Chapter 05: Rule Groups and User Management

5.1 Understanding Rule Groups

Rule groups provide a mechanism for controlling which users in your organization actually trigger email notifications when they make data changes in Business Central. Without rule groups, email notifications send every time any user performs the triggering action—if you configure an order confirmation email to send when orders are created, it sends regardless of who creates the order. Rule groups allow you to refine this behavior so emails only send when specific users or groups of users perform the triggering actions.

What Are Rule Groups?

A rule group is essentially a named collection of Business Central users that you define for the purpose of controlling business rule and email notification execution. When you assign an email template to one or more rule groups, that email only sends when users who are members of those rule groups perform actions that trigger the email. Users who are not members of any rule groups assigned to the email do not trigger the email, even if they perform the exact same actions.

Think of rule groups as answering the question "who should trigger this email?" after triggers and scenarios have answered "when should this email check if it should send?" and "under what circumstances should it send?" This provides an additional dimension of control that allows different users in your organization to have different automation behavior based on their roles, responsibilities, or security requirements.

Purpose and Benefits

Rule groups serve several important purposes in email automation:

Role-Based Email Distribution - Different user roles often need different notification behavior. Sales representatives might need order confirmation emails to send to customers when they create orders, while back-office data entry staff entering historical orders for import shouldn't trigger customer-facing emails. Rule groups allow you to implement these role-based differences without creating duplicate email templates.

Training and Testing Isolation - During system implementation or when training new users, you may want to prevent trainee actions from triggering real email notifications to customers or external contacts. By assigning production email templates only to rule groups containing trained, authorized users, you ensure that test activities don't result in inappropriate external communications.

Departmental Segregation - In organizations where multiple departments use Business Central with some shared functionality, rule groups allow department-specific automation. The sales department's order notifications can be assigned to sales rule groups, purchasing department notifications to purchasing rule groups, preventing cross-department triggering of irrelevant emails.

Gradual Rollout Control - When deploying new email automation, you might want to enable it for a pilot group of users first, monitor results, refine configuration, and then expand to all users. Rule groups make this gradual rollout straightforward—start with a small rule group, expand membership as confidence grows.

Security and Compliance - Some notifications may involve sensitive information or require audit trails of who triggered them. Rule groups provide a mechanism for ensuring only authorized personnel can trigger specific notifications, supporting compliance with internal policies or regulatory requirements.

User Assignment Concept

The core of rule group functionality is the relationship between Business Central users and rule groups. Each user in your Business Central environment can be assigned to zero, one, or multiple rule groups. This assignment determines which email notifications that user's actions will trigger.

User Not Assigned to Any Groups - If an email template has rule group assignments and a user is not a member of any assigned group, that user's actions do not trigger the email, even if triggers and scenarios match.

User Assigned to One Group - If an email template is assigned to a group and the user is a member of that group, the user's actions trigger the email (subject to trigger and scenario conditions).

User Assigned to Multiple Groups - If a user belongs to several groups, they trigger emails assigned to any of their groups. The user only needs to belong to one of the email's assigned groups to trigger it.

Email Not Assigned to Any Groups - If an email template has no rule group assignments at all, it behaves as if all users are eligible to trigger it. This is the default behavior—emails without rule group restrictions send for all users.

💡 TIP: If you want certain emails to send for all users regardless of group membership, simply don't assign those emails to any rule groups. Leave the Rule Groups section empty, and the email will fire for everyone. Only assign rule groups when you specifically want to restrict which users can trigger the email.

5.2 Creating and Managing Groups

Rule groups are created and managed through the Rule Groups management interface, which is separate from email template configuration. You define rule groups centrally, then reference them when configuring email templates.

Creating New Rule Groups

To create a new rule group:

1. Use the search function in Business Central (magnifying glass icon 🔍) to find and open the Rule Groups page.

2. Click the New action to create a new rule group.

3. In the Code field, enter a unique identifier for the rule group. Use meaningful codes that indicate the group's purpose, such as "SALES-REP" for sales representatives or "PURCH-MGR" for purchasing managers.

4. In the Description field, enter a clear description of the group's purpose and which users should be members. For example, "Sales Representatives - Customer-facing order notifications" or "Purchasing Team - Vendor communication automation".

5. The rule group is now created, but has no member users yet. Proceed to assign users (next section).

Best Practices for Rule Group Naming:

Use Descriptive Codes - Codes like "SALES-REP", "PURCH-TEAM", "ADMIN-USERS" immediately convey the group's purpose. Avoid generic codes like "GROUP1" or "USERS-A" that provide no context.

Consider Department Prefixes - In organizations with multiple departments using email automation, prefix group codes with department identifiers: "FIN-ACCOUNTANTS", "OPS-WAREHOUSE", "IT-ADMINS".

Document Group Purpose - Use the Description field fully to explain not just who the group contains, but why the group exists and what types of automation it controls. Future administrators will appreciate this documentation.

Plan for Growth - Consider how your rule group structure will scale as you add more email templates. A well-organized group structure makes it easier to assign new emails to appropriate groups without needing to create new groups frequently.

Assigning Users to Groups

Once a rule group exists, you assign users to it through the rule group's user list:

To assign users to a rule group:

1. From the Rule Groups list page, select the rule group to which you want to add users.

2. Click the Edit action or double-click the group to open its card page.

3. Locate the Users section or subpage (exact location varies by interface version).

4. Click in an empty row to add a new user assignment.

5. In the User ID field, enter or select the Business Central user ID. This must be a valid user account that exists in your Business Central environment.

6. Repeat to add additional users to the group.

7. Close the rule group card page. User assignments are saved automatically.

Removing Users from Groups:

To remove a user from a rule group, select the user row in the Users section and delete it. The user account itself is not deleted—only the membership in this specific rule group is removed.

📋 NOTE: User IDs in Business Central are case-sensitive in some contexts. Ensure you enter user IDs exactly as they appear in Business Central's user management. If you're unsure of the correct user ID, navigate to the Users page (search for "Users" in Business Central) to view the exact user IDs in your environment.

Multiple Group Membership

Business Central users can belong to multiple rule groups simultaneously. This is useful when a user's role spans multiple areas or when you want fine-grained control over which emails different combinations of users trigger.

✅ EXAMPLE: Multi-Department Manager

A sales manager who also handles customer service might belong to both the "SALES-MANAGERS" and "CUST-SERVICE" rule groups. This allows them to trigger both sales-related email notifications (order confirmations, shipment notices) and customer service notifications (support case updates, satisfaction surveys) based on their involvement in both functional areas.

When configuring an email template, if you assign it to any of the groups the user belongs to, that user can trigger the email. The user doesn't need to belong to all assigned groups—membership in any one is sufficient.

Group Hierarchy

The Advanced Email App and Rule Engine do not support hierarchical group structures or nested groups. Each group is independent, and group membership is direct assignment only. If you need to create logical hierarchies or organizational structures, you manage this by assigning users to multiple groups as appropriate.

For example, if you want all managers to trigger certain emails but also want department-specific emails:

• Create a "MANAGERS" group and assign all managers

• Create "SALES-MGR", "PURCH-MGR", "OPS-MGR" groups and assign respective managers

• Assign company-wide management emails to "MANAGERS" group

• Assign department-specific emails to department groups

This achieves a logical hierarchy through multiple group membership even though the system doesn't provide formal hierarchical group relationships.

5.3 Assigning Emails to Groups

Once rule groups exist and have user members, you can assign email templates to those groups to control which users trigger the emails.

Linking Emails to Rule Groups

To assign an email template to rule groups:

1. Open the email template you want to assign to groups (either from the Advanced Emails list page or by creating a new email).

2. Locate the Rule Groups section on the Email card page. This is typically in the lower portion of the page, often near the Scenarios and Triggers sections.

3. Click in an empty row in the Rule Groups section to add a new group assignment.

4. In the Group Code field, enter or select the code of the rule group to which you want to assign this email.

5. Repeat to add additional group assignments if you want multiple groups to be able to trigger this email.

6. Save the email template.

Result: After assigning rule groups, only users who are members of at least one assigned group can trigger this email. Users not in any assigned groups will perform the triggering actions (create orders, modify records, etc.) normally, but the email won't send for them.

Multiple Group Assignments

An email template can be assigned to multiple rule groups. This creates OR logic for group membership—a user only needs to belong to one of the assigned groups to trigger the email.

✅ EXAMPLE: Sales Order Confirmation for Multiple Roles

You might assign an order confirmation email to both "SALES-REP" and "SALES-MANAGERS" groups. This allows both sales representatives and their managers to create orders that trigger confirmation emails to customers. Customer service representatives who create orders but aren't in either group would not trigger customer confirmations, allowing them to create internal or historical orders without external communication.

Testing Group-Based Emails

Testing email templates with rule group assignments requires careful attention to which user account is performing the triggering action:

To test group-based email behavior:

1. Verify which rule groups are assigned to the email template

2. Verify which users are members of those groups (check the Rule Groups page and review user assignments)

3. Log in to Business Central as a user who IS a member of an assigned group

4. Perform the action that should trigger the email (create an order, modify a field, etc.)

5. Verify the email sends (check inbox and Validation Log)

6. Log in as a user who IS NOT a member of any assigned groups

7. Perform the same triggering action

8. Verify the email does NOT send

9. Check the Validation Log—there should be no log entry for the second user's action, indicating the rule didn't execute for them

Common Testing Mistakes:

• Testing with an administrative user account that might have special permissions or group memberships you're not aware of

• Forgetting which user account you're currently logged in as

• Assuming a user is in a group without verifying the actual membership

• Not checking the Validation Log to confirm whether the rule evaluated or didn't evaluate

💡 TIP: During testing, keep a reference document showing which test user accounts belong to which rule groups. This helps you quickly switch between appropriate user contexts when testing different group-based behaviors.

5.4 User-Specific Email Rules

While the Advanced Email App doesn't provide explicit "user-specific" configuration at the individual user level, you can achieve user-specific email behavior through creative use of rule groups.

Per-User Customization

To create email behavior specific to individual users:

1. Create a rule group for each user who needs custom behavior (e.g., "USER-JOHN-SMITH")

2. Assign only that specific user to their personal rule group

3. Create email templates assigned to those individual rule groups

4. Each user's personal rule group controls their unique email notifications

This approach is manageable for small numbers of users requiring special handling (key executives, specific roles with unique requirements) but doesn't scale well for large numbers of users. For most organizations, role-based groups (sales, purchasing, management) provide sufficient granularity without the administrative overhead of individual user groups.

Enabling/Disabling Rules by User

You can effectively enable or disable email notifications for specific users by adding or removing them from rule groups:

To disable a notification for a specific user:

• Remove that user from all rule groups assigned to that email template

• The user can still perform all their normal business operations, but their actions won't trigger that specific email

To enable a notification for a specific user:

• Add that user to at least one rule group assigned to that email template

• The user's actions will now trigger the email (subject to trigger and scenario conditions)

This provides a non-invasive way to control email behavior without modifying email templates, changing triggers or scenarios, or affecting other users. It's particularly useful for handling exceptions (a particular user who shouldn't trigger customer-facing emails during training) or special requirements (a manager who wants to be included in automation that normally only affects their team members).

User Preferences

The Advanced Email App does not provide a user-facing interface where individual users can configure their own email preferences or opt in/out of notifications. All configuration is done by administrators or users with appropriate permissions through the rule group mechanism. If your organization needs user-controllable email preferences, this would require custom development beyond the standard Advanced Email App functionality.

5.5 Administrative Control

Managing rule groups and their assignments is an administrative function that requires appropriate permissions and should follow organizational change control procedures.

Managing All Rule Groups

System administrators and users with appropriate permissions can view and manage all rule groups in the system through the Rule Groups page. This centralized management interface provides visibility into:

• All defined rule groups

• User memberships in each group

• Which email templates are assigned to each group

• Group descriptions and purposes

Best Practices for Administrative Management:

Regular Review - Periodically review rule group memberships to ensure they reflect current organizational structure. Remove users who have left the organization or changed roles. Add users who have joined teams that should trigger automated notifications.

Documentation - Maintain documentation (in the group descriptions and in separate documentation) explaining why each group exists, what automation it controls, and what criteria determine membership. This helps future administrators understand the group structure.

Change Control - Treat rule group membership changes as configuration changes subject to change control procedures. Unexpected group membership changes can cause emails to send to wrong people or prevent needed emails from sending.

Audit Trail - Business Central logs certain administrative actions, but consider maintaining separate documentation of rule group membership changes, particularly for security-sensitive or compliance-critical email notifications.

Monitoring User Assignments

Regularly verify that user assignments align with organizational needs:

Users Without Group Membership - Identify users who aren't members of any rule groups. Determine if this is intentional (they shouldn't trigger any automated emails) or an oversight (they should be assigned to appropriate groups).

Orphaned Groups - Identify rule groups with no user members. These groups may be obsolete and could be deleted, or they may be groups that need members assigned.

Orphaned Assignments - Identify emails assigned to rule groups that no longer exist or have no members. These emails will never trigger, which may be intentional or may indicate a configuration problem.

💡 TIP: Create a periodic review checklist that includes reviewing rule group memberships, email-to-group assignments, and testing sample emails to verify they trigger for appropriate users. Schedule this review quarterly or whenever significant organizational changes occur.

Security Considerations

Rule group management has security implications:

Principle of Least Privilege - Only users who need the ability to trigger certain automated emails should be assigned to groups that control those emails. Don't assign users to groups "just in case" or because it's administratively convenient if those users don't actually need that automation capability.

Sensitive Email Control - Emails containing sensitive information, external communications, or financial notifications should be assigned to restricted rule groups containing only authorized personnel. Review these assignments particularly carefully.

Separation of Duties - In environments requiring separation of duties for compliance reasons, use rule groups to ensure users cannot trigger emails in functional areas outside their authorized scope.

Administrative Access - Restrict the ability to modify rule groups and their memberships to system administrators and appropriate business managers. Unauthorized changes to group memberships could compromise email automation integrity.