Why “Unregister When Criteria Are Not Met” May Not Remove Existing Users

If you’re using automated registration rules to manage group memberships, you may occasionally notice that a user remains in a group even after their unit changes—despite having the option “Unregister when criteria are not met anymore” selected in the rule settings.

This article explains why this can happen and how you can confidently manage similar situations moving forward.

Here’s a common scenario:

• A user was originally added to a group through an older automated registration rule.

• That rule was later deleted.

• A new automated registration rule was created for the same group, with updated criteria.

• The user remains in the group even though they no longer meet the new rule’s criteria.

At first glance, this may seem unexpected. However, this behavior is related to how registration rule-based assignments are designed to function.

Why This Occurs

When a user is assigned to a group through an automated registration rule, that rule controls their membership for as long as the rule exists.

If the rule is deleted:

• The system no longer has a reference to how or why the user was assigned.

• As a result, it cannot automatically remove users who were added by that deleted rule.

When a new rule is created later, it applies only to users evaluated under that rule going forward. It does not retroactively manage users who were assigned through a previous (now deleted) rule.

This ensures clarity and consistency in how rule logic is applied over time.

How to Handle This Scenario

If you encounter this situation, the solution is simple:

1. Manually remove the affected users from the group.

2. Once removed, the current automated registration rule will correctly evaluate and manage their membership moving forward.

After this one-time manual adjustment, the system will continue to automatically handle membership changes based on the active rule—such as when a user’s unit changes in the future.

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