The Smartspace Groups system is a powerful way to manage groups of people on line. It integrates seamlessly into any Smartspace website and not only allows backend management of the created groups, it allows those in the groups to interact with you on your website.

The Groups system can handle groups for any of the following:

• Sports Events
• Competitions  (Sports)
• Invitations
• Contacts
• Jobs
• Competitions (Chance)
• Committees
• Profiles
• Services
• Classes
• Much More

To manage Groups go to Manage > Database Manager > Groups - or - Manage > Control Panel > Groups

Note: This document applies to the new Groups interface.

Getting Started

To fully uitilise the Groups system you should configure the types of Groups you are going to be using. Go to Manage Category Types > Select a Type

• Complete the Category Types form which sets the General behaviour of all Groups under the Type
  • More refinement can be done as you create records under that heirarchy
  • Complete the configuration for all the Category types that you think you will be using
• Then you need to create the Group Categories which hold the various sets of groups
  • How you set up this Group hierarchy depends on what activities or services you wish to record
  • If you are recording Contacts, you probably only need to set up one Groups Category called eg, Contact Lists
  • From there you could create  a single "Contacts" instance, then place different contact lists in that Instance
  • If you are setting up Services, you will need to set up a different Category for each set of the Service types you offer
  • Each Service will then be recorded as a separate Service Instance under which your customers can be recorded in groups under that
  • If you are in doubt as to how you need to structure your Groups database, please contact Smartspace for free advice on the best approach
• Groups takes a flexible approach to organising people in services, events and lists.
  • Various elements of the Groups system can be time based so that they can be easily Archived as time goes on
  • This applies strongly to Sports activities where participants in seasonal competions can be recorded accurately
  • You can configure whether or not various groups elements can appear on the website and when they should be archived
  • You can configure the level of user interaction you allow with online groups
  • You can set what view of the Groups information you set on the public website using the Frameworks Manager
• The Time selector allows you to easily manage Groups
  • Depending on your configuration of the various elements, only those Categories which have a "live" setting will appear as default on the Groups page
  • The initial setting can be found in the Category record, then other settings are available in Instances and Groups
  • If you can not find an instance or groups, you may need to change the Time selector to get a different set of results
  • Live groups are those which are current at the time of viewing or will be current in the future
  • Archive groups are those which have only been previously current but are no longer current

New Groups Management

Groups now uses the Action Bar and Action Menu system to make Groups management fast and easy.

• The Action Bar is a grey bar across the page which contains basic information about the Group Category
• Click on the selected Action Bar to view all the selected Instances based on the Time selection
• You can Edit the Category or Create a New Instance even if no instances are available
• If Instances are available, click on a selected line to activate the Action Menu
• The menu has the ID of the instance at the top of the menu, plus all the available menu items based on its configuration and its time selection
• Hold your cursor over an icon for the detail of the menu item target
• Much of the processing for the menu is done on page to make admin very quick
• In most cases, the action bar remains in place to easily navigate between actions
• You can deactivate the Action Menu by clicking on the Live instance line or by selecting a new Group Category
• You should always take note of the Instance Id at the top of the action menu to ensure you are working with the correct Instance

More details and video resources will be availble shortly for more advance management of Groups