Groups

As System Administrator, you can create public, private, and restricted groups. You can also create group categories to organize the various groups in your system. In addition to your role as System Administrator, there are three other roles within groups:

• Group Administrator – creates, edits, and deletes public groups.
• Group Manager – manages membership for a specific group. Typically, the System Administrator or Group Administrator creates a group and then assigns a member to function as Group Manager.
• Member – a participant in a group. Any user can join a public group or request an invitation to a private group.

Use the Groups accordion menu to create and manage groups and group categories. Group Categories By default, three categories are automatically included in your introNetworks system:

• All Groups – For users, this includes all public and private groups; for System Administrators, it also includes restricted groups.
• My Groups – For users, this includes only the groups in which they are members.
• My Invitations – For users, this includes only groups who have extended invitations that the user has not yet accepted or declined.

As the System Administrator, you can also create additional categories to help organize your groups. Below the Group Category list, click Create… to create a new group category. Enter the Category Name and click OK. The new category is added to the list. To edit or delete a category you created, highlight it on the Group Category list. Click Edit…or Delete…. Note that the category is deleted without confirmation. Create a New Group As the System Administrator, you can create public, private, or restricted groups.

• Public – Any introNetworks community user can view, join, or create a public group.
• Private – Only System Administrators can create a private group. Any users can view private groups but must submit a request to join. The System Administrator, its Group Administrator, or its Group Manager must approve the request.
• Restricted – Only the System Administrator can create a restricted group and add members. The System Administrator and its members can only view a restricted group.

To create a private or restricted group, from the Groups accordion menu click Create Group. On the Basic Information page, use the Type pull-down menu to specify Private or Restricted. Manage Groups As System Administrator you can manage groups, even if you did not create them. This includes adding, deleting, inviting, or approving members. You can also assign a group member to be manager of any public, private, or restricted group. To access these functions, open the group introCard. Assign a Manager To help manage a group’s members, you can assign a group member to be Group Manager. The Group Manager has the same authority as the Group Administrator with the exception of editing and deleting the group. Click on the group to open its introCard. Click the Members tab. Highlight the user’s name on the list. In the Role column, click on User to display a pull-down menu; change the setting to Manager. Delete a Group Only the Site Administrator or Group Administrator can delete a group. Click the Summary tab and then click Delete. You are prompted for confirmation before the group is deleted. Manage Members As Site Administrator you can invite, add and remove members to your group. Access these functions from the Members tab on your group introCard. Group Administrator and Managers can only invite and remove members; they cannot add members to a group. Invite or Add Members Use the Members tab to add and invite users to your group. Adding immediately puts the users in your group and sends an email notification to the user according to his notification settings. When the new member clicks My Groups in his Groups list, the group is displayed. Inviting issues an email invitation to join the group. Users see the group introCard in their My Invitations list. Click the Add or Invite buttons at the bottom of the Members page. In the dialog box, use the search tool to generate a list of potential members. Enter all or part of a first name or last name, then click the search icon. A list is displayed in the Possible Members box. Click a name to select it; you can also use Ctrl-click and Shift-click to select multiple names. To move the highlighted names to the Current Members box, click the + (plus) button; click + multiple times as names are added one at a time. To remove a name, highlight it and then click – (minus). Click and drag also works to move names between the lists. When your list is complete, click Add Selected or Invite Selected. A sortable member list is displayed; the Action label indicates whether they have been added or invited to the group. Click on a heading to sort by it. Use the scroll bar to move up and down the list. Remove Members To remove members from your group, click the Remove button at the bottom of the Members page. The list of members is displayed. To specify the members to remove, click their checkboxes or the Select All button. Click Remove to delete the member from your group. Note that there is no confirmation before delete; once you select a name and click the Remove button, the member is automatically deleted. Requests As Group Administrator or Group Manager of a private group, you will need to approve or decline membership requests. Use the Request tab to review a list of members who want to join your group. Click on any heading to sort by it. You can Approve or Decline requests. To specify the members to approve or decline, click their checkboxes or the Select All button then click the appropriate button. Invitations Use the Invitations tab to review a list of users with outstanding invitations to join your group. Click on any heading to sort by it. You can Re-invite or Remove users from consideration. To specify the users to re-invite or remove, click their checkboxes or the Select All button.