Role Types
Activate supports three types of roles:
- Static Roles
- Dynamic Roles
- Target Roles
Static Roles
A Static Role is defined directly within Activate, and members are added manually through the interface.
Common use cases
- Department-based roles (e.g., Finance, HR)
- Location-based roles (e.g., Auckland Office)
Characteristics
- Membership is managed directly in Activate
- No external data source is required
Dynamic Roles
A Dynamic Role automatically calculates membership based on information from external systems such as Active Directory.
Common use cases
- Roles based on AD Groups or OUs
- System-specific roles such as Service Desk or Administrator roles
Characteristics
- Defined by a Members parameter in Activate
- Membership is updated automatically from the external source
- In Activate Studio, dynamic roles are shown with a gear icon overlay on the role icon
Activate does not support nested groups for role memberships.
Dynamic Roles are evaluated on demand rather than on a fixed schedule. Membership is calculated when a user’s roles are checked and stored only after the user accesses Activate. As a result, role membership may not be up to date for users who have not logged in recently. For reporting scenarios, a scheduled task may be required to ensure role data is refreshed.
Target Roles
Target Roles are hybrid roles used mainly for security checks and targeting logic, rather than direct membership.
Key points
- Users are not automatically added
- Viewing role members will show no results
- Use an AvailableUsers parameter instead of Members
- Intended for internal logic and access control
Built-in Target Roles
- Self – True if the current user is the same as the target user (similar to Windows “Self”)
- Owner – True if the current user owns the target object (e.g., distribution list or security group)
- Direct Reports – True if the target user is a direct report of the current user