Dynamically Assigning Groups (Flash)

Information: This Dynamically Assigning Groups topic refers to the Classic Birst, Flash version of this content. See Dynamic Groups to view the updated version of this topic for HTML5.

You can manage users and groups dynamically if you upload a table of users and groups (along with the other data that has been uploaded to Birst) that defines which users participate in which group. The table must contain one column for user ID (email address) and one column for the group the user participates in, as in the example below.

UserID	GroupName
Username A	Group A
Username B	Group B
Username A	Group C

The Use Dynamic Groups for Access box must be checked in the space properties on the Modify Properties page under the Manage Space tab to use this feature. It is checked by default.

If using dynamically assigned groups, you may want to use a static group assignment for the Designer Access permission. If dynamic groups are configured, when a user selects a space from the home page, the Birst data warehouse has to be queried for permission information to determine if the user has access to Designer for that space. This may take longer than if the user's Designer Access permission has been assigned in a standard "static" group as described in Creating Groups and Adding Users to Groups.

When a space is set up to use dynamic group assignment, it may take longer when a user selects a space on the home page to see if they have access to Designer. This is because the Birst warehouse has to be queried for permission information to determine if the user has access to Designer for that space. Designer Access permission can be assigned in a standard static group via the Manage Groups page if desired. Doing so will make it faster to see which modules are available after selecting a space on the Home page because the system does not need to run any additional queries. Birst always checks the static group permissions before dynamic permissions.

To configure Birst to use a data file for dynamic group assignment

Upload the file to Birst.

Create a new hierarchy with a level that has User (or Group and User) as the level key.

Make this level the grain of the uploaded data source.

Target the columns of this data source to the created hierarchy.

Process data.
Tip: Delete the last load and reprocess if new data isn’t available or ready to process.

In the Admin - Manage Access - Manage Groups - Dynamic Group Assignment section, select the hierarchy that contains the mapping in the Hierarchy field, then select which columns in the table contain user IDs and groups in the Username Column field and Groupname Column field, respectively. Then click Create to save the settings.
Tip: At least one space group needs to be available in order to perform a dynamic group assignment.
Tip: A hierarchy has to be selected for username and group name columns to display.