Advanced Cloud Security Documentation
Index

Assign Security to Security Groups

Security Group assignment allows you to assign security features to Business Central Security Groups. All members of the group automatically receive the assigned features.

What are Security Groups?

Security Groups are a Business Central feature that allows you to:

  • Group users together
  • Assign permissions to the group
  • Manage users based on roles/departments

ACS leverages Security Groups to assign security features to groups of users.

Accessing Security Group Assignment

  1. Open Advanced Cloud Security from the Tell Me search
  2. Click Assign Security to Security Groups in the Assign Security column
  3. The Groups and Permissions page opens

Understanding the Page

The page shows:

  • Left side: List of Business Central Security Groups
  • Right side: Security features assigned to the selected group

Prerequisites

Security Groups Must Exist

Before using this feature:

  1. Create Security Groups in Business Central
  2. Add users to the groups
  3. Then assign ACS security features

Creating Security Groups

In Business Central:

  1. Search for Security Groups
  2. Create groups based on roles/departments
  3. Add users to each group

Example Group Structure

Group Code Group Name Members
SALES Sales Team Sales users
PURCHASING Purchasing Team Buyers
FINANCE Finance Team Accountants
WAREHOUSE Warehouse Staff Warehouse users

Assigning Features to Groups

Basic Assignment

  1. Select a security group from the list
  2. In the security features panel, click New
  3. Select a security feature from the lookup
  4. The feature is assigned to all group members

Assigning Multiple Features

  1. Click Add Features action
  2. Check multiple features to assign
  3. Click OK
  4. All features are assigned to the group

How Group Assignment Works

When a user logs in:

User Logs In
     ↓
ACS checks: What Security Groups is user in?
     ↓
For each group: What features are assigned?
     ↓
All features from all groups are applied

Example

User JOHN.DOE is member of:

  • SALES group (has SALES-FILTER feature)
  • EUROPE group (has REGION-EUR feature)

John's group-sourced features: SALES-FILTER + REGION-EUR

Managing Group Assignments

Removing an Assignment

  1. Select the assigned feature
  2. Click Delete
  3. Confirm the removal

All group members lose this feature.

Temporarily Disabling

  1. Select the assigned feature
  2. Uncheck Active
  3. Feature is disabled for all group members

Viewing Group Members

To see who's in a group:

  1. Select the group
  2. Click Members action
  3. View all users in the group

Group Assignment Examples

Example 1: Department Security

Group Security Feature Effect
SALES HIDE-COST Sales can't see costs
SALES SALES-FILTER Sales see only their customers
WAREHOUSE LOCATION-FILTER Warehouse sees their location
FINANCE FULL-VISIBILITY Finance sees everything

Example 2: Role-Based Security

Group Security Feature
MANAGERS MANAGER-ACCESS
EXECUTIVES EXECUTIVE-ACCESS
ENTRY-LEVEL BASIC-ACCESS

Example 3: Regional Security

Group Security Feature
REGION-NORTH FILTER-NORTH
REGION-SOUTH FILTER-SOUTH
REGION-INTERNATIONAL FILTER-INTL

Benefits of Group Assignment

Easier Management

Without Groups With Groups
Assign to User A Assign to Sales group
Assign to User B (same assignment covers all)
Assign to User C
When User D joins, assign again User D joins group, gets security

Automatic Updates

When group membership changes:

  • User added to group → gets features
  • User removed from group → loses features
  • No manual reassignment needed

Clear Organization

  • Security aligns with organizational structure
  • Easy to understand who has what
  • Better for auditing

Combining with User Assignment

Group and user assignments work together:

Source Feature
SALES group HIDE-COST
User JOHN.DOE directly SPECIAL-ACCESS

John gets both: HIDE-COST + SPECIAL-ACCESS

Use Cases for Combination

  • Group provides base security
  • User assignment adds exceptions
  • Temporary additional restrictions
  • Testing new features on select users

Multi-Group Membership

Users can be in multiple groups:

User Groups
JOHN.DOE SALES, REGION-NORTH, MANAGERS

John gets features from all three groups.

Feature Conflicts

If groups have conflicting features:

Group Feature Setting
SALES PRICE-FIELD Hidden
MANAGERS PRICE-FIELD Visible

Result: Most restrictive wins (Hidden)

Best Practices

Align with Organization

  • Create groups that match your org chart
  • Use department/role-based naming
  • Keep groups focused and single-purpose

Standard Feature Assignment

  • Assign common features to groups
  • Use consistent patterns
  • Document which features go to which groups

Minimize User Exceptions

  • Rely primarily on group assignments
  • Only use user assignments for true exceptions
  • Review exceptions periodically

Test Group Changes

When modifying group assignments:

  1. Test in sandbox first
  2. Notify affected users
  3. Verify effective security after changes

Troubleshooting

User Not Getting Group Features

  1. Verify user is member of the group
  2. Check group assignment is Active
  3. Verify the generated extension is installed
  4. Check effective security to confirm sources

Too Many Features Applied

  1. Review all groups user belongs to
  2. Check for overlapping features
  3. Consider group structure simplification

Groups Not Showing

  1. Verify Security Groups exist in BC
  2. Check your permission to view groups
  3. Refresh the page