Group Modification Template

Group modification templates simplify and standardize the process of modifying Active Directory groups. These templates even help administrators auto-modify the desired attributes, reactively, based on the changes being made to other attributes.

Based on the types of attributes to be modified or the technician who will be modifying the groups, administrators can create multiple templates to meet each need/scenario specifically. These templates have two important components which give administrators a firm control over the group modification process, via two important components:

• - The customizable layout (Layout view): This component allows makes it possible to customize the template to suit the specific needs of your organization. With simple drag and drop actions, you can place only the desired attributes in the template. Further, you can even make any attribute in the template, read only, editable or even hidden.


• - The modification rules: Using this component, administrators can specify a set of rules or conditions to reactively update/modify the values of the desired attributes based on the values being entered for the other attributes.

Steps to create a customized group modification template:

1. Click the AD Mgmt tab; go to Group Management

2. Under Group Templates, click the Group Modification Templates link

3. In the 'Group Modification Templates' page, click the 'Create New Template' link located at the top right corner. (The 'Group Modification Templates' page will display all the group modification templates that have already been created.)

4. In the 'Group Modification Template' creation page, enter an appropriate name and description for this template.

5. Select the 'domain' in which this template will be used to modify the groups.

6. In the 'Layout View', click the 'Enable Drag-n-Drop' button to select the fields that you wish to have in the template. To know more about the customization options available in the layout view, click here.

7. Select each tab and specify the desired values for the fields in each tab

8. Using 'Modification Rules', configure a set of conditions based on which you wish to update certain attributes, automatically.
   Note: Modification rules will not be visible during the group modification process; these rules work in the background to check for the specific conditions and update the desired fields accordingly

9. After customizing the template by selecting and placing the required fields and configuring the modification rules, click the 'Save Template' button to create and save this new template.

Customizing the group modification template using the 'Layout View'

The layout view helps you to mold the group modification template to suit your needs. The layout view allows you to decide the fields that have to be displayed in the template during the group modification process. Using simple 'drag-n-drop' actions, you can move the desired fields to the template or remove them from the template.

Further you also have the flexibility to make any field read-only, editable or even hidden, based on the need.

Steps to use the layout view:

1. In the 'Group Modification Templates' page, key in a suitable name and description for the template; select the domain in which this template will be used.

2. In the 'Layout View', click the 'Enable Drag-n-Drop' button located at the top of the 'Layout Section'. You will now be able to see the 'Field Tray' as well as all the tabs of the template.

3. To add a new tab, use the '+' icon located just below the 'Drag-n-Drop' button (at the extreme right).

4. Based on your need, you can also delete a tab, hide it from a technician during the group modification process, or even change its name, using the following steps:

   • To delete an existing tab, click the 'X' icon that is displayed beside the tab name, when a tab is selected.
   • You can also hide a tab from the technician during group modification process and make it 'silently active'. To make a tab silently active, click the '-' icon that is displayed beside the name of the tab when you select a tab.
   • To edit/change the name of a tab, use the edit icon that is displayed just before the tab name, whenever you click on a tab.

5. Select the tab in which you wish place the desired fields.

6. 'Drag-n-drop' the required fields from the 'Field Tray' to the tab in which you would like to place them. For example to move the E-mail field into the General tab, select the E-mail attribute under the 'General' section of the field tray, drag and drop it into the 'General' tab.

7. To edit a field or make it mandatory,

   • Point the mouse over the desired field and then on the edit icon that is now visible
   • Select Edit from the list of options
   • In the editing window that opens up, make the required changes.
   • Click the Options heading; use the options under Security to make the attribute 'mandatory' or 'read only', as required

8. To make a filed hidden, so that it is not visible to the technicians during the modification process,

   • Point the mouse over the desired field and then on the edit icon that is now visible
   • Select Make Silently Active from the options displayed

9. To delete or move a field from a tab to the field tray,

   • Point the mouse over the desired field and then on the edit icon that is now visible
   • Select Delete from the list of options

10. To add a new 'field group' in any of the tabs, click the 'Add Group' link located at the top right corner in each tab; drag-n-drop the required fields to the new 'field group

11. After making all the required changes, save the changes by clicking the 'Save Template' button.

Note: You can also use the 'Layout View' without selecting the 'Drag-n-Drop' option. Just click on each tab, enter the values for the fields and save the template. Each field can be used only once and in one tab only. Also, the fields belonging to the Exchange tab cannot be used in any other tab and vice versa. A field will become greyed out in the field tray as soon as it is placed in a tab. You cannot drag-n-drop the fields which are greyed out the fields that are already being used in any of the other tabs will be greyed out. By default, all the fields in the field tray will be greyed out as all the fields are placed in the tabs. Drag-n-drop is allowed only for dragging a field from the field tray to a tab. To move a field from a tab to the field tray, use the 'delete' option. To move a field from one tab to another the required field has to be deleted from the tab where it is being used (this will move the field back to the field tray) and then drag-n-drop the field from the field tray to the required tab

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Group Modification Rules - to reactively modify group attributes

Modification rules help administrators to automatically and also reactively update or configure specific attributes of an Active Directory group, every time it is modified. As per the organizational requirements, you can create these rules with a set of conditions; these conditions will be evaluated every time the attributes of a group object are modified.

These rules are not visible to the technicians during the modification process. But whenever the attributes of a group object are modified, via modification templates, these rules are triggered in the background and if the stipulated criteria are met, the specified attributes are automatically updated with the relevant values. In other words, via these rules, you can automatically update the desired attributes of a group object based on the changes being made to other attributes.

Steps to configure modification rules:

• In the 'Group Modification Templates' page, click the 'Modification Rules' button
• Click the 'Modification Rules' button to add a new modification rule or view, modify or delete an existing modification rule.
• In the 'modification rules' section, click the 'Create New Rule' button to start configuring rules to meet your requirements.
• Specify a suitable name for the rule by clicking the edit icon; you can view the edit icon beside the title/name of the rule, when you point the mouse over it
• You can specify the values for a field or a set of fields in any of these two ways:
  • Unconditional value assignment - Assign values to fields without conditions:
    • In the 'Assign Values' section, select the required field from the list of fields in the 'set' option and assign a value.
    • Click on 'Add' to confirm the value.
    • After specifying all the fields that have to be updated and also the appropriate values for them, save the changes using the 'Save Template' option
  • Condition based value assignment:
    • Click the 'Add Conditions' link to add a new condition.
    • Pick the field which has to be checked in 'Select Field', specify the matching condition and the value to be checked.
    • To add another field to the condition, click on the '+' icon.
    • Conditions Sequence shows the order in which the conditions will be evaluated.
    • If you use more than one condition, use the And/Or option located at the beginning of every condition to specify the combination in which these conditions have to be checked.
    • After mentioning the conditions, specify the fields that have to be updated or modified and their corresponding values, in the 'Assign Values' section (as mentioned in unconditional value assignment)
    • After you have specified all the fields that have to be updated and also the appropriate values for them, save this template using the 'Save Template' option.

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Field Tray:
In the 'Layout View', when you click the enable drag-n-drop button, you can view new section/pane on the left hand side. This pane is called the field tray ; it has all the default tabs and all their corresponding fields.. The fields can be dragged-n-dropped to the required tabs in the template or unwanted fields can be moved back to the field tray from the appropriate tabs in the template.

Make silently active:
This option helps you to hide a tab or a field without actually deleting it. When this option is enabled, that is, whenever a tab or a field is made silently active, the respective tab or field and also the values in the tab will actually be used while modifying the group but will not be displayed during the contact creation process.

This option is useful in cases where the administrator would like give values to certain attributes but does not want the person modifying the group to know new values. This option can be selected by clicking the '-' symbol which is displayed, beside the delete option, when the mouse is positioned over or near the tab name.

Field Group:
A field group contains a group of related attributes placed under one common head. A new field group can be added using the Add Group option that is placed inside the tab on the top right corner.
Similar to the tab, a field group or any field that is placed in a field group can be made 'silently active'.

Drag-n-drop:
This option makes is possible to drag and drop the required field or attribute from the field tray into the desired tab.

Click the tab in which you would like to add a new field. Then, drag and drop the required field from the field tray to the required field group inside the tab.

While moving the field/attribute to a tab, you can see a box being displayed inside the field group where you move the field to; drop the field into this box. This will open up an edit window; specify an appropriate name for the field, select its type, enter a default value (if necessary) and also set it as read only/mandatory/editable, as desired. Click the Done button to save the field in the template.

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