Group hierarchy use case: international group
Give each country or function its own tree: all employees at the top, departments below, sub-teams under each department. A company-wide course goes on top; department courses go lower down.
Overview
A complete country tree
The top group holds every employee of the country, often filled by smart rules. Departments and sub-teams sit below it, each with its own training.
Country tree · who follows which training
top group + up to 6 levels below
All employees – France
Smart group · country HR
Sales
Sales director
Sales managers
Department lead
SMB
Team lead
Inside sales
Team lead
White collars
HR
Blue collars
HR
New joiners
HR
A tree per function, too · Finance
Finance
Finance director
Payroll
Team lead
Tax
Team lead
Treasury
Team lead
Legal
Team lead
Example: Tom is a direct member of Inside sales and an indirect member of Sales and All employees – France.
Groups to create
The 3 levels to create
One tree per country or function. Training is linked at the level where it applies.
| Level | Example groups | How it is filled | What it is for |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1All employees | All employees – France, Finance | Often a smart group, filled by rules | Company-wide or country-wide courses |
| 2Department | Sales, White collars, Blue collars, New joiners | Attached to the top group | Department courses |
| 3Sub-team | Sales managers, SMB, Inside sales; Payroll, Tax, Treasury, Legal | Attached to its department | Team courses |
- Built by hand. With around a hundred groups, the tree can be created and maintained from the group form.
- One parent per group. A sub-team cannot sit under two departments at once.
Set-up
Set it up in 5 steps
Design
Map each country
List departments and sub-teams, and the courses for each level.
Create
Create the top groups
One per country or function. Add smart rules with Manage smart rules if they should fill themselves.
Attach
Attach departments and sub-teams
Select the parent in Parent group, level by level.
Appoint
Appoint managers
Department managers on their department, country managers on the top group — each with a list of permitted courses.
Link
Link training by level
Company or country courses on top; department courses on each department. Then check the organisational chart.
Expected result
Company-wide training goes out once; each department receives its own on top.
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) | A sub-team belongs to one department only |
| Members move up, training and visibility flow down | Tom is counted as an indirect member of Sales and All employees – France — never copied. A course linked to All employees – France reaches every department |
| A manager sees their group and everything below it | Never the levels above or neighbouring branches: the SMB lead does not see Inside sales. Reports and Data Lab filters on Sales include all its sub-teams |
| A manager’s rights add up across all their groups | A country manager set to All courses on the top group manages every sub-team: appoint department managers on their department only |
| Emails go to the managers of the direct group | Emails about Tom go to the Inside sales managers; the sales director follows him but does not receive them |
Appendix
How it works in detail
The settings and screens you need for the set-up. The examples use the country tree 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 “Sales”: its parent is “All employees – France” 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 “Sales” can manage Only visible courses and All learning paths.
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 — Sales for the sales director — 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 Sales and Sales managers, SMB and Inside sales move up under All employees – France. Check the organisational chart afterwards.
Check the result
Groups page. Only top-level groups show by default — here the country and function groups. Search looks at every level.
› Groups
| Group ↑ | Hierarchy | Number of users ↑ | Actions |
|---|---|---|---|
All employees – France (7)
Internal · 2 smart rule conditions |
- | 420 | |
All employees – Spain (5)
Internal · 2 smart rule conditions |
- | 160 | |
Finance (4)
Internal |
- | 38 |
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 “All employees – France”; the right-hand panel holds the filters.
Organisational chart. Shows the tree from any group. Search it by group name and download it as an image. Each card counts the group’s direct members. All employees – France is a smart group, so its card shows its smart rule conditions.
› Groups › Organisational chart
Internal • Contains 7 groups
All employees – France
Sales
White collars
Blue collars
Direct vs indirect: a card counts direct members only. “All employees – France” is a smart group whose rules already take in everyone, so its 420 direct members include the people of its child groups, who also count as its indirect members.
Search
Creation date
Custom fields
User - Department
User - Job
User - Location
See all custom fields ▾
Illustration · the organisational chart of “All employees – France” with its first level expanded (first cards shown).
Manage group page. The member list of All employees – France shows its direct members, filled by its rules, and the members of its departments and sub-teams with the badge Indirect member.
› Groups › Manage group
Edit group configuration
Configuration
Type: Visible
Smart rule conditions: 2
Child groups: 7
See organisational chart
Linked to group
2 courses
1 learning path
0 goals
User activities
1,200 ongoing courses
9 pending corrections
General statistics
420
Group members
890
Completed courses
31m
Average time spent
83 %
Average score
| User ↑ | Connection time ↑ | Progress ↑ | Score ↑ | Last login date ↑ | Actions | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ADAnne Dupuis▲▲ | 5 h 12 | 04/11/2026 | ||||
| DKDavid Klein | 2 h 30 | 03/11/2026 | ||||
| OHOmar Haddad | 1 h 10 | 01/11/2026 | ||||
| TGTom Garnier | 40m | 30/10/2026 |
Child groups
User status
Minimum time spent
Progress
Score
Illustration · the Manage group page of “All employees – France” on the All members tab.
Reports and learner home page. In lists, reports and the Data Lab, filtering on Sales includes all its sub-teams; in the Data Lab, Group by: Group shows each person under their direct group. On the learner home page, Tom’s Groups widget shows Inside sales, Sales and All employees – France.
Troubleshooting
Common issues and fixes
| Symptom | Fix |
|---|---|
| A department course reaches the whole country | It was linked to the top group. Link department courses to the department group instead. |
| A manager cannot see another branch | Managers see their group and the groups below it only — the SMB lead does not see Inside sales. 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. |
| Departments or sub-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. |
| Sub-group members do not match a parent’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 group, its sub-teams sit directly under the top group | Expected: child groups move up under the deleted group’s parent. Re-attach them if needed. |
| A department or country 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 manager manages more courses than expected | Their rights add up across all their groups. Appoint them only where they need it, with a List of permitted courses. |
| 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.
Want help setting up this use case on your platform? Our team can review your group tree with you.
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