Groups is a premium feature that gives accounts full control over which Users can view specific Cells and Locations. By organizing users into Groups and assigning permissions, you can match your team’s structure, departments, or projects.
By default, all users can see all resources.
When you assign one or multiple Cells or Locations to one or more Groups, it becomes visible only to members of those Groups.
Unassigned resources remain open to everyone.
Groups restrictions apply only to users with the roles User and External.
Users with the roles Manager, Admin, and Owner always retain full visibility across all resources, regardless of Group settings.
Admins and Owners can assign any User, Cell or Location to any Group.
They have unrestricted control over all Groups and resources and assign the members of a group.
Managers can assign Cells and Locations only to the Groups they are members of.
Managers can organize the resources relevant to their own teams and see all resources of the account.
Locations
Locations follow the hierarchy: Tanks → Racks → Boxes
-
Assigning access at any level gives users visibility into all resources below it.
-
For example, granting access to a Tank automatically includes all Racks and Boxes within it.
-
Users who are not a member of a group the tank is assigned to, will not be able to access the tank and anything below it.
Cells
Cells can be managed independently from Locations.
-
Use filters (like by project or source) to find relevant Cells.
-
Select one or multiple Cells from the list to assign to your group.
Once a Cell is assigned to a Group:
-
It is no longer visible in the Cell list for users who are not members of that Group.
-
Any Vials associated with that Cell also become inaccessible in the inventory for those users.
Example Use Case
A lab upgrades to a premium plan.
At first, all users can still see everything.
-
The Box with the Master vials should only be accessible by a defined user group:
Create a group called “master vials”. In the inventory tab of the group editor, add the corresponding box and in the member tab the users who should be able to still access the master vials. Now this box and all the vials in it are inaccessible for other users. -
The Cells from the project “X42” should only be accessible by a defined user group:
Create a Group called “Project X42”. In the group editor, go to the cells tab, filter for the project “X42” and add all the cells in the list to the group. Add the member of the project to the group. Now details of these cells vials associated to cell lines of this project are not accessible for other users over the whole inventory.
Locations and Cells can also be combined in a Group.
-
Team A needs to reserve the capacity of Rack A and does not want anyone to see their unpublished cells.
Create a Group called “Team A”. In the inventory tab of the group editor, add the Rack A and in the list tab select the unpublished cells of team A. Then add the members of team A to the Group. Now only member of team A can access the capacity of Rack A and only team A can see the details of their unpublished cells.
Admins and Owners can also define any Group as a Default Group for newly created resources.
When a Default Group is enabled:
-
New Tanks and Cells are automatically assigned to the Default Group.
-
Users, that are not members of the Default Group, cannot see new resources until they are added to a group that includes the new resources.
-
Additional groups only work as described above, if their assigned resources are taken out of the Default Group. E.g. for the “Master Box” to be inaccessible for all users, it needs to be only in the “Master Box” Group and be taken out of the Default Group.
-
This is needed for the effective use of the user role External (see below).
Example Use Case
-
Controlling Access for New Users
New user should not see anything until invited into the correct Group. Create a Group and give it a descriptive name, e.g. “Core”. Assign it as the Default Group. Add all current users to this group and all inventory. New vials will automatically be added to this Group now. New users will only see your inventory, when they are also added to this Group. -
Install distinct teams
The teams within an account should only work with their respective Cells or Locations and not see any of the rest. Create a Group and give it a descriptive name, e.g. “Core”. Assign it as the Default Group. Add all inventory to the Group. Create Groups for each team. Add the respective members and resources to the team Groups. Now each team can only see what is theirs. Be aware, that the role permissions explained above are still in place, meaning that the viewing restrictions are only valid for the roles User and External.
Users of the role External cannot see the inventory of an account. They only see the Cells and the Stocks page. For the effective installation of External partners, that only see relevant Cells, you need to use a Default Group.
Create a Default Group as described above and add all the regular members of your team and all resources. Invite the External. Create a new Group “External Project” and add all cells of the project as well as the External. Now everyone of your regular users can see all inventory, while the External can only see what is in their Group “External Project”.