About groups, composite groups, and subgroups

Groups can be "nested" or combined as "composite groups", consisting of two or more "subgroups". Any existing group can be used as a subgroup within a composite group.

Composite groups can be created to make the administration of authorizations and permissions of users easier and more efficient.

When you create a composite group, any sub-groups inherit the permissions of the parent group.

This means, for example, that if a parent group in a composite group has only Execute and Read access of a form object, and its child (subgroup) has both Update and Insert privileges, the end result would be Execute-Read-Update-Insert access for all members of that subgroup.

Other examples

Example 1: Multiple sub-groups

This diagram represents a composite group in which:

  • Group A is the 'parent' group.
  • Group B is one sub-group of Group A.
  • Group C is a different sub-group of Group A.

Composite Group 1

These are the results of this setup:

  • Users who are members only of Group A have Execute and Read privileges, but no other privileges.
  • Users who are members of Group B have Execute, Read, and Write privileges, but no other privileges.

    Members of this group inherit Execute and Read privileges from Group A.

  • Users who are members of Group C have Execute, Read, and Edit privileges.

    Members of this group inherit Execute and Read privileges from Group A.

  • Neither Group B nor Group C inherit anything from the other group.
Example 2: Multiple levels of sub-groups

This diagram represents a composite group in which:

  • Group A is the 'parent' group.
  • Group B is a sub-group of Group A.
  • Group C is a sub-group of Group B (which also makes it a sub-group of Group A.

Composite Group 2

These are the results of this setup:

  • Users who are members only of Group A have Execute and Read privileges, but no other privileges.
  • Users who are members of Group B have Execute, Read, and Write privileges, but no other privileges.

    Members of this group inherit Execute and Read privileges from Group A.

  • Users who are members of Group C have Execute, Read, Write, and Edit privileges.

    Members of this group inherit Execute and Read privileges from Group A, as well as Write privileges from Group B.