Smart Groups

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Smart Groups Quickstart Guide

If you’re a Platinum or Diamond customer, you can use our Smart Groups feature to create dynamic user groups based on custom criteria. Smart Groups automatically add and remove users based on these criteria. You can use this feature to phish and train groups of users, generate detailed reports, and more.

To learn how to plan and set up a Smart Group, see the sections below or watch our Creating Smart Groups video. For a detailed overview of what Smart Groups are and how you can use them, see our Smart Groups Overview article.

Review and Update Your Users’ Information

Before you create a Smart Group, verify that the necessary user information has been added to your KSAT console. For example, if you want to make a Smart Group of all users who are located in a certain region, make sure you have location information recorded for each user.

To verify that you have the necessary information in your KSAT console, follow the steps below:

  1. In your KSAT console, navigate to the Users tab.
  2. At the top-right of the Manage Users page, click the gear icon.
  3. From the drop-down menu that opens, select the check box next to the information you need to verify. For example, you could select the Location check box.
  4. The selected check box will now display as a column in the user list. You can sort the data in this column by clicking the arrow icon on the left side of the column’s header. Review this column to verify that the correct information is displayed. For example, if you selected Location, you could verify that your users have locations listed.

If you follow this process and find that you’re missing information you need for your Smart Group, use one of the methods below to import new data:

  • If you use a user provisioning integration such as Active Directory or SCIM in your account, you must update your users' missing information directly from your identity provider. If you want to update a field that isn’t included in your identity provider, manually upload the data using the CSV Import feature.
  • If you do not use a user provisioning integration in your account, you can create and import a CSV file to add user information. For more information about this process, see our Import Users with a CSV File article.

Plan Your Smart Groups

Before you create any Smart Groups, we recommend planning the purpose of each group. This will help you to select the right criteria for the group. You can view our Smart Groups Glossary of Criteria Types for more information on the criteria types available for your Smart Groups.

You can use Smart Groups to automate processes in the KSAT console. For example, you can link Smart Groups to your phishing campaigns to automatically phish certain users. For some of these automated processes, you might need to create several Smart Groups and several training or phishing campaigns. To plan these in advance, download our Smart Groups Planning Worksheet. You can use this document as a template for building your own automated process with Smart Groups.

Tip: We also have worksheets to help you plan your training and phishing campaign settings. To download these worksheets, visit our Phishing and Training Campaign Planning Resources article.

Create a Smart Group

After you verify that you have the needed user information and develop a plan for your Smart Group, you’ll be ready to create the group. To create a Smart Group, follow the steps below:

  1. Log in to your KSAT console and navigate to Users > Groups.
  2. Click the + Create New Group button at the top-right corner of the page.
  3. Enter a group name in the Group Name field.
    Note: If you have enabled Active Directory Integration (ADI), keep in mind that a Smart Group can’t have the same name as any Active Directory user group. You'll need to give your Smart Groups unique names.
  4. If needed, select a security role for this Smart Group from the Security Roles drop-down menu. For more information see our How to Use Security Roles article.
  5. Select the Make this a Smart Group check box.
  6. Click Create Group. When you click this button, the Smart Group’s overview page will open.
  7. Click the Smart Group Criteria drop-down menu and select the criteria type you would like to set for the group. For more information about each option, see our Smart Groups Glossary of Criteria Types.
  8. When you select the criteria type, a modal will open. In the criteria settings modal, you can select specifications for the criteria type such as its scope and time frame. Select the options that you would like, then click Save. The example below shows the Training criteria type.
  9. If you need to add additional criteria, you can create up to five criteria per Smart Group. The Smart Group Criteria section lists all the criteria you’ve added.
    Note: Users will only be added to your Smart Group if they meet every criterion.

Once you add all of your criteria, click the Save button at the bottom of the Smart Group Criteria section. When you click Save, the Smart Group will populate with the users who meet all the specific criteria.

Review Your Smart Group Criteria Results

Once you’ve added and saved your criteria, you can review your criteria results. Next to each criterion, the total number of users who meet each criterion will be displayed in a green box. The number next to your first criterion represents the number of users who meet that criterion alone. The number next to your second criterion displays the users who meet this criterion as well as the first criterion. The number on your last criterion displays the users who fit all of the criteria you set for the Smart Group.

In the example below, there are 269 users that meet the first criterion, 49 users that meet the first criterion and the second criterion, and 4 users that meet all three criteria.

If your Smart Group has more than one criterion, you can click the chart icon in the top-right corner of the Smart Group Criteria section. When you click this icon, you will see a Venn diagram of users who meet each criterion. Each circle of the diagram represents a different criterion. The color of the circle corresponds to the color of the criterion. You can hover your cursor over a section of the diagram to see more information about the users in the Smart Group.

Maintain Your Smart Groups

Smart Groups are designed to help you easily manage user groups without requiring much maintenance. However, we do recommend performing occasional maintenance checks on your Smart Groups. After you create a Smart Group, determine how often you need to check on that group. Generally, we recommend checking on your Smart Groups every six to twelve months, but you may need to check more frequently depending on the Smart Group. Also, make sure to consider the Time Frame Options that you set for the Smart Group. If you set a Range in a criterion, determine whether you will need to update that range periodically to match your goals. If you set a Duration in a criterion, we recommend checking that criterion according to the duration you set. For example, the Smart Group below should be checked every three months:

We recommend that you create audit groups to easily verify that your automated processes are working properly. Audit groups are typically created to reflect the opposite of your automated process. For example, if you build an automated phishing process, your audit Smart Group should include users who have never received a Phishing Security Test (PST). To learn more about automated Smart Group processes, see our Smart Groups Overview article.

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