That is a great suggestion; I will test it out. If that works then I will have to write some automated process to create groups in the course based on organization structure; no one is going to want to create groups manually for every course. I will have to do more reading on it to see if groups can be created globally like cohorts, updated automatically on a regular basis based on feeds from our HR system and then assigned to courses. I will update this post with my findings.
Again appreciate all the help and pointers you have given.