The IMS: IP Multimedia Concepts And Services, Second Edition

8.2. What is group management?

Group management (also known as "data manipulation") is a service that allows users to store service-specific data in the service provider network. These data can be created, modified and deleted at will by the user. Data could be anything that a user needs to complete a service. Examples of such data are buddy lists (presentity lists) and presence authorization lists.

Various services – such as presence, PoC, IM, etc. – need support for access to and manipulation of certain data that are needed by these services. Some examples of such data include:

• Conference Access List: the list of participants who can take part in a conference. In PoC, this is referred to as PoC group.

• Resource List: a list of users who are potential notifiers, so that this list can be used to collectively subscribe to the status of each resource in that list. An example of such a list is the presentity list.

• Subscription Authorization Policy: An example of an access control policy for presence, which specifies whether a particular watcher is authorized to subscribe to a certain set of events.

The services specify the items that make up the documents representing the information in the examples above, including their semantics and usage.

Data are stored in the network where they can be located, accessed and manipulated (created, changed, deleted) by authorized users. This enables data to be shared and accessed by the services that need them.

Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) has adopted ...