Create a Group
You can create a Group that represents a new team, class, small group, or other collection of individuals.
- Go to Groups.
- Click New Group.
- Enter all the necessary information. For more on these, see Group Fields.
- Click Save.
Group Fields
General Information
- Group Name
- A short, friendly name describing the Group. Used by the Attendance Routine.
- Group Type
- Defines the purpose of the Group.
- Ministry
- The department of the church that is responsible for this Group.
- Congregation
- The primary Congregation (site, campus, venue) out of which this Group is based. If the Group is general to the church and the church is a multi-site church, select a congregation like Church-wide Activities. Used by the Attendance Routine.
- Primary Contact
- The person who coordinates this Group and who the church communicates with in regards to the Group. This may be a leader in the Group or someone who is assigned by the church to oversee and support this Group.
- Description
- A friendly description of the Group that appears in public forums like the Group Finder of the Portal. Note that HTML is not supported in this field.
- Start Date
- The date the Group formed.
- End Date
- The date the Group dissolved.
- Target Size
- A reporting field that indicates the maximum or appropriate number of people for this group. Evaluated by the Group Finder Widget to determine if the Sign Up button should be available. Set the COUNTGROUPINQUIRIES Configuration Setting to True if you want a combination of Inquiries and Group Participants considered in the Target Size.
- Parent Group
- A reporting field that indicates the Group that oversees this Group or other Groups associated with it. For example, a Group called "Senior High" may have people listed in it that are serving students of those ages. This Group may also be the "Parent Group" of a group called "10th Grade". Additionally, if using Group Finder, the Parent Group controls what displays in the Neighborhood filter.
Parent Groups do not have any implications for Check-In. For example, if you associate a Parent Group to an event, the sub-groups is not able to check-in unless they are also associated with the Event. Sub-groups are simply Groups with a Parent Group specified on the Group record.
Small Group Information
- Offsite Meeting Address
- Where this Group meets. This appears on the Group Finder and can be edited in My Groups.
- Group Is Full
- If Yes, the group is removed from the Group Finder. This might be set to Yes by the Group Is Full routine (which runs every 15 minutes) but can also be set manually.
- Available Online
- If Yes, a Group is visible to group members in the My Groups widget and GroupLife. This setting also allows the Group to display in the Group Finder.
- Meets Online
- If Yes, a Group will show as "Meets Online" in the Group Finder and Group Details widgets.
- Life Stage
- A searchable field available to any user searching for a group in the Group Finder.
- Group Focus
- A searchable field available to any user searching for a group in the Group Finder.
- Meeting Time
- The time when this Group generally meets. This displays in widgets and can be edited in My Groups by a group leader. Used by the Attendance Routine.
- Meeting Day
- The day of the week when this Group generally meets. This displays in widgets and can be edited in My Groups by a group leader.
- Meeting Duration
- Used by the Attendance Routine.
- Meeting Frequency
- Used by the Attendance Routine.
- Descended From
- An internal reporting field that indicates the Group that split/multiplied to form this Group.
- Reason Ended
- An internal reporting field that indicates why this Group dissolved.
- Last Attendance Posted
- The last date when attendance was posted for the Group. Updated during the nightly routine.
- Last Group Member Change
- The date when a Group member has been changed, added or end-dated. Updated during the nightly routine.
Promotion Information
- Promote to Group
- The Group to which individuals in this Group are promoted.
- Age in Months to Promote
- When a Group Participant reaches this age in months (based on date of birth), they are eligible to move to the Group defined in the Promote to Group field.
- Promote Weekly
- If Yes, a routine runs on a schedule to promote the Group Participant's age or the Group's Promotion Date makes Group Participants eligible to be promoted.
- Promotion Date
- The date where all current Group Participants should be promoted to the Group defined in the Promote to Group field (in contrast to the Age in Months to Promote).
- Promote Participants Only
- If Group Participants with Group Role Types of Servants and Leaders in the Group should be left behind (not promoted), set to Yes.
Notifications
- Send Attendance Notification
- Sends an email to group leaders who have not recorded attendance via the Group Attendance Routine.
- Send Service Notification
- Sends an email to those who are scheduled to volunteer. See the Group Service Routine.
- SMS Number
- The SMS number that this Group can use to send outgoing text messages from GroupLife.
- Default Meeting Room
- The room used for regular Group meetings. Used to create the next scheduled meeting.
- Create Next Meeting
- If Yes, a nightly routine will schedule the next meeting and advance the next scheduled meeting date automatically. Set to No to stop or pause the routine.
- Next Scheduled Meeting
- The date of the next event into which this Group is scheduled.