User group

A user group is a group of users. It is represented by a row on a user group table. Members of the user group are represented by rows on the user group membership table, each row of which associates one user to one user group.

A user group is identified by a user group reference or the internal user group identifier. With the exception of individual user groups (see below), you cannot have a user group reference the same as a user logon reference.

There are three kinds of user groups.

  • An individual user group is a user group containing only one person. Each user has an individual user group which is created when the user group is created. The individual user group has a user group reference the same as the user logon reference of the user. An individual user group indicator is set on the user group row. Individual user groups are used for setting individual permissions (see below).
  • A normal user group is just any convenient grouping of users. Users can create user groups and add and remove people from the groups.
  • An owning user group is a user group into which people are put when they are first created. They are identified by the presence of an administer owning user group permission on the user group. Users are only added to owning user groups when they are created, and only removed when they are deleted.