Group management

MDM lets admins to create groups for managing devices and users, associating profiles, distributing apps and applying other configuration policies. Based on your business needs, you can create groups. For example, you can create custom groups to classify devices/users by department, branch etc.

The following are the types of groups supported by MDM:

• Custom Group
• AD User Group

Custom Groups

Device Groups

A Device Group in MDM, is a logical grouping of managed devices to which configurations can be applied. A device can belong to multiple groups. Groups facilitate applying configuration profiles and distribute apps to multiple devices. To create a device group,

1. On the MDM server, navigate to Groups and Devices.
2. Under Groups Click Create Group.
3. Specify a name for the Group.
4. From the list of available devices, select the devices which need to be added to this group.
5. Click Create Group

A new group will be created. A device can be a member of more than one group.

User Groups

You can create a user-specific group to classify users by department, designation, branch etc. Follow the same steps given for Device groups to create a new User group. A user can be a member of more than one group.

Directory Groups

If you wish to maintain separate groups for Directory users, you can integrate your organizations directory services like On-Premise AD, Entra ID(formerly Azure AD), Okta and G Suite with our MDM. To learn more about integrating Directory services, click here.

After integrating your Directory with MDM, you can also choose to sync the Directory groups directly to MDM. With this, the admin can manage devices by associating profiles, distributing apps and documents directly to the Directory groups.

Enable group sync by clicking on Enable groups sync under the Actions column. This will sync all the groups from the selected domain and these groups will be available in Groups and Devices in the Device Mgmt tab.

Similarly, the group sync can be disabled by clicking on Disable group sync. This will disable all the synced groups from MDM. The profiles, apps and documents will have to be removed manually by the users or the admin.

Reassign Device Groups

MDM allows you to reassign devices from one group to another. When devices are moved from one group to another, then the profiles and apps(associated with the existing group) are automatically removed. The devices on being moved from the old group to the new group, are automatically distributed the profiles and apps(which are associated with the new group). Follow the steps below to move the device from one group to another:

• On the MDM Server, click on Device Mgmt tab. Select Groups & Devices present under Manage.
• Click on the Groups tab and select the group, from which the devices is to be moved to the new group.
• Select the devices whose group is to be modified. Click on Move to Group to move the device from the existing group to the new group.

Modify Device Groups

To modify the group, to add or remove the managed devices, follow the steps mentioned below:

1. On the MDM server, navigate to Groups and Devices
2. Select the Groups tab. This will list the pre-defined groups as well as the groups created already by the Administrator(s).
3. Select the specific Group which is to be modified.
4. Click on the Devices tab. To delete any device, select the devices which are to be removed and click on Remove Device.
5. To add any device, click on Add Device, which lists all the enrolled devices. Select the devices which are to be added.
6. Click on Select to add the devices to the group.

When a device is removed from the Group, the profiles and/or apps associated to the devices are removed automatically from the device. When a device is added to an existing group, the new device receives the existing profiles automatically.

Creating Device Groups in Bulk

The Bulk Import option under the Groups & Devices section allows administrators to create multiple device groups and assign devices to them simultaneously using a CSV file. This feature simplifies large-scale group creation without needing to configure each group manually.

Accessing the Bulk Import Option

1. Navigate to Device Mgmt → Groups & Devices.
2. Under the Groups tab, click Create Group.
3. From the dropdown list, select Bulk Import.
4. Once Bulk Import is selected, the Create Device Groups in Bulk window appears.

Upload the CSV File

In the Create Device Groups in Bulk dialog box:

1. Drag and drop the CSV file or click Browse to upload it manually.
2. A sample format can be downloaded via the Example CSV link.
3. Ensure the CSV follows the format for defining group names and device identifiers, then upload the file.

GROUP_NAME,UDID,IMEI,SERIAL_NUMBER,EMAIL_ADDRESS 
zylker_Mobile,9774d5****e549c,123456789012345,,andrew@zylker.com 
zylkerAndroid11,,345266266272,,ben@zylker.com
 IOSGroup_OS12,,,,mike@zylker.com

GROUP_NAME 
zylker_Mobile 
zylkerAndroid11 
IOSGroup_OS12

Key Notes

• Only device groups can be created through bulk import.
• User groups and AD user groups cannot be created or modified in bulk.
• Ensure that all devices listed in the CSV are already enrolled in MDM.
• Duplicate or invalid entries will be skipped during processing.
• CSV uploads must follow the format outlined in the Example CSV.