Blueprints use two mechanisms, scope and activation conditions, to control which devices receive configurations and when those configurations activate.
Scope
Scope defines which devices receive a blueprint. You assign scope using smart groups or static groups. Jamf evaluates group membership based on device inventory data. When a device is a member of a scoped group, the blueprint is delivered to that device.
Smart groups are dynamically calculated. Membership updates automatically when a device's inventory changes and matches the group criteria you define. Static groups have fixed memberships that you assign manually.
For more information about creating a smart group or static group, see Device Groups in the Jamf School Documentation.
Activation Conditions
Activation conditions control when the components in a block activate on a device. Instead of relying on Jamf to determine which components apply, activation conditions use criteria built from attributes that devices report about themselves, such as OS version, device model, and passcode status. Criteria can also use device group membership, which is the only property Jamf tracks about the device rather than an attribute the device reports.
When a device's reported status matches the conditions you define for a component block, the components in that block activate on the device.
For criteria based on a device-reported attribute, the device activates the configuration as soon as a relevant state change occurs, for example, when an OS update completes, without waiting to check in.
For criteria based on device group membership, activation depends on Jamf syncing that property to the device. A short delay can occur between a group membership change and the resulting activation.
Component Blocks
A blueprint contains one or more component blocks. A component block is a group of components that share an activation condition. When you build a blueprint, components are added to the first block, titled by default as Components in this blueprint. Each additional block is titled Block 2, Block 3, etc.
Add blocks to organize components that need to activate under different conditions. You can rename each block with a title that best describes the block. Because each block has its own activation condition, a single blueprint can apply different components to a device under different conditions, without creating a separate blueprint for each scenario. You can add up to 100 component blocks in a single blueprint.
How Scope and Activation Conditions Work Together
Scope and activation conditions serve different purposes and work at different layers. Scope determines which devices receive a blueprint. Activation conditions determine whether the components in a block apply to a given device at a given time.
Scope is always required. A device must be in scope to receive a blueprint, and an activation condition applies only to devices already in scope. Activation conditions refine when a blueprint's components activate. They do not deliver a blueprint to a device on their own.
Scope applies a blueprint the same way to every device in a scoped group. Activation conditions add a second layer of control; within a single blueprint, each component block can activate under different conditions, and each device evaluates those conditions against its own current state. Use activation conditions when you need one blueprint to apply different components to different devices, or when you need a component to activate only while a device is in a particular state.
For example, you can scope a blueprint to all devices in a smart group, then use a component block's activation condition to apply that block's components only to devices with a minimum OS version. Devices outside the activation criteria still receive the blueprint but the components in that block do not activate until they meet the defined conditions. Because each device evaluates its own activation conditions, the components activate as soon as a device reaches the minimum OS version, without waiting for Jamf to recalculate group membership.
You can also use device group membership as an activation condition. Unlike scope, which delivers or withholds an entire blueprint based on group membership, an activation condition based on group membership controls only the components in a block and can be combined with other criteria in that block. For example, you might want a block's components to apply to every device in scope except those used by your executives. Add a condition to the block that excludes the device group containing the executives' devices. Those devices still receive the blueprint and any other blocks that apply to them, but this block's components do not activate on them.
This separation reduces the need to create multiple smart groups or multiple blueprints for conditional logic.