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Groups FAQ

This article provides answers to common questions about managing group participants, including adding, moving, and deleting members, as well as handling group events and roles within the system.

Q1: What if I put the same person in the group more than once or put someone in the wrong group?

There is no way to merge duplicate Group Participant records. If the person isn't actually supposed to be in the group, you can delete them. Alternatively, if you added one person to the wrong group, you can move them to the appropriate group. To move more than one group participant at a time, mass reassign them.

Q2: How do I take people in multiple groups and put them all into one new group?

We've got an article for that! See our article on how to put participants from multiple groups into a new group for more information.

Q3: We are trying to search for parents of group members from a saved selection by selecting the Parents of Group Membersview from the Contacts page, but it's not returning any results. Is there another way to get this information?
Yes, a SPoC could create a customized version of the Parents of Group Members view for that specific person.
  1. Go to System Setup > Page Views.
  2. Copy the existing view.
  3. Update the name and edit the dependent clause to use the name of the person's saved selection in place of dp_DEFAULT. You could also replace dp_UserID with the actual person's ID if anyone else will use this but pointed to the original person's saved selection.
Q4: How can I add people with "Attribute A" all at once to "Group A?"

We've got an article for that! See our article on how to add people with similar attributes to a group for more information.

Q5: I already have a recurring event set up. Can I add a group to all the events without having to touch each event?

Yes, see the options for associating groups and events.

Q6: We accidentally end-dated all participants in a group. Is there a way we can correct this?

We've got an article for that! See our article on how to correct end-dated group participants for more information.

Q7: What do you recommend for seeing average group attendance for a specific time frame?

Consider these reports: Selected Group Participation Percentages, Selected Group Participation Summary, Selected Group Last Attended, Selected Group Attendance, Selected Group Attendance By Individual. If none of those reports meet your needs, a SPoC can reach out to Professional Services to create a custom report.

Want to see a quick overview of your church's groups? Check out the Group Stats view on the Groups page.

Q8: If I add a group directly to an event, but it's also a program group, will that affect check-in?

We do not recommend doing this, as it is poor data quality and can create confusion. However, it will not affect check-in and the group participant will only have one listing for the event when checking in.

Q9: The Group Role record contains an Omit from Portalfield. What does this affect?

This affects the list of available group roles for a group leader when they edit or add group members through the My_Groups page on the portal. If a role has Omit from Portal set to Yes, that role will not display in the drop-down list of roles that the leader can assign to new group members.

Q10: How are parent groups used?

A parent group is only used so people can find their groups more easily. You may create a parent group to help someone find all of a certain age group, such as their elementary groups, on the Groups or Group Participants page. You must add all sub-groups, rather than the parent group, to check-in so the group members can check in.

Q11: Is there a way to add notes about a group that only staff within that ministry can see?

Yes. Use the Attach File button within the Group record to add documents like meeting notes or leader evaluations. You can also work with Professional Services to add a notes field within the Group record itself.