Add count of users without group or project membership and count of users with Minimal Access role to Service Ping

Problem

To inform the decision on whether users without group/project membership should be non-billable on Premium tier, we need data on how many such users exist across our customer base.

Current situation:

  • Original revenue analysis excluded users without group/project membership due to lack of data
  • Very limited customer data shows this cohort ranges from <1% to 40% of billable seats

This data is insufficient to make a final decision on billing implications.

Solution

Add instrumentation to track the count of users without group or project membership, as well as Minimal Access users, in Service Ping operational data. This will allow us to:

  • Gather comprehensive data across all customers
  • Understand the scale of these user cohorts
  • Inform the final decision on whether to make these users non-billable on Premium
  • Assess potential revenue impact before implementation

Acceptance Criteria

  • Add metric to count users without any group or project membership to Service Ping
  • Add metric to count Minimal Access users to Service Ping
  • Metrics are included in operational data collection
  • Metrics are properly documented in Service Ping metrics documentation
  • Data collection respects privacy guidelines per https://handbook.gitlab.com/handbook/legal/privacy/customer-product-usage-information/#what-are-the-data-collection-services-that-constitute-product-usage-data

Related

Link to instrumentation course in https://gitlab.com/groups/gitlab-org/architecture/gitlab-data-analytics/-/epics/60+.

Notes

This dashboard that provides what % of paid customers send Service Ping. And also, this dashboard that provides visibility on installations that opted in to send event-level product usage data (requires installations to send service ping).

Edited Dec 15, 2025 by Magdalena Frankiewicz
Assignee Loading
Time tracking Loading