners already own their own licenses. In such cases, ensure you’ve enabled the ‘Allow administrators to grant roles without assigning automatically the associated license’ option as stated at the beginning of this guide. Without this option toggled on, the platform will not allow you to move on to the next step to assign roles.
Option to Restrict Usage to this Platform: Ensure that the ‘Restrict Usage to This Platform’ option is deactivated. If left activated, it will restrict the external member from leveraging their own licenses and prevent them from accessing your tenant.
It’s imperative that the external member’s roles on their tenant are set to non-restricted. The user must access Member Management from their tenant and modify their user details accordingly for each role. Ensuring that the Restrict Usage to This Platform option is deactivated.
Assign Additional Apps (only if necessary)
In the Invite Members dialog, click Next to proceed to assign Additional Apps. In most cases, there’s no need to assign Additional Apps. The details of this section can be complex. Using xApps activates supplementary add-ins that may serve as alternatives to Collaborative Designer for SOLIDWORKS. While this scenario is rare, please reach out to MLC CAD Systems technical support if you believe it pertains to your situation, and we’ll provide the necessary assistance.
Click Invite and to send out the invitation via email.
A confirmation dialog will display. Once the user accepts the invitation, they will have access to your tenant based on the assigned roles and licenses.
Sharing Data with External Members
Now that external members have been added, the first step of sharing data and collaborating is to determine which Collaborative Space will be used.
Using the 3DSpace app create a New Collaborative Space or modify an existing Collaborative Space. If you want the external member to have their own space to save data, search ‘3ds’ to locate the 3DSpace app under the My Apps category and then select New Collaborative Space.
Once in the new or existing Collaborative Space, click on the Information icon in the upper right corner and then on the Add Members icon.
When adding members, you will need to type their username or email address next to the required permission level. The system will find the matching members.
There are a few options you can choose from for permissions:
- Reader: Able to read content.
- Contributor: Can read and add content.
- Author: Can read, add, and edit content.
- Leader & Owner: Can read, add, edit, and delete content.
Selecting Add Members will grant permission to this space for the selected users, and you will be able to collaborate with projects saved to this space. Note: Be sure you and other team members, internal and external, who need to collaborate are also added to this space.
You are now ready to collaborate with external members using your 3DEXPERIENCE platform and tenant!
Technical Support
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