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Using smart groups for dynamic user management

Set up smart groups to automate who joins or leaves your groups, no manual updates needed.

Marie Xhauflair avatar
Written by Marie Xhauflair
Updated today

Smart groups let you automatically add or remove users from a group based on live conditions like role, location, or start date. This helps you reduce manual admin and keep user groups up to date, without relying on your HR system or updating multiple automations.

They're ideal for fast-changing teams, complex orgs, or anytime you want your groups to reflect user activity and attributes in real time.


🔧 How to create a smart group

Follow these steps to create an automation that keeps your group up to date:

Step 1. Go to Control > Groups

Step 2. Go to Control > Behaviour > Automations

  • Click Create New Automation

  • Give your automation a clear name (e.g. Sales Team Smart Group)

  • Set the trigger event to Check periodically
    This ensures the system checks conditions regularly.

Step 3. Set your conditions
These define who joins the smart group. Example conditions:

  • Job role

  • Department

  • Contract start date

  • Location

  • Any other available user attribute

Step 4. For the action, choose Add user to smart group

  • Select the group from the drop-down menu

💡 Once enabled, users will be added or removed automatically based on your conditions.


📋 How smart group automations work

Smart groups are dynamic. Users enter or leave automatically based on whether they meet your set criteria.

Example:
You want to group Managers in the Benelux region.
Set up an automation with these conditions:

  • Location is Netherlands OR Belgium OR Luxembourg

  • AND Role is Manager

These users will automatically join your Benelux Managers smart group.


👀 Good to know about smart groups

  • Simplify automations: Reuse smart groups across automations, no need to repeat conditions.

  • Automatic updates: Groups update automatically as user data changes.

  • Easy to monitor and edit: Adjust criteria or check performance anytime in Control > Behaviour > Automations.

  • Customised grouping: Create learning-focused or reporting-specific groups without relying on HR systems.

  • Better reporting: Smart groups make it easier to track progress, completions, and engagement—no need to manually sort users.


✅ Final checks and tips

  • Confirm that the Check periodically event is active

  • Use the eye icon to preview which users match the group

  • Keep conditions clear and specific to avoid unexpected group changes

🔥 Important:

If your group was initially created by the user importer, it may be recreated unless your data source is updated. Always check the source of group membership.

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