System Groups and Active Directory/LDAP integration are two related features.
System Groups
A System Group is a collection of Collaborate users created at the system level. Once created, a system group (and the users within it) can be added to any site and treated like any other site group. The primary advantages of a system group are that in a single step:
- Multiple users can be added to or removed from a site, or
- An individual user can be added to or removed from multiple sites.
For example, Acme Corp is a large client, with over 20 sites in Collaborate. A team of 15 users (the Acme Client Team) is always added to those sites. That team consists of 10 users at the law firm, 4 users from Acme, and Acme’s outside accountant. Every time a new Acme site is created, the team lead is tasked with adding each of those 15 users to the site. Then imagine that the primary paralegal on the Acme Client Team moves to another practice group and is replaced on the team by a different paralegal. It would be necessary to manually remove the first paralegal from those 20+ sites, and manually add the new paralegal to the same sites.
If an Acme Client Team system group was created, composed of those same 15 users, then every time a new Acme site is created, ONE system group could be added to that site. And now, if the primary paralegal leaves the team and is replaced, this can be achieved by removing the paralegal from the Acme Client Team system group and adding the new paralegal in his place. The old paralegal will no longer have access to the 20+ sites, and the new paralegal will automatically gain such access.
Types of System Groups
There are three types of System Groups:
- Manually created and maintained - System Administrators have the right to create and manage this type of System Group. Manually created System Groups can have any type of internal or external user as a member.
- Synchronized groups - These mimic Active Directory groups and are available only if Active Directory integration has been implemented by first installing the HighQ Appliance. These groups can be automatically imported from a firm’s Active Directory/LDAP system.
- Automatically generated groups - Every member of an organisation will automatically be added to a System Group for that organisation.
System Groups can be used in conjunction with Site Templates. If a System Group is added to a Site Template, then every time a site is created based on that template, the System Group will be included as well.
Active Directory/LDAP Integration
After installing the HighQ Appliance, firms can use Active Directory or other LDAP providers to manage internal users who will have access to their Collaborate instance. The management of external users, such as clients and other third parties, must be done through Collaborate. Active Directory integration can manage the entire lifecycle of users, including onboarding new users and archiving existing ones.
Typically, Active Directory integration will be implemented in conjunction with Single Sign-On.
Adding New Users from the User Admin Page
To add a user to a System Group without first adding the user to a site, use the “Add user” option from the Users Admin page of the System Admin console.
Users add via this approach will NOT receive invitations. Therefore, invitations must be sent to these users when they are added to a site in order for them to be able to access Collaborate.
