Group Management

By default, only Site administrators are allowed to create Groups. But this permission can be opened to all users as well by enabling Allow group creation by all users option from Site Admin->Site Details->Security tab.

Group Structure - Groups can be setup in a hierarchical structure please refer to Learn more about group creation and sub-group creation permissions here.

Group Administration - Group members' management can be delegated to the group administrator. Group Administrator permissions can be controlled on various levels for user management, course enrollments and review progress/reports, etc.

Creating Groups

To create a group, use the Groups >Create Group menu.

Group Type 

The group type option is presented only if the 'Event' feature is enabled on your site. By default, all groups are created having a group type of 'Training/Learning'. There are three types of groups -

  • Training / Learning - Used for creating a structure for delivering training.
  • Test/Training Center (ILT Locations) - Used for creating ILT training locations. These locations will be available for use when delivering an ILT training.
  • User Community - User community groups can be set up for collaboration purposes.

Group Access

Each group can have the following properties to restrict its access:

  • Publicly Viewable - this property controls whether or not the group will be visible to users who are not yet members of this group
    • On - the group is visible to everyone
    • Off - the group is visible to only members
  • Membership - this property controls how users would become a member of the group
    • Open to all - any user of the site can join the group themselves. A group owner/admin can also add members directly
    • By request - any user of the site can request membership to the group which the group admin/owner can approve or reject. The group owner/admin can also add members directly
    • By invitation - only the group owner/admin can add or invite users

Group Email

If a group email is specified, notifications sent to this group (ex: through inbox or automated notification emails) would go to this email. It is expected that multiple people would have subscribed to this email. For example, people in the sales department who are subscribed to the email sales@acme.org would all get notified when an email is sent to this address.

Allowed Email Domains

This field allows you to specify (optional) comma-separated email domains that every new member of this group must have in order to become a member of the group. 

Group Editing Permission 

By default, site administrators and group administrators can edit a group's basic information, but that permission can be restricted to only site admins and group owners by using the 'Lock group editing' option. 

Group Options

The group owner can lock the group options to be updated by him/herself only by enabling the Lock option. As there are many options in the group, it's a good idea to use the group templates to get consistent options set in multiple groups as you create them.

Group Versions

The Versions tab provides version history including when and who had updated the group details [ Note: Version history was added in 2018; past version history is not available in the list] 

Enabling/Disabling optional features

 Features 

 Profile  Enables Profile Sections for the group which allows you to create customized information blocks (panels) to show in the Overview tab of the group
 Calendar  Enables calendar for every group member. The calendar would have events which are only part of this group
 Course Session  Enables Course Session tab which lists the sessions running in this group
 Program  Enables the Programs feature for the group (provided Program feature is enabled in the site)
 Test  Enables the Test tab to show authorized tests in the group, authorized tests can be taken anytime by the group members
 Course  Enables the Course tab to show authorized courses in the group, authorized courses which are previewable can be launched anytime (without tracking) by the group's members
 Event  Enables the Event feature for the group; events can be used to schedule offline activities as well as online exams and surveys
 Forum  Enables the Forum feature
 Resources  Enables the Resources feature for the group which allows group members to contribute news and articles (like wiki)
 Poll  Enables the Poll feature
 Members  Enables non-group admins to view the Members tab
 Comment  Enables members to post updates from the Overview tab
Leaderboard Enables the leaderboard panel that is shown on the Group's overview tab.
Forum Priority/ Assignment Using this option Assigning Forum priority and assignment can be enabled 
Program Session Enables Program Session tab which lists the program sessions running in this group

Roles Allowed

Learner Users with learner role in the site can join the group
Instructor Users with the instructor role in the site can join the group

Access Control

Allow non-members to post comment Non-group members can post updates for the group
Allow non-members to view information Non-group members can view group updates, forum postings, news, and articles of the group
Allow self leave Allows users to unsubscribe from the group
Learners can add/edit resources Allows learners to add/edit group resources (articles, files, news, links). Group admins and instructors are always allowed
Learners can add forum posts Allows learners to add new topics or reply to topics in the forum. Group admins and instructors are always allowed.
Learners can create poll Allows learners to add new polls in the group. Group admins and instructors are always allowed.
Learners can create sub-groups Allow learners in the group to create sub-groups. For this to work, group creation by all or sub-group creation option must be on in the microsite's security. Read more about it here

Automated Actions

Auto Enroll members to course sessions If automatic setting enabled, when a new member joins the group, user will automatically get enrolled in all currently active course sessions in the group.
Auto Enroll members to events If automatic setting enabled, when a new member joins the group, user will automatically enrolled in all currently active/in-progress events in the group.
Auto Enroll members to All programs If automatic setting enabled, when a new member joins the group, user will automatically enrolled in all currently active/in-progress program session in the group.
Auto Enroll Site Users in this group Add users to this group automatically. If the group's access type is open, membership of the group would become active immediately when a user self signs up for an account. If the access type is 'by invite', it would be in pending status (until the group admin approves it).
Allow auto subscribe to course/program sessions in subgroups

By enabling the setting, this groups items will be included in child group's auto enrollment if auto enrollment is enabled in child group.

Email Notifications

Block All emails for activities in this group

Turns off all emails for group collaboration activities and course session related activities.

 

Block All Course/Program/Event enrollment emails Turns off all subscription emails (learners added to a course session, event, program, or assignment) for course sessions, programs, events created in this group.
Send forum updates to Group Admin and topic participants only Prevents forum emails from going to all group members. This is especially useful if the group has a large number of users. Topic initiators and others who reply to the topic besides group admins are still notified if this setting is turned on.
Send resource comments Group Admin and resource's author only Prevents new comment emails (for articles, news, files, links) from going to all group members; this is especially useful if a group has a large number of users. The resource author and others who had added the comment on this resource besides group admins are still notified if this setting is turned on.
New Topic Generates an email to all members, when a new topic is posted in the forum of this group. This setting also controls email notification for all course sessions in the group.
Topic Reply Generates an email to all members, when a new topic reply is posted in the forum of this group. This setting also controls email notification for all course sessions in the group.
New Poll Generates an email to all members, when a new poll is created in the group
New Event Generates an email to all members, when a new event is created in the group.
New Resource Generates an email to all members, when a new news or article is posted in the group. This setting also controls email notification for all course sessions in the group.
New Status Update Generates an email to all members, when a new status update is posted in the group. This setting also controls email notification for all course sessions in the group.
Sends Email to Admin upon New User Self Joining

If the group allows self joining (Membership type is Open), this option enables email notification to group admin(s) when a user joins the group.

This is also useful in cases when Group drop-down is enabled in the signup page to allow users to pick their group upon signup, and the group admin wants to get a notification when a new user chooses their group from the drop-down.

Send Confluence URLs in Emails Use this option when you are using Gilly and learners would be accessing the exams and course sessions from within Confluence. Enabling this option will cause URLs sent in enrollment emails to be Confluence-specific rather than a direct URL to the microsite, because learners are likely to access the exam or course from within Gilly. In additon to enabling this option in the group, you must also have Confluence's base URL specified in the site's custom properties using the CONFLUENCE_URL property name. This is described here in the Gilly specific article
Resource Comments Sends an email when a comment is added for any resource in the group
Weekly Summary Enables a weekly summary email for the group. This email is sent automatically to each member of the group. The email consists of all activities that happened in the last week (activities that show up in Overview tab.. e.g. Forum updates, Resources added, Polls created etc). A summary report is sent only if the feature Site Reports by Mail is on and email type WEEKLY_ACTIVITY_REPORT is enabled (from email settings).

 

Groups Listing 

The group list can be accessed using the 'View Groups' menu. The group listing page provides two views (My groups/ Site Groups). 

My Groups list - provides a listing of the user's enrolled groups. 

Site Groups - provides a listing of Site's top-level group and the user can drill down to access child groups list for any top-level group. 

A download link is also available on this page to download a full list of the site's groups and their properties. 

Custom property filter - Groups searchable custom property filter allows searching groups based on the property value.

 

Group Overview 

Overview page can be customized to show group updates/Leaderboard and using group options tabs can be enabled/disabled. Members tab is always visible to site admins. 

There are multiple menu options available in settings menu -

  • View Sub groups - Access sub groups list
  • Add Sub groups - To add a subgroup 
  • Edit - Opens group edit page
  • Copy - Create a new group copying this group
  • + Profile Section - A profile section can be added that will appear on the group overview page.
  • Email Settings - Provides an option to override email templates for this group, Details are available in article email overriding.
  • Coupon Codes - Provides a list of all coupons authorized for this group, Group authorized coupons are valid only for group members. These coupons can be created at any product level (site/CS/PS/EV/Group).
  • Item Coupon Code - Provides an option to create a group level coupon (product - group) to give free access to this group's all items (course sessions/program sessions/events). This coupon can also be authorized for another group, e.g. A coupon created on "Sales training Group" and authorized for "Customer1" group. Customer1 group members can get free access to all items available in the "Sales training group'. 

 

 

 


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