Group hierarchy use case: franchise and cooperative stores
Build one tree for who manages whom — network, region, store, team — and cross-store groups for who follows which training. Store managers follow their staff; new joiners and job families get their training automatically.
Overview
A complete store network
Each employee belongs to one store and to several cross-store groups. The main tree says who manages whom; cross-store groups, filled automatically by smart rules, say who follows which training.
1Organisation · who manages whom
top group + up to 6 levels below
Network management
Administrators
Region West
Regional manager
Store Vannes
Store manager
Sales team
Team leader
Checkout team
Team leader
Store Lorient
Store manager
Store Quimper
Store manager
Region North
Regional manager
Store Lille
Store manager
Cross-store groups · who follows which training
2Lifecycle
New joiners
Creation date: last 60 days
Interns
Contract type = Internship
3Job family
Sales force
Job family = Sales
Inside sales
Sub-group of Sales force
Field sales
Sub-group of Sales force
Technicians
Job family = Technical
Support and head office
Job family = Support
4Job level
Managers
Position = Manager
Supervisors
Position = Supervisor
Employees
Position = Employee
Example: Léa, a sales assistant who joined 3 weeks ago, is a member of these 4 groups.
Groups to create
The 4 families of groups
Create one main tree (who manages whom) and separate cross-store trees (who follows which training).
| Family | Example groups | How it is filled | What it is for |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1Organisation (main tree) | Network → Region → Store → Team | Smart group on the Store field, or members added by hand for teams | Follow-up by managers, statistics by region and by store |
| 2Lifecycle | New joiners (last 60 days), Interns | Smart group on Creation date (Period · Last · 60 · Days) or Contract type; tick Hidden group | Automatic onboarding path; learners leave the group after 60 days when it is set to Automatically remove group members who don’t follow the smart rules |
| 3Job family | Sales force, Technicians, Logistics, Support and head office | Smart group on Job family | Job training shared by every store |
| 4Job level | Managers, Supervisors, Employees | Smart group on Position or level | Manager path, regulatory training by level |
- Cross-store sub-groups. A family can have its own sub-groups, for example Sales force → Inside sales / Field sales. Training linked to Sales force reaches both sub-groups.
- Combine a family with a region. A smart rule condition on membership of a group includes the members of its sub-groups: membership of Region West covers every store and team below it.
- One-off groups, if needed: internal experts and trainers, launch pilot group, ambassadors.
Set-up
Set it up in 5 steps
Prepare
Validate the custom fields with HR
Store, Region, Job family, Position, Entry date — and Contract type if you create an Interns group. Values must match the HR system or directory character for character, or smart groups stay empty.
Build
Create the main tree, top down
Network, then Regions, then Stores, using the Parent group field. For a large network, load the links with the connector’s group hierarchies flow or the API: it links groups that already exist, matched by name.
Automate
Create the cross-store groups
New joiners, job families, job levels — each with its smart rule, set with Manage smart rules.
Appoint
Appoint managers at the right level
The store manager on their store only, the regional manager on their region — each with a List of permitted courses or List of permitted categories.
Link
Link training and visibility as high as possible
Courses, learning paths, objectives and catalogue visibility linked to Region West reach all its stores. Then check the result in the organisational chart.
Expected result
Each store manager follows their own staff, regional managers follow every store below them, and new joiners, job families and job levels receive their training automatically in every store.
Rules
The 5 rules to remember
| Rule | What it means for you |
|---|---|
| A group has one parent, up to 7 levels (top group + 6 below) | Cross-store populations go in separate trees, not under a store |
| Members move up, training and visibility flow down | Léa is counted as an indirect member of Store Vannes and Region West — never copied. Courses, learning paths, objectives and catalogue visibility linked to Region West reach all its stores |
| A manager sees their group and everything below it | Never the levels above or neighbouring branches: the manager of Store Lorient does not see Store Vannes. Reports and Data Lab filters on Region West include all its stores |
| A manager’s rights add up across all their groups | Appoint the store manager on their store only, not on the region |
| Emails go to the managers of the direct group | The regional manager follows the learner but does not receive the emails |
Appendix
How it works in detail
The settings and screens you need for the set-up. The examples use the network above.
Create the hierarchy
Go to Groups › Create a group, or click the pencil icon of an existing group. In the Hierarchy section, choose the Parent group, or add several Child groups at once from the parent. Click Save.
When you create a group, Hierarchy and Configuration appear on one page; when you edit one, each is a collapsible section.
- Both groups must belong to the same company, and a group cannot be its own parent or loop back on itself.
- When you move a group that has sub-groups, the 7-level limit is checked on the whole branch.
- Through the API, one call replaces the parent and the full list of children — an empty list removes all children. Another call changes only the parent; sending no parent detaches the group and keeps its children.
- The connector’s group hierarchies flow links existing groups matched by name. It never creates a group and never removes a link missing from the file.
› Groups › Edit group
Name
Perimeter
Group members of a child group will become indirect members of their parent group.
Parent group
Child groups
Allowed IP address range
Illustration · editing “Store Vannes”: its parent is “Region West” and its child groups are listed below it.
Manager rights
- Group managers follow and manage the members of this group and of its sub-groups.
- Course permissions set which courses they can register members to and follow: None, All courses, Only visible courses (courses visible to the manager), List of permitted courses, or List of permitted categories (every course in these categories).
- Learning path permissions work the same way: None, All learning paths, or List of permitted learning paths.
- Emails about a member go only to the managers of the group the member belongs to directly, and only when their course permissions cover the course. Managers of parent groups follow these members but do not receive the emails.
- A manager’s permissions add up across every group they manage: All courses on one group applies to every member they manage, sub-groups included. To limit a manager, appoint them only on the sub-group, with a list.
- Platform-wide rights, such as creating and editing users or groups, are set in Settings › Permissions › Group managers.
Learn more
Choose which courses the group managers will be allowed to manage
Choose which learning paths group managers will be allowed to manage
Illustration · the managers of “Store Vannes” can manage List of permitted courses and None.
In Configuration, choose what the group’s managers can manage:
- Courses: None, All courses, Only visible courses, List of permitted courses, List of permitted categories.
- Learning paths: None, All learning paths, List of permitted learning paths.
Platform-wide rights, such as creating users or groups, are set in Settings › Permissions › Group managers.
In their own Groups list, a manager sees only the top groups they manage — Region West for the regional manager — and opens the tree from there.
Move or delete a group
- Adding a parent or a child group re-runs the automatic registrations for everyone in the group and its sub-groups: the courses linked to the group itself and those of the new parent. Only active registrations are checked, so people removed from a course by hand are registered again and receive the usual emails — from the screen or the API alike.
- Detaching a group unregisters no one: learners keep the courses they received through the former parent.
- Deleting a group moves its child groups up under its parent: delete Store Vannes and its Sales and Checkout teams move up under Region West. Check the organisational chart afterwards.
Check the result
Groups page. Only top-level groups show by default, with the hierarchy icon and the number of groups below them. Search looks at every level: searching for “Region” lists Region West and Region North under Network management.
› Groups
| Group ↑ | Hierarchy | Number of users ↑ | Actions |
|---|---|---|---|
Region West (5)
Internal |
Network management | 114 | |
Region North (1)
Internal |
Network management | 64 |
Search
Hierarchy
Perimeter
Creation date
Custom fields
User - Department
User - Job
User - Location
Illustration · the Groups page. The hierarchy icon shows how many groups sit below “Region West”; here searching for “Region”, which looks at every level.
Organisational chart. Shows the tree from any group. Search it by group name and download it as an image. Each store here is a smart group filled from the Store field, so its card shows Smart rules 1; Region West has no rule of its own and counts the stores’ members as indirect members.
› Groups › Organisational chart
Internal • Contains 5 groups
Region West
Store Vannes
Store Lorient
Store Quimper
Direct vs indirect: a card counts direct members only. “Region West” shows 2, yet 114 people sit in its tree: the members of its child groups count as its indirect members, listed on its Manage group page.
Search
Creation date
Custom fields
User - Department
User - Job
User - Location
See all custom fields ▾
Illustration · the organisational chart of “Region West” with its first level expanded.
Manage group page. The member list of Region West also shows the members of its stores and teams, with the badge Indirect member: they are counted through their sub-group, not added to Region West.
› Groups › Manage group
Edit group configuration
Configuration
Type: Visible
Smart rule conditions: 0
Child groups: 5
See organisational chart
Linked to group
3 courses
1 learning path
0 goals
User activities
410 ongoing courses
2 pending corrections
General statistics
114
Group members
96
Completed courses
22m
Average time spent
81 %
Average score
| User ↑ | Connection time ↑ | Progress ↑ | Score ↑ | Last login date ↑ | Actions | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PGPaul Girard▲▲ | 3 h 20 | 04/11/2026 | ||||
| ARAnne Riou | 1 h 15 | 30/10/2026 | ||||
| SLSophie Le Gall▲▲ | 2 h 05 | 03/11/2026 | ||||
| LBLéa Bernard | 20m | 29/10/2026 |
Child groups
User status
Minimum time spent
Progress
Score
Illustration · the Manage group page of “Region West” on the All members tab.
Reports and learner home page. In lists, reports and the Data Lab, filtering on Region West includes all its stores; in the Data Lab, Group by: Group shows each person under their direct group. On the learner home page, the Groups widget shows the learner’s own groups and the groups above them: Léa sees Sales team, Store Vannes and Region West.
Troubleshooting
Common issues and fixes
| Symptom | Fix |
|---|---|
| A store manager manages too many courses | Their rights add up across all their groups. Appoint them on their store only, with a List of permitted courses. |
| A manager cannot see another branch | Managers see their group and the groups below it only. Appoint them on each group they need to follow. |
| Learners removed from a course are registered again | Expected after adding a parent or a child group: automatic registrations re-run and only active registrations are checked. Check registrations after any change to the tree. |
| Stores or teams are missing from the Groups list | Only top-level groups show by default. Use the search, which looks at every level, or open the parent’s tree. |
| Members of a store do not match the region’s smart rules | Expected: a parent’s smart rules only filter its own direct members; sub-group members are always indirect members. |
| After deleting a store, its teams sit directly under the region | Expected: child groups move up under the deleted group’s parent. Re-attach them if needed. |
| A regional manager does not receive emails about a learner | Emails go to the managers of the learner’s direct group. Also appoint them on that group if they need the emails. |
| A smart group stays empty | The value in the rule does not match the HR data exactly. Copy the value from a user profile and check with Show concerned users. |
| A manager’s Data Lab does not load | Their tree contains hundreds of groups: contact Support. |
| No level can be added | The 7-level limit is reached: merge levels. |
Start from an outcome, not a setting.
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