Source: https://manu-tests-all-orgs.docs-staging.pageloop.ai/product/identity-access/people-roles-and-teams/managing-audiences-with-segments

# Managing audiences with segments

Custom segments allow admins to group employees based on shared characteristics such as department, location, or job role. You can then use these segments across Atomicwork to drive visibility, automation, and access control.

### How segments control access

Segments play a critical role in defining **target audiences** across various features including filters, workflows, and knowledge/catalog visibility. By assigning the right audiences, you ensure that employees only see what’s relevant to them, improving their experience and reducing noise.

Segments are used in:

- **Topics** - Control who sees what knowledge.
  You might want onboarding guides, policy documents, or troubleshooting articles to be visible to users by specific regions or roles. For example, using a segment like _Employees – North America_ ensures those users see internal troubleshooting documentation relevant to their office.

- **Catalogs** - Show relevant service items to the right people.
  If certain hardware requests are only applicable to engineers, a segment like _Engineering – Full-time_ ensures others don’t see or access those items.

- **Access management** - Assign app access and permissions based on group membership.
  Access policies can be tied to segments like granting specific app access only to the _Sales US_ team without manually managing user lists.

- **Workflows** - Automate processes tailored to a specific group.
  For example, you can trigger a scheduled workflow to send a weekly IT check-in only to _Remote Employees._

- **SLAs** - Set specific service level targets to ensure the right prioritization.
  For example,\_\_ you can apply a shorter response time for the _Customer-Facing Teams_ segment to meet higher support expectations.

- **Filters** - Narrow down views across requests, users, or assets.

You can quickly filter the request list to show only issues raised by the _Remote Employees – EMEA_ segment.

These segment-based controls reduce overhead, increase personalization, and help maintain consistency across your organization.

To view your user segments, navigate to **Settings > People** and click on the\*\* Segments\*\* card.

You can view all your segments, including the default ones, and the number of users in each segment.

## Types of segments

In the **Segments** page, you’ll see two tabs:

- **Custom segments**: Created manually by users or the system. These can be edited, duplicated, or deleted.

You cannot edit the default **All employees** segment.

​**Note:** Please review where a segment is used before making any changes to avoid breaking logic or visibility rules.

- **Synced segments**: Brought in from integrations like SharePoint or Google Drive (for Topics/Knowledge modules). These are read-only and managed externally.

## Creating a segment

You can create segments using conditional logic based on people attributes or by adding people manually, giving you flexibility in how you target employee groups.

For example, you can create a segment called Marketing using the condition _Department is Marketing_ to automatically include everyone in the Marketing team.

This is useful for creating department-specific workflows or SLAs. Alternatively, you can create a segment like Interns and manually add users who join as interns, ideal for showing tailored content or restricting access to certain services.

- Navigate to **Settings > People** and click on the **Segments** card.

- Click on **Create segment** at the top right.

- Enter a unique **Name** for the segment.

- Click on **Add condition** to set rules based on people attributes (e.g., _Department is Marketing_). This defines who gets added to the segment — users are automatically included or removed as their profile data changes.

- Preview the live list of matching users before clicking **Save condition**.

- To refine the segment, exclude specific users who meet the condition but shouldn’t be included. For example, you might create a segment for Engineering but exclude contract developers who shouldn’t receive internal communications or access sensitive resources. Click on the three-dot menu next to a user and select **Exclude from condition**.

- Click on **Create segment.**

When viewing an employee's profile, you can see which segments they belong to.

- **Admins** can view and modify segment assignments.

- **Agents** can view which segments a user is part of but cannot modify them.

## Updating or deleting segments

**When you update a segment,** including changing the segment conditions or manually removing a user, all dependent configurations will reflect those changes automatically. For instance, if a user is removed from a segment used in Catalog visibility, they will no longer see those service items.

**When you delete a segment**, any configurations using it will lose their targeting. For example, topics and catalog items previously restricted to that segment will become visible to everyone, unless another audience is defined.