Securing user groups

A user group defines the roles and permissions that are accorded to individual B2B Advanced Communications users.

Each user of B2B Advanced Communications is incorporated in a user group that identifies their user authentication credentials and scope of authority. A Master Account Administrator can configure and maintain groups. After a user is added to a group, the user can view and access only information that is based on their associated privileges.

The user profile is a user account definition that contains a set of attributes that describe a person within the system. The specific information that is contained in the user profile is defined and managed by the system administrator.

The user profile also defines user permissions, which are a method of providing users with entitlements to the B2B Advanced Communications resources. These permissions determine which resources are provisioned for a user or a set of users who share similar responsibilities.

The user permissions are assigned by selecting the group or groups for which the user is a member. Groups are collections of permissions. Each group name must be unique within the containing domain. Each group references a user category, which has a related set of default permissions and operations, and views that the user can access. When users are assigned to a group, the managed resources available to that group then become available to those users. Groups make it possible to maintain access permissions for several users from a single place. Groups help to minimize the amount of work that is involved with maintaining accounts, especially when several users have the same job function.