Recommendations for IAM groups

You can use the IAM group management tool to search for suitable groups among existing groups. You can use the tool to create groups for different purposes and manage the groups you own: the group members, owners and other group details.

The IAM group management tool is available at https://idm.helsinki.fi/web
NB! A VPN connection is required to access the tool from outside the University network

Read more about groups and the IAM group management tool here


Groups can be used in services such as the following:

  • Mailing lists
  • Service addresses / Shared mailboxes and calendars
  • Flamma workgroups
  • Group disk space
  • XWiki
  • Reservation rights for facilities booked through Microsoft 365 (preferably use the  hy-allstaff groups)
  • Administration of rights to Riihi preparation areas
    • The name of the group must begin with either ‘hy’ or ‘grp-riihi’.
    • In Riihi, other groups with names beginning with ‘grp’ only work as members of groups beginning with ‘hy’ or ‘grp-riihi’.
  • in other applications that read group information from AD or LDAP user directories.

    There are three types of groups

    • grp-groups are intended for use by a small group, for limited or temporary needs, e.g. for students or research groups
    • hy groups are meant for shared use by the University community
    • sys groups are automatic groups created from HERO.

    NB! The group owner is not automatically a group member, so if you want the owner to have the necessary rights, add them as a member.

    • Before you create a new group, check whether there is a suitable group in the existing groups. For example, you can use the groups starting with ‘hy’ described in the detailed instructions.
    • You can use the IAM group management tool to create your own grp group and manage its information: the member list, owners and other details.
    • Give the group as descriptive a name as possible. For example, you can use the abbreviation of an organisation unit at the beginning of the name.
    • In the description, indicate the purpose as precisely as possible. If possible, formulate the description so that it gives an idea of the persons linked to the group.

    You can request the creation of an hy group by sending a message to  hy-ryhmat@helsinki.fi. To expedite the processing of your request, please provide the following information:

    • intended use
    • a proposal for the name of the group
    • a proposal for the group owners

    NB! The group owner is not automatically a group member, so if you want the owner to have the required rights, add them as a member. 

    For more instructions, see the Detailed help tab

    Three types of groups

    The IAM system has three types of groups: starting with ‘grp-’, ‘hy-’ and ‘sys-’.

    NB! A group should have at least two owners to facilitate the group’s administration.

    • hy groups are meant for shared use by the University community
      • Anyone can request the establishment of a group at hy-ryhmat@helsinki.fi if there is no suitable group among the existing ones. To expedite the processing of your request, please provide the following information:
        • intended use
        • a proposal for the name of the group
        • a proposal for the group owners
      • The maintenance of the member list is the responsibility of the party familiar with the group’s practical activities.  
      • The member list is visible to everyone.
      • Hy-groups always have an email address (except for a few special cases, e.g. hy-employees)
      • Some hy groups are automatic groups whose membership is determined by the employment contract and contract information in SAP-HR. 
        • these are of the form: hy-faculty abbreviation-department abbreviation-employees or hy-independent institute abbreviation-employees
      • Read more about hy groups in the separate Helpdesk instructions (Detailed help).
      • Note: You can only send messages to Hy groups from university email addresses. 
         
    • sys groups are automatic groups created from HERO.

    Hy groups

    • Hy groups are meant for shared use by the entire University community. Some of these are maintained manually, some are automatic groups whose membership is determined by the employment contract and contract information in SAP-HR.
    • The member list, group description and owners of the hy groups are visible to everyone. The member list can be found in the search results by clicking the info button after the name of the group.
    • Hy groups can always be used for emails (except for a few special cases, e.g. hy-employees).
    • The groups starting with ‘hy’ are created centrally. The member list is maintained as close as possible to the operating environment in question.
    • Some hy groups are automatic groups whose membership is determined by the employment contract and contract information in SAP-HR. See below for more details.
      • The content of the automated groups based on SAP-HR information cannot be manually edited, and the groups cannot be displayed under “My groups” in the IAM group register.
    • Anyone can request the establishment of a group at hy-ryhmat@helsinki.fi. To expedite the processing of your request, please provide the following information: 
      • intended use
      • a proposal for the name of the group
      • a proposal for the group owners

    1) hy-faculty abbreviation-department abbreviation-employees and hy-independent institute abbreviation-employees

    • Include the employees of the organisational unit in question with a valid employment agreement in SAP-HR and no exemption from work.
    • Automatically created in the system.
    • Updated daily from the SAP-HR data.

    2) hy-faculty abbreviation-department abbreviation-coemployees and hy-independent institute abbreviation-coemployees

    • Include the professors emeriti of the organisation unit in question, visiting researchers, docents with an adjunct professorship agreement, scholarship researchers, visiting professors with a University of Helsinki user account and valid contract information in SAP-HR (other than employment contract, personnel subgroup D2-D6).
    • Automatically created in the system.
    • Updated daily from the SAP-HR data.

    3) hy-faculty abbreviation-department abbreviation-allstaff and hy-independent institute abbreviation-allstaff

    • Include the corresponding group ending in ‘-employees’ and ‘-coemployees’ + any manually maintained persons and/or groups whose information is not received from SAP HR.
      • Manually maintained persons and persons belonging to manually maintained groups are persons who belong to the workplace community in question but whose contract information in SAP HR is not related to the unit in question (e.g. double affiliations).
    • These groups are updated by the service coordinators.

    4) hy-faculty abbreviation-department abbreviation-supervisors and hy-independent institute abbreviation-supervisors

    • Include the employees of the organisational unit in question with a valid employment contract in SAP-HR and a supervisor status (and no exemption from work).
    • Automatically created in the system.
    • Updated daily from the SAP-HR data.

    5) hy-faculty abbreviation-department abbreviation-level-n and hy-independent institute abbreviation-level-n

    • Include the employees of the organisational unit in question with a valid employment contract in SAP-HR and a position in the teaching and research staff (career steps 1–4, i.e. n=1, 2, 3 or 4) and no exemption from work.
    • Automatically created in the system.
    • Updated daily from the SAP-HR data.

    6) hy-faculty abbreviation-department abbreviation-teach-research and hy-independent institute abbreviation-teach-research

    • Include groups ending in ‘-leveln’ of the organisational unit in question + any manually maintained persons and/or groups whose information is not received from SAP-HR.
      • Manually maintained persons and persons belonging to manually maintained groups are persons who belong to the workplace community in question but whose contract information in SAP HR is not related to the unit in question (e.g. double affiliations).
    • Check the group owners using the group management tool .

    7) hy-employees

    • Includes all University employees with a valid employment contract in SAP-HR. Those exempted from work are also included. NB! Not available as a mailing list.

    8) University services hy-ypa-<sector>

    • The hy-ypa-<sector>-personnel groups are hierarchical compilations of groups manually maintained by supervisors in University Services.
    • Each supervisor maintains groups for their personnel.
    • The supervisors in University services have been granted administrator rights for all the IAM groups in their sector that begin with ‘hy’.
    • Each sector decides who all have administrator rights for the sector’s groups.

    9) hy-grant-funded-researchers

    • Include all those who have an active grant researcher contract in SAP HR.

    Grp groups

    Groups beginning with ‘grp’ are groups that can be created with the group management tool by all University staff and students with a username issued by the University.
    Further instructions on creating groups are provided in separate instructions

    • A grp group can be created by anyone with a University user account (AD account).
    • You can only see the description and list of owners of grp groups.
    • The member list is not displayed for grp groups. It is only visible to the group owners.
    • Before creating a new group, use the same tool to check whether a suitable group for your purpose already exists.
    • If you don’t know whether a grp group is suitable for your purpose, contact the group owner for further information. You can find the group owner in the group management tool, on the Search and create groups tab. Enter the name of the group in the search field. The search results show the owners of the group and their email addresses.

    NB! A group should have at least two owners to facilitate the group’s administration. 

    Sys groups 

    Sys groups are automatic groups created from HERO.

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