What distinguishes a Primary Group from an Auto Group?

Primary Groups, like auto groups, automatically maintain an accurate membership list from data in the user feed.

However, there are important differences that apply to a Primary Group. These are:

• Module settings are only customisable for Primary Groups.

• Each user 'has' one and only one Primary Group that determines their settings.

So because, for example, the help page text is a module setting which every Primary Group can customise to its needs, the system has to know unambiguously each user's Primary Group. There is, therefore, a difference between a user ‘having’ a Primary Group and ‘being a member of’ a Primary Group.

Users can 'belong' to more than one Primary Group, by being members of groups that are sub-groups of another Primary Group.

Being added to a sub-group does not affect the settings seen by a member of a Primary Group. They will still 'have' their single Primary Group determined by their Primary Group Descriptor.

For example, someone may be employed in the Department of Physics and Department of Computing, which would result in the individual being a member of the Faculty of Physical Sciences and the Faculty of Engineering, which are both Primary Groups of which these departments are sub-groups.

Despite being members of both Primary Groups, via their sub-group membership, this user would still 'have' only one Primary Group, determined by their Primary Group Descriptor field, which will make sure they see appropriate settings for their main faculty.

Also see HR Feed and Elements User Groups