About device groups

Device groups contain lists of devices that you have assigned to the group, they assign Monitor feature configurations to users of specific devices, regardless of any user group that they are in as well. We recommend that you use this when the location of a specific device is more important than the specific type of user that is accessing the device, so all product features are determined by the location of the device itself. You can also use it when there are no user groups that exist to differentiate users. For example, devices in key locations such as reception areas, devices in specific locations, such as libraries, devices with a high turnover of user accounts such as temporary users. The best practice of assigning feature configuration to users is by their user group. This offers different configurations based on the type of user that accesses the device. For example, staff might have a more relaxed set of themes to capture compared to a typical student user. You can apply settings at group level. However, you can move devices between groups at a later date.

Priority

It is important to set the device group Priority option for any device group where the configuration settings are to override any user group settings for users that log in to devices that are members of the group. Failure to do this will mean any device group settings are ignored and all configuration settings will be set from the user group membership of the user logged in. You might want to have a mix of device groups where the location sets the configuration (such as a reception area) and have users who have their own user group settings in other locations. It is possible to do this, but care must be taken to ensure the correct device group priority is used in the correct physical location. It is more common to make a site-wide decision to either set Monitor configuration on a per user group basis or per device group.