Grouper Developers Forum

[Jessica Bibbee <>]

MACE-Dir-Groups Conference Call
February 8, 2006

*Participants*
Tom Barton, U. Chicago (chair)
Blair Christensen, U. Chicago
Brendan Bellina, USC
Joy Veronneau, U. Cornell
Steve Barrett, U. Cornell
Gary Brown, U. Bristol       
Steve Olshansky, Internet2
Jessica Bibbee, Internet2 (scribe)

New *Action Items*
[AI] Please contact {Tom} if you have a scenario to contribute for use at the Deployment Workshop.

Carry-over *Action Items*
[AI] {Bob and Tom} will write requirements for xml import/export design. (11-Jan-05)

*Discussion*
It is expected that Grouper v0.9 will be the available download for use at the upcoming Early Adopters Signet/Grouper Deployment Workshop, March 20-22. - Grouper v1.0 is soon to follow. {Tom & Lynn McRae} are prepping material that will make for a hands-on workshop. They will present a few use cases, but are also looking for current real-world institutional scenarios. [AI] Please contact {Tom} if you have a scenario to contribute for use at the Deployment Workshop.

{Gary} has been working on working on custom group types and custom list fields <http://portal.bris.ac.uk/grouper-ui-docs/listfulness/listfulness.html>. He walked the Group through changes he had made via screenshots, showing where he has added a group, 'Teaching' and two new lists - 'staff' and 'clerical'. There was discussion on items that have not been incorporated yet, but will be noted for the future – such as scaling issues with lists, as things evolve to greater levels of complexity.  {Tom} suggested coming up with a few world applications that might better identify terminology in the UI for those using it.

{Joy} asked about limitations on placing subjects in fields – right now, you can only check one of the list fields at a time. Being able to view a list of all the list fields may or may not be overly useful to folks at this point, but it could be done. How can you query what is in a group? – It is possible to make a query on an individual list, or you may do a larger query.

{Joy} offered a scenario - as the number of groups is multiplied per number of departments, the situation may quickly present tens of thousands of groups.  Additionally, members have one of four options – labor, gift, bursar, basic. Is it possible to make lists for each account, to avoid needing so many groups? A reason for having multiple types of lists is to create an internal security model, otherwise problems with naming conventions rise. There may be a use case where one has a number of accounts, but is only allowed to look at labor for 2 accounts. What is a good way of presenting it in the UI? {Steve Barrett} expressed interest in seeing a graphical representation.

The next Grouper WG call will be held on Wednesday, February 22, 2006 at 12pm ET.