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. 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.