# How Are Deployments Different than Associations?

## What

Deployments are not exactly the same as associations, but they are very, very similar. You can think of them as über-associations, or grouped associations.

## When/Why

We’ll use deployments to assign content to devices, just as we would with an association. But, deployments also give us the ability to group multiple associations together in order to create simpler, easier to both find and manage content delivery rules.

## How

Reference the [View - Deployments](https://kb.filewave.com/books/filewave-anywhere-help-menus/chapter/view-deployments "View - Deployments") article to see how one creates a deployment from scratch, but in the below articles you’ll also see how to use our Associations to Deployments Conversion Tool to create deployments from multiple associations and also look at the benefits of Deployments overall.

## Digging Deeper

Deployments contain the same rules for content delivery as Associations do, such as:

- Timing options for installation
- License management (for VPP related content)
- And installation method (such as Kiosk, or direct installation)

<table id="bkmrk-%C2%A0-%C2%A0"><thead><tr><th> </th><th> </th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>[![image.png](https://kb.filewave.com/uploads/images/gallery/2023-07/scaled-1680-/2Pyn3vK0VBevFXqE-image.png)](https://kb.filewave.com/uploads/images/gallery/2023-07/2Pyn3vK0VBevFXqE-image.png)

</td><td>[![image.png](https://kb.filewave.com/uploads/images/gallery/2023-07/scaled-1680-/IYO7eI43VFKhQVUg-image.png)](https://kb.filewave.com/uploads/images/gallery/2023-07/IYO7eI43VFKhQVUg-image.png)

</td></tr></tbody></table>

But deployments, unlike associations, also allow you to assign those same rules to many different filesets/payloads at the same time. And, when changes are required, a singular change makes the change for all payloads.