Grouper Users - Open Discussion List

[Loris Bennett <>]

Hi Tom,

For us, the issue of handling changes in the organizational structure is
of central importance. In particular, we expect that, because Grouper
will help to make the org structure in HR more visible, people are more
likely to realize that the existing structure does not quite correspond
to reality and want to have changes made. So we would definitely be in
favour of NTS for 1.5.0.

In addition we would be interested in auditing and the ability to
restrict group membership to a certain period of time, which I assume
would be dealt with in the context of "Rule-based Actions".

BTW, is there already a list of the features which will be in 1.4.0?

Regards

Loris

On Mon, 2008-10-13 at 09:07 -0500, Tom Barton wrote:
> In answer to your question 2, you could instead use the xml-export 
> capability to export the group and then import it into the new folder. 
> But I haven't yet tried this out to verify that subgroup or composite 
> structure us preserved. Perhaps Gary can comment on that before I get 
> the chance to test it.
> 
> Yes, namespace transition support is aimed at exactly this sort of scenario.
> 
> With the release of v1.4.0 in just a few weeks, we'll soon determine 
> what will go into v1.5.0. And there may be some discussion of that at 
> the face-to-face working group session this afternoon here at the 
> Internet2 meeting in New Orleans. Items that I think are likely to be 
> top contenders are audit, notification, and NTS.
> 
> Loris, and everyone else: What's your opinion about what should come next?
> 
> Thanks,
> Tom
> 
> Loris Bennett wrote:
> > Hi,
> > 
> > On the roadmap the "Namespace Transition Support" is listed. I was
> > wondering what the status of this is and what strategies people are
> > using as a workaround. Specifically I am interested in how to deal which
> > changes in an organizational structure.
> > 
> > Currently I am doing the following:
> > 
> >         1. read the organizational structure from a human resources
> >         database
> >         2. construct a corresponding structure of folders in Grouper
> >         using the web services interface
> >         3. add a standard group to each folders
> >         4. read the user data from the HR database
> >         5. add the users to the standard group in the appropriate
> >         folders. 
> > 
> > If, say, HR decides to move a group from one unit within a department to
> > another, that group should remain a member of the department, but should
> > no longer be a member of any unit-specific groups.
> > 
> > I would envisage doing something like:
> > 
> >         1. create new group in the new unit
> >         2. add members of old group to new group
> >         3. determine memberships of old group
> >         4. recreate memberships which need to be preserved
> >         5. add any new memberships required
> >         6. delete all old memberships
> >         7. delete old group
> >         
> > Steps 4 and 5 would require some human interaction regarding what
> > exactly should be done. 
> > 
> > My questions are:
> > 
> >         1. Is this the approach that other people are taking?
> >         2. Are there any alternatives?
> >         3. Will "Namespace Transition Support" provide this
> >         functionality?
> >         4. When might NTS be available?
> > 
> > Thanks
> > 
> > Loris
> > 
>