> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.gocenti.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Equity Programs: Create and Manage Incentive Plans

> Centi programs group securities into equity plans like MIPs. Manage participants, offers, transactions, and document uploads from a single program view.

A program in Centi is the central container for an equity incentive plan - most commonly a Management Incentive Program (MIP). Each program groups one or more securities together and acts as the place where you create offers, register transactions, track participants, and store program-level documents. Everything that happens to a manager's equity stake flows through a program: their offer is created inside it, their transaction is registered against it, and their holding of securities is recorded against it. Programs belong to a single portfolio company, and every company can have multiple programs running in parallel (for example, a MIP alongside a CIP).

## Navigate to Programs

Select **Programs** from the left-hand sidebar in the Fund Portal.

***

## The programs list

The programs list shows every program across your organisation in a single table, sorted by creation date (newest first) by default.

| Column         | What it shows                                                                                |
| -------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Name**       | The program's display name                                                                   |
| **Securities** | Badges showing the security types associated with the program (e.g. Ordinary Share, Warrant) |
| **Offers**     | The number of submitted offers out of the total active offers in the program                 |
| **Status**     | An **Action required** warning badge when one or more offers need your attention             |
| **Created at** | When the program was created; hover to see the full date                                     |

Click any row to open that program's detail page.

***

## The program detail page

Opening a program takes you to a tabbed page with three main sections:

* **Offers** — where you create and manage offers, view drafts, and track the full subscription lifecycle
* **Pool** — pool utilization and capacity tracking for the program's share pool (shown when pool management is enabled for your organisation)
* **Program details** — metadata, attached files, and the edit panel

### Program details tab

The details panel on the right of the Program details tab shows the following information:

| Field             | Description                                                                                                      |
| ----------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Program name**  | The display name shown in the fund-portal and, optionally, to stakeholders                                       |
| **Company**       | The portfolio company this program belongs to                                                                    |
| **Lead investor** | The investor entity leading the program                                                                          |
| **Securities**    | All securities linked to this program                                                                            |
| **Name visible**  | A toggle that controls whether stakeholders see the program name next to their investment in the Investor Portal |

Click the **Edit** button in the Program details tab to change the program name, the list of associated securities, or the lead investor.

***

## Pool management

When pool management is enabled for your organisation, a **Pool** tab appears on the program detail page. Pools track how much of your reserved share capacity has been used across all manager grants in the program.

### How pool capacity is calculated

A pool has three components at any point in time:

| Metric        | Definition                                                                                                                  |
| ------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Ceiling**   | The maximum units reserved for this program (set when the pool is configured)                                               |
| **Allocated** | The units already held by stakeholders — the exact calculation depends on your organisation's *counting method* (see below) |
| **Pending**   | Units committed in active offers that have not yet been registered as transactions                                          |
| **Available** | The remaining capacity for new grants                                                                                       |

A visual progress bar breaks down the ceiling into allocated, pending, and available segments.

### Net counting vs. gross counting

The counting method is set at the company pool level and applies to all programs under that company.

<Accordion title="Net counting">
  Under net counting, **allocated** equals the units currently held by managers. If a manager leaves and their shares are repurchased, those units return to the pool and increase the available capacity. This is the most common method.

  `Available = Ceiling − currently held units − pending units`
</Accordion>

<Accordion title="Gross counting">
  Under gross counting, **allocated** equals the total units ever issued from the pool across the program's lifetime. Repurchased or returned units do not free up capacity — once issued, those units count against the ceiling permanently.

  `Available = Ceiling − total units ever issued − pending units`
</Accordion>

<Note>
  If the available capacity is negative, Centi displays the actual negative number in red and shows an over-committed warning. Pool limits are enforced as hard constraints at transaction registration — you will see a non-blocking warning when creating an offer that would exceed the pool, but the registration of a transaction that exceeds the ceiling is blocked.
</Note>

### Pool modes

A program pool can operate in one of two modes:

* **Reserved** — the program has a dedicated portion of the company pool set aside for it. Centi checks both the program-level and company-level ceilings when enforcing limits.
* **Shared** — the program draws from the company's shared pool capacity. No ceiling is reserved exclusively for the program; Centi enforces only the company-level ceiling.

***

## Creating a program

Programs are typically created by the Centi operations team or a fund-portal user when onboarding a new portfolio company or setting up a new incentive round.

You can create a program directly from the Programs list:

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open the Create program dialog">
    Navigate to **Programs** in the sidebar and click **Create program** in the top-right corner.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Fill in the program details">
    Enter a **program name**, select the **company** the program belongs to, and choose the **securities** to associate with the program. At least one security is required.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Optionally set a lead investor">
    Select a lead investor company from the dropdown. This can also be set or changed later via the Edit dialog on the Program details tab.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Save the program">
    Click **Create** to save. The new program appears immediately in the Programs list.
  </Step>
</Steps>

***

## Uploading documents to a program

Program files are informational documents that Centi automatically attaches to every offer created in the program — for example, a term sheet, a shareholders' agreement extract, or a welcome pack. They are visible to the stakeholder when they receive their offer.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open the Program details tab">
    Navigate to the program and click the **Program details** tab.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Upload a file">
    In the **Program files** section, click **Add file** and select a document from your computer.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Confirm the upload">
    The file appears in the Program files list immediately. It will be attached to all future offers created in this program.
  </Step>
</Steps>

<Tip>
  Upload any documents that every participant in the program should receive — such as the program rules or an information memorandum.
</Tip>