Contact and Group Management (Directories)
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      3. Contact and Group Management (Directories)

      Create and Manage Public Groups in a Directory

      Learn how to manage public groups that your citizens can subscribe to.

      See the Managing Groups in a Directory guide for helpful tips and answers to frequently asked questions.

      Create a New Group or Edit an Existing

      1.  Either select the group you would like to edit, or click 'Add Group' in the top right corner of the Manage Groups page.

      2. Complete or Edit the Group Details form

      Group Form Overview

      • Classification - Required
        • The classification field is auto populated based on the directory or parent group that you entered the Group Details form from.
        • There is no need to change this value.

      Changing the classification field can cause conflicts with group structures. A groups classification must match its parent (if applicable) and the directory that it is associated with.  For example, do not nest a Public Group under an Internal Group and vise versa.

      How to resolve classification conflicts

      • Visible on Public User Form - Optional
        • When checked, the group will be visible on your public signup page, and your citizens can subscribe to alerts sent to this group.
      • Parent - Optional 
        • If you want to nest this group within another existing group, you can select a parent. If the parent field is left unchanged, this group will be placed at the top level of your group structure.
      • Group Name - Required
        • A friendly/helpful name for the group
      • Notes - Optional
        • These are for internal use only and can be used to help describe what the group is used for.  This will show up on the public sign up page to give citizens more details on the types of alerts you might send if they subscribe for that group.
      • Assign Group Keywords - Optional
        • If keywords are assigned, your citizens can subscribe to this group by texting the any of the assigned keywords to our shortcode (38276)


      For more information on keywords, checkout the guide here

      Add Contacts to a Group

      Contacts can be added to an existing group by selecting your desired group from the Manage Groups page. Contacts cannot be added while creating a new group. To add contacts to a new group, complete the form and then select it from the management page.

      When creating nested group structures, users should only be placed into the lowest level of nesting. Using the screen shot above, you'll notice there are no contacts in the Internal or Testing groups. Since both groups contain child groups, all of the contacts are placed in groups at lowest level within the group tree.

      1. Select your desired group from the Manage Groups page.
      2. Under the Group Internal Members section of the card, click the Add Members button to open a pop-up with the Available Members selection box.

      3. Search for contact names or select from the Members list.
      4. Select a member by clicking on their name. Once a name is selected by checkmark, it will move added to the Selected Members list.
      5. To remove users from a group, click the trash can next to their name.  This will only remove them from the group.  It will not remove their record entirely.

      If a user texts the correct short code (38276) with a keyword associated to a group, their phone number will be added to the system, and they will automatically become a member of that keyword's associated group. If their phone number was not already in the system, they will be added as a contact with Text-To-Join listed as their last name and their phone number listed as their first name. 

      Manage Public and Internal Groups_Text to Join

      Creating Child Groups

      As mentioned above, you can create a child group by modifying the parent dropdown field on the Group Details form. 

      You may also create a child group when updating an existing group by clicking the 'Add New Child Group' button.

      Clicking this button will take you through the group creation process outlined above, but the parent dropdown field will be auto populated with the correct parent group. 

      Creating Linked Groups

      For advanced users, you can also add groups as linked children so administrators who may be locked into seeing only certain groups can send alerts to a group but won't be able to add/remove/delete any members from that group.

      1. To add a group as a linked child, click Child and Linked Groups.


      A Linked Child group is indicated as a chain link icon next to the group so admins know the data is linked from somewhere else and not maintained by them.

      What do the Icons Next to The Group's Name Mean?

      When navigating your group structure, you may see different icons before or after the group's name. Below is an overview of what each icon means.

      Icon Description
      This icon will be displayed when the groups classification does not match its parent's classification. See this section for more information on resolving classification conflicts.
      This icon is displayed when a group is marked as a default public group. All public subscribers/contacts will be automatically subscribed to this group when they signup or are added to your public directory.
      This icon is displayed when a group is marked as visible on the public signup page. This indicates that your public subscribers/contacts can subscribe to alerts sent to this group.