Environment Groups

Environment groups are sets of resources that were originally designed to control access for Infor Lawson Interface Desktop (LID) users to job queues and printers, and to enable users to distribute print jobs and reports to other users or groups of users. Because Infor Lawson Security now controls a user's access to job queues and printers and because Infor Lawson Interface Desktop (LID) has a much more limited role as a user interface, Environment groups also have a smaller role.

Environment Groups for Lawson Portal Users

For Lawson Portal users, the Environment groups that apply are the distribution groups and printer groups. A distribution group for Lawson Portal users is a set of users to whom reports can be distributed, and printer groups determine which printers can be selected for a user when that user is added to a distribution group.

Administrators can set up distribution groups either through the Distribution Group Definition utility (grpdef) accessed in a Infor Lawson Interface Desktop (LID) session or through the Distribution Group Definitions form, which is available from the LSF Administration Tools menu in Lawson Portal. Printer groups can be set up either through the Printer Group Definition utility (prtgrpdef) accessed in a Infor Lawson Interface Desktop (LID) session or through the Printer Group Definitions form, which is available from the LSF Administration Tools menu in Lawson Portal.

To set up distribution groups and printer groups, an administrator must have security access to the grpdef and prtgrpdef executable objects in Infor Lawson Security and, if using the Distribution Group Definitions form or Report Group Definitions form in Lawson Portal, must have the Portal Administrator attribute set to YES in the RM Information screen in Infor Lawson Security user maintenance.

See the the topic on Securing Jobs, Job Queues, and Print Files in Resources and Security Administration Guide.

Users can distribute reports to distribution groups by specifying a distribution group as part of the report properties or by selecting a report in the Print Manager and then selecting Distribute to Groups. For more details on distribution groups, see Defining Distribution Groups. For more information on printer groups, see Defining Printer Groups.

Environment Groups for Administrators Using the Infor Lawson Interface Desktop (LID)

For administrators using the Infor Lawson Interface Desktop (LID), the following Environment groups can be set up in order to configure what queues an administrator sees and to configure how reports can be distributed. Note that access to individual printers and queues is controlled through Infor Lawson Security.

See the topic on Securing Jobs, Job Queues, and Print Files in Resources and Security Administration Guide.

  • Job queue groups

  • Printer groups

  • Distribution groups

  • Distribution list groups

  • User groups

After you have set up Environment groups, you assign users to job queue groups, printer groups, and distribution list groups on the Environment Information screen in the Infor Lawson Security Administrator.

When you define Environment groups, you can include groups within groups. For example, you can define User Group A by including in it User Group 1, User Group 2, and User Group 3. However, the fewer levels of groups within groups, the easier the structure will be to maintain. Groups cannot belong to themselves, nor can a circular reference be created. A circular reference would be: Group A has Group B as a member, Group B has Group C as a member, and Group C has Group A as a member.

When you delete an Environment group, you delete the definition of the group, not the resources or items within the groups. For example, Printer Group A has Printer Group B and Printer 1 defined as its group. Deleting the printer group does not delete Printer Group B or Printer 1. Those resources remain defined within the system. It is the definition of Printer Group A that is deleted. When you delete an Environment group that is assigned to a user, the utilities prompt for a replacement group.

Environment Group Description Created with
Job Queue Groups Job queue groups control which job queues an administrator will see in Infor Lawson Interface Desktop (LID) when selecting a job queue for a job. These groups do not control actual access to the individual queues when submitting a job in Infor Lawson Interface Desktop (LID). You set access to individual job queues in the Infor Lawson Security Administrator.

Job Queue Group Definition utility (jobqgrpdef)

Defining Job Queue Groups

Printer Groups Printer groups control which printers an administrator will see in Infor Lawson Interface Desktop (LID) when selecting a printer for a report. These groups do not control actual access to the individual printers when a user wants to print from Infor Lawson Interface Desktop (LID). You set access to individual printers in Infor Lawson Security Administrator.

Printer Group Definition utility (prtgrpdef)

Defining Printer Groups

Distribution Groups

A distribution group is a set of users that you define so that you can distribute print files and reports. After you define distribution groups, you add them to distribution list groups, and in turn assign a distribution list group to each user.

For administrators using Infor Lawson Interface Desktop (LID), when defining a job, the administrator can then designate one of the distribution groups in his or her distribution list group to which to distribute print files and reports.

When you add a user to a distribution group, you can choose among the following options for how to distribute the report or print file to the user:

  • Print the report on one of the printers in the user's printer group.

  • Make the report available to the user through the Print Manager.

  • Print a designated number of copies on the user's printer.

The default number of distribution group definitions is 200, but you can change this number with the mDSTGRPS parameter in the Environment configuration file (univ.cfg).

Note: When a user who is a member of a distribution list group creates a new distribution group, the new distribution group is automatically added to the distribution list group currently assigned to the creator of the group.

Distribution Group Definition utility (grpdef)

Defining Distribution Groups

Distribution List Groups

A distribution list group is a collection of distribution groups.

For administrators using the Infor Lawson Interface Desktop (LID), a distribution list group, when assigned to the administrator, grants the administrator access only to those distribution groups defined in the distribution list group definition. That is, when the administrator wants to define for a report who it is to be distributed to, the administrator can choose only one of the distribution groups in the distribution list group currently assigned.

Distribution List Group Definition utility (dstlstgrpdef)

Defining a Distribution List Group

User Groups

For the Infor Lawson Interface Desktop (LID), user groups are part of the required setup for report distribution. Before you can assign a distribution list group to a user on the Environment Information form in Infor Lawson Security, you must assign a user group to the user. This group must be one the user belongs to. Also, the distribution list group that you want to assign to the user must contain at least one distribution group that includes the user.

For administrators using Infor Lawson Interface Desktop (LID), user groups control whose records the administrator can view or select. (In Lawson Portal, you control access to other users' records through rules written against the UserName element in Infor Lawson Security Administrator.)

User Group Definition utility (usergrpdef)

Defining User Groups