Directory Filtering

Note: The following are just some thoughts that I have put together regarding Directory Filtering and a suggestion for creating user groups for the specific purpose of controlling directory filtering for ALL entities - Users, Calendars, Conferences and Global Mailing lists.

If you have no interest here, read no further. Some people may say that I have too much time on my hands. The fact is, I have no life :) I have this burning need to understand the details of everything that I do so here is what I have come up with when trying to understand directory filtering.

I have always been troubled by the fact that when someone has Create Conference permission and is not the "Administrator" that when they create a conference or calendar, the conference or calendar is assigned to any user group that user belongs to that is designated as an Organizational Unit. This bothered me because conferences or Calendars cannot assume any permissions or limits that are associated with a user group.

Why then is this done? I think it is there strictly for directory filtering reasons.

We have been taught (in the FirstClass Admin Course and in any documentation that I have read) to do directory filtering on User, Calendar and Conference groups. This makes your directory restrictions fields on any groups pretty complicated because you have to have all three types of groups entered in there. However, since conferences and calendars can belong to User Groups, why not just create user groups and use them only for directory filtering.

So I got to thinking, why is there not an additional grouping called Directory Groups that would be used specifically for directory filtering?

Well, there isn't such an animal but there is no reason why you cannot simulate this on your own.

Why not create your own user groups and categorize them as Directory Groups and then use them only for directory filtering.

Consider the following scenario. Organization Mega Corp has two different types of users; Alpha and Beta Users. For the most part, Alpha people can only see other Alpha people, conferences, calendars and mail lists. Beta people can only see Beta people, conferences, calendars and Mail lists. There are some unique people, conferences, calendars and mail lists that are shared across the organization.

The following example demonstrates how you can use Directory Filtering using User Groups to restrict access.

To meet the requirements above, create three groups in the Groups folder on the Admin desktop.

Now when you create your users, you have to make sure that they belong to one of the groups created above.

In the above example, Annie and Adam are members of the Alpha Group; Bernie and Betty are members of the Beta Group and Betty is also a member of the Shared group.

(Note: I wanted Betty to be associated with the Beta group, but I wanted him to be seen by all members of the organization.

Note as well, in the directory listing, Bernie shows up as a member of the Beta group and not as the Shared group even though Shared is above Beta in the Group list. This is because Shared is a level 3 OU and Beta is a level 4 OU. The directory listing will always take the first entry of the highest numbered OU in a user's group list.