Managing User Groups

A user group makes managing permissions easier by gathering users into one group. For example, you might create a user group called "hr_users" and add user accounts for people in the human resources department. The existence of user groups isn't visible in the application's user interface.

User groups are made up of members and admins. Unless they have access to the Admin Console, members typically aren't aware that they're in a user group. The account simply defines (at least partly) their access to the application's features. Group admins have access to the area of the Admin Console through which they can manage settings and membership for a group they're administering. By default, they get to this feature by directing their browser to a URL as described in Starting the Admin Console. Unless they have other types of admin access, they'll only be able to access account management pages for the account they're administering.

Be sure to see Managing User Accounts and User Groups for overview information on how accounts work.

Note that if your community uses an external database (such as LDAP or Active Directory) to manage user identities, you won't by default be able to use the Admin Console to edit information managed there. Also, it's possible for your community to use an external data store for user account information, but not for user groups (which you can instead create and manage with the Admin Console). For more information about using LDAP or Active Directory with Jive, take a look at the ) LDAP and Active Directory Guide.

Fastpath: Admin Console: People > Management > Group Summary

Fastpath: Admin Console: People > Management > Create Group

Adding User Groups

You add user groups by creating and naming a group, then adding user accounts for each of the group's members. You also add one or more user accounts for those who'll be administrators for the account.

In the Admin Console, go to People > Management > Create Group.
Enter a group name. Choose something that will help you know at a glance what the group is for and who's in it. Add a description if you like. Create Create Group.
Use the Add Members links to add user accounts for people who should be members of the new group. For more information see Managing Group Membership.
Use the Add Admins links to add user accounts for people who will have permission to administer the account. For more information see Managing Group Membership.

Try defining user groups before launching the community. For example, you can group users according to employee job function or department. User and Group permissions can be assigned on a space or sub-space basis.

Note: If your user account and user group information is stored externally (such as in LDAP or Active Directory), new user groups you create will be managed in the Admin Console and stored in the local application database instead.

Tip: You can create user groups for testing, then add user accounts to the groups later.

Managing Group Membership

If you want Admins to have the same permissions (if any) granted to a user group, then you need to also add them to the Group Member list. When admins are not added to the Group Members list, they only have permission to add or remove users from the Group Members and Group Admins lists, and they do not have the permissions (if any) assigned to the user group.

To edit the membership list for an existing user group

In the Admin Console, go to People > Management > Group Summary.
Click Edit next to the group from which you want to add or delete members.
Click Edit next to Admins or Members dependng on which you want to add or edit.
Add members to the group by typing their name in the Add Member box, then clicking the Add button. If you don't know the name, click User Picker to browse or search a list of users, then select the check box for the user you want to add. Unless they have access to the Admin Console, users won't know which user groups they're a part of.
Add admins in the same way you add members. User group administrators have access to the portions of the Admin Console where they can manage settings and membership for the group they're administering. You may want to add this Admin to the Group Member list to grant them user group permissions, if any.
Click Update.

Editing Group Settings and Properties

Group settings are simple, including the group's name and description, along with group properties. You can edit a group's settings in the Admin Console by going to the Group Summary page, then clicking the group's name.

Group properties are simple name-value pairs that programmers can use to work with the group in their code. Group properties are often used as a way to keep track of extra information about the group. For example, if groups are defined based on company departments, each could have a departmentID property whose value is the department's internal billing ID. A group can have multiple properties. When you're working with properties, remember that entering the name and value for an existing property will update that property's value to the one you entered.