Given a model with no grouping, it's easy to select all items from one side of the model and move them the same distance, together, as a group. The effect of this is to elongate the model, but without changing the proportions of items on the sides of the model (as would happen if the scale tool was used). For instance, if the entire east side of an ungrouped house model was selected and moved one foot farther east, the rooms along the selection “cut” would get larger by one foot, but the dimensions of all other rooms on the east and west would stay the same.
But if that same model had a complex grouping hierarchy (groups within groups within groups), to do the above would require exploding everything because although some groups' objects might all be completely in the geometry to be moved, other groups' objects might be split between geometry to be moved and not moved. So to get the result, groups must be exploded. The problem with this approach is that now all of those groups seem to be lost, and without the groups, the model would be more difficult to manage going forward.
My question: is there a way to translate all geometry in the same way one does with a completely exploded the model, but preserve or restore the grouping that existed before the translation.