A virtual member is a placeholder resource for your projects. It is not connected to a LiquidPlanner login. Here are some reasons for using a virtual member:

• If you are evaluating or implementing LiquidPlanner, you might not be ready to invite your team into the workspace yet. But you can start to build out your projects and assign work to virtual members as placeholders for your real team members.
• Virtual members can represent an external resource that owns tasks within your project, such as a contractor or vendor.
• Virtual members can be used to represent work assigned to a machine or non-person resource that completes work within a project.

Keep in mind virtual members are not intended to be be a long-term replacement for people who could otherwise be real members. We don’t encourage using them to support centralized project control. We have designed LiquidPlanner to support our strong belief that direct team engagement is a key to project success!

Create a Virtual Member

You can create virtual members via the People tab > Add+ button > Add Virtual Member or from your User Menu > Settings > Members and Access > Add Virtual Member.

Set Availability for a Virtual Member

• A virtual member has a profile and an availability setting, which you can access via the People tab > Member List. Just click on the virtual member’s name to open their profile > adjust their hours under the Availability section on the right-hand side.

Assign Tasks to Virtual Members

• You can assign tasks to a virtual member, just as you would assign the task to a Real Member.
• Tasks assigned to a virtual member will schedule just the same as tasks assigned to a real member.

Tracking Time for a Virtual Member

• A real workspace member must take responsibility for estimating and tracking time to tasks owned by a virtual member.
• Timesheets are created for virtual members when you log progress for them.
• Virtual member’s logged time is picked up in timesheet exports.

Transfer Tasks from a Virtual Member to Another Member

• You can easily transfer a virtual member’s work to an existing workspace member via the People tab Member List. Hover over the virtual member row and under the Actions column, click Transfer Items.
• You can also invite a brand new person into your workspace to replace the virtual member.  In the Member List, just click the link under the virtual member name that says Invite Member. 

Disconnecting Virtual Members

• If you invite a member to fill a virtual member’s role, the virtual member will automatically be disconnected.
• If you want to disconnect a virtual member for any reason, go to the People tab Member List. Hover over the virtual member row and under the Actions column, click Disconnect.
• Before disconnecting your virtual member, be sure to transfer any outstanding tasks to a real member or another virtual member.

FAQs

1. Is there a limit to the number of Virtual Members in my Workspace?
   Accounts on the Professional Plan have can have up to 25 Virtual Members and accounts on the Enterprise Plan can have up to 50 virtual members. See our Pricing for more information. Go to Settings > Click on Add Virtual Members. At the top of the screen you will see a notification of your current Virtual Member count compared to the total number available. 
2. Is there a way to create a team of Virtual Members?
   You can create a Virtual Team to represent a team of external resources with a daily availability that is determined by you.
3. If I track time to a virtual member’s tasks, will their time tracking history move if I transfer the tasks to a Real Member later?
   No, if you log time on behalf of the virtual member, the time entries will stay with the virtual member in time tracking history. If you want time entries associated to a real team member, make sure to log time after the real user has accepted their LiquidPlanner invitation.